Sustaining Graces
Sustaining Graces
This past week at our weekly Open House, several people opened up about their past struggles. It was sobering to hear their stories and the suffering they have experienced. Their stories contained issues of betrayal of those close to them, the loss of children, constant medical issues, and the stress of difficulties that will just wear you down. One of the blessings that we experienced on Sunday was that we were hearing their stories from the past. Each individual had a perspective of being on the other side of the suffering and they all spoke of the graces they had experienced during and from the suffering. Each spoke of the faith they received and how God showed himself strong. Several of those listening shared their thoughts and spoke of how they could not imagine going through any kind of suffering without Jesus.
My first thought, as I listened, was how much our young people needed to hear these stories. We work so hard to protect our children from pain and we share so little of our difficult stories that we ill prepare our young people to suffer. I tried to picture, in my mind, how these stories could be shared. While I believe it is possible, I realized that unless the situations came organically, like they did Sunday, the stories would probably be too forced and they would be lost. So my second thought was that if we cannot formally tells these stories, what we can do is continually share our love for this big God that we have learned to trust. That can be shared at any time. Our trust and knowledge of how big our God is can be something we pass on to our children.
It is what God wanted the Israelites to do with their children. Our stories, while valuable, are not truly what our children need to hear. What they need to hear is about our big God who carried us through our stories. How our pain and suffering has been out weighed by the love and faithfulness of our great God. They need to hear how when our faith was small, God gave us great faith to sustain and carry us. It would have been important for the Israelites to share with their children the pain of their time in Egypt but it was way more important for their children to see how their big God delivered them from captivity and brought them to the promise land. Less about Egypt and more about the Exodus.
Our children need to hear that our faith was not always as strong as it is now. They need to hear about how God has shown you how strong his faith in you is. They need to see how your trust in him was built over the years, not because of how strong you were, but because of how faithful he is. When our children find themselves suffering, as they will, they will then think of God and not about how this is just like my parents. So, speak of the bigness and greatness of God but also share how you have come to know him.
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare you mighty acts.” Ps 145:4
This past week at our weekly Open House, several people opened up about their past struggles. It was sobering to hear their stories and the suffering they have experienced. Their stories contained issues of betrayal of those close to them, the loss of children, constant medical issues, and the stress of difficulties that will just wear you down. One of the blessings that we experienced on Sunday was that we were hearing their stories from the past. Each individual had a perspective of being on the other side of the suffering and they all spoke of the graces they had experienced during and from the suffering. Each spoke of the faith they received and how God showed himself strong. Several of those listening shared their thoughts and spoke of how they could not imagine going through any kind of suffering without Jesus.
My first thought, as I listened, was how much our young people needed to hear these stories. We work so hard to protect our children from pain and we share so little of our difficult stories that we ill prepare our young people to suffer. I tried to picture, in my mind, how these stories could be shared. While I believe it is possible, I realized that unless the situations came organically, like they did Sunday, the stories would probably be too forced and they would be lost. So my second thought was that if we cannot formally tells these stories, what we can do is continually share our love for this big God that we have learned to trust. That can be shared at any time. Our trust and knowledge of how big our God is can be something we pass on to our children.
It is what God wanted the Israelites to do with their children. Our stories, while valuable, are not truly what our children need to hear. What they need to hear is about our big God who carried us through our stories. How our pain and suffering has been out weighed by the love and faithfulness of our great God. They need to hear how when our faith was small, God gave us great faith to sustain and carry us. It would have been important for the Israelites to share with their children the pain of their time in Egypt but it was way more important for their children to see how their big God delivered them from captivity and brought them to the promise land. Less about Egypt and more about the Exodus.
Our children need to hear that our faith was not always as strong as it is now. They need to hear about how God has shown you how strong his faith in you is. They need to see how your trust in him was built over the years, not because of how strong you were, but because of how faithful he is. When our children find themselves suffering, as they will, they will then think of God and not about how this is just like my parents. So, speak of the bigness and greatness of God but also share how you have come to know him.
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare you mighty acts.” Ps 145:4
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