Published by A friend of mine is going through a divorce, but he had some interesting things to say to me the other day. Although he fought long and hard to save his marriage, he was met with a lot of pain and rejection. Through it all, he has maintained a strong amount of faith, fortitude, and hope. One thing that stuck out to me in which he really believes is that sometimes the pain or gain we experience in life may have nothing to do with ourselves. He explained that maybe God allows us to experience it so we will pass the story on to someone else so it will be a blessing or minister unto them. It had me thinking: is it not true that many stories in the bible are relevant to us today because many of the struggles they had are the same ones we go through? We are inspired by old testament figures like David, Joseph, and Moses because they seemed to be normal people with personal flaws. However, they still did extraordinary things for God’s people and his kingdom of believers because of their faith.
A recent book I read from Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, called Tortured for Christ talks about his experience in Communist-run Romania in the 1960s. The stories he tells of what him, his family, and his fellow Christian prisoners went through just because of their beliefs are horrendous. However, Richard’s undeterred faith in the principals that Jesus taught, and allowing the character of God to shine through his behavior, never stopped him from reaching out to the Communists who were persecuting him. The suffering of Christians in atheist or Communist-run countries is greatly untold, but he did a good job of shedding some light on the subject. If you have a chance, please go to the VOM organization’s website, or read his book. It will give you a bigger insight on what it really means to bear your cross, and a greater appreciation of what you are (or are not) going through right now!
