While most of us will never suffer like Job did, we all suffer to some degree. We might have a job loss, or lose our health. We might have family problems, or issues with our neighbors. Perhaps we have undergone divorce, or endured other issues with a spouse or loved one. Whatever the case, it is human nature to suffer.
As motivational speaker Zig Ziglar has said, "It never is what happens to us, but how we handle it that counts."
No truer words can be spoken. Whatever our suffering, we can get through it...though it might not seem like it at the time. When we look back, we can very often see why we went through our trials. I have often heard the analogy that life is like a woven tapestry. When we are on the underside of the tapestry (at the moment we are going through our trial), all we see is a jumble of different colored threads, knotted and twisted. But, when we look at the cloth from above (after the fact) we see a beautiful tapestry, finely woven and perfectly designed.
As you go through whatever trial you might be suffering, put your trust in God. He will never give you anything you cannot handle. It has been said that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Look to the future. Lean on the love of God, and rely on the Holy Spirit to give you strength and wisdom to run your race to the finish.
Noted Protestant preacher Jesse duPlantis has said, "you cannot have a testimony unless you have first had a test."
I like what the Catholic Church teaches about suffering, that we can join our suffering to that which Christ endured, thereby sanctifying our own trials and offering them up as a sacrifice to God.
May He give you the strength, wisdom and patience to endure your trials in holiness and peace.
