Double Rejoice!

Today's sermon was so great. It was on Paul and his admonition for us to rejoice in adverse circumstances. Paul was able to rejoice not only in his present situation, but also his past and future. His world view was one that he knew whatever circumstances he was in, God would use them to benefit him, and bring glory to Himself.

Do I rejoice in all things? Do I trust that God will benefit my sanctification as well as bring glory to Himself? Sometimes when I cannot SEE those things happening, I merely hang on - hoping in hope that Christ will work things for my good and for His glory. "Working things for our good" actually means sanctification. In our sufferings, our sanctification is being programmed into our "hard drive" - to put in techie terms.

So, this week I will rejoice when I feel like hiding, rejoice when I feel like running away, rejoice when I don't feel like rejoicing. And again, I will rejoice.........again. It is not a phoney smile or fake laughter - it is knowing that God WILL and IS working all things for His glory and for my benefit in sanctification and salvation.

As I was thinking about this concept - Kelly - our daughter's old best friend - sent me this. She is also seeing how God used something horrible and painful to prompt her on in her sanctification and goal setting - she writes:

"As I crawl into my bed, I clench my cold pillow that my head just lied upon. My mind is full of sorrow, pain, and abandonment. The warm tears, one by one, come streaming down my eyes on my pale-skinned face. I cannot stop, and by morning I wonder when I had fallen asleep because I didn’t recall the stopping of the flowing tears and the calming of the stomach.

My best friend changed. She chose to run away from her wonderful family, friends, and education. Are drugs and alcohol better than the life you had before? It felt like a bomb just went off inside of me; but this bomb was going off for six months. She had everything going for her, but she decided to split that wonderful life and go lead her own controlled life; away from her family, and me.

Good has come out of that situation. I realize how important my friends are, and I appreciate every single one of them more as an individual. Dropping out of high school sounds great doesn’t it? No homework, all the free time in the world! But what kind of career would you get into if you never finished your schooling? My ex-best friend has showed me how utterly important it is to finish my education. I need to take advantage of it, and soak up the knowledge and sound information that is given to me. This opportunity only comes once in a lifetime and I don’t want to miss the bus like she has. "