Rejoicing in Suffering?

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5 (NLT)

There are some mornings that really don’t go very well. And no matter how much you attempt to rustle up some positivity, the tone of the day has pretty much set in. This morning was just one of those mornings.

I was awoken by the alarm at 6.30. Lately I have been able to wake up before the alarm so as not to disturb my husband. But not today. Geof, had only just gone back to sleep after a bout of sleeplessness.

Unique had missed college yesterday due to having a severe migraine, which knocked them out for the whole of the day. Today was an important day at college and they had missed yesterday’s important preparation time. They were struggling today and needed coaxing and positive reinforcement to cope with every task which had to be broken down into smaller steps. To make matters more challenging, Geof was working in our open plan living room and had a conference call with overseas clients. This would not normally be an issue except that I was running backwards and forwards as quietly as possible to Unique’s bedroom with breakfast and other required items for college.

Unfortunately breakfast was a disaster as the bread was stale, the butter tasted greasy and I had ordered the cloudy apple juice instead of the other type. Finally, having managed to get Unique ready to leave the house, we dashed out to get to college in time for them to grab a bite of breakfast in the college canteen.

My stress levels were starting to increase too, as much as I tried to hang onto my peace and stay calm. If you have been following My Spinal Column blog, you will know about the diagnosis I had been given. In real terms what this means is that the more active I am with my hands and my legs, the more backed up the signals get along my spinal cord and create a gridlock. Then suddenly I find that I have become unstable, unsteady, uncoordinated and clumsy and my nervous system goes into overdrive.

After successfully dropping Unique off at college and returning home, my mind was all over the place, my nervous system was in meltdown and I was feeling shaky. I also recognised that I had anxiety and apprehension for the day Unique may have at college. I made a well earned and much needed cup of tea – the antidote to every drama, and settled myself on my bed away from Geof and his conference call, as I brought my attention around to worship and digging deeper into God for his peace.

Using the Bible App from YouVersion, I read today’s very familiar verse from Roman’s 5 and listened to the guest speaker’s interpretation. God is always so, so good. These words of scripture just spoke so much encouragement and wisdom to me about how I needed to respond to everything that had happened this morning.

3 And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; 4 and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. 5 Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5 (Amp)

The English language is such that we can interpret these verses in different ways.

but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships

On the one hand we can interpret this to mean that we are to rejoice that we are experiencing suffering and hardships; that we are rejoicing about the fact that we are suffering. However, I am not convinced that this is what it means. I think what this verse is actually say is that during the times of suffering and hardship, we can rejoice in God, as we turn away from our troubles and turn our attention towards him. This is because joyful worship will ultimately fill us with hope and peace, bringing to more spiritual maturity and strength.

This was not a new revelation to me and probably not to you either; but it was the timely and much needed reminder and reassurance that I needed today. So sipping my tea, I listened to my Joy and Laughter worship playlist and danced around the bedroom until the stress had lifted. I accepted God’s invitation to surrender my concerns and burdens for Unique’s day at college – which they did indeed survive in one piece – and was filled with joy and peace…and tea of course.

Thank you Father God that you always invite us to look away from our troubles and suffering and turn to look into your loving face. Thank you that in times of difficulty we can come to you in joyful worship in the confidence that you will fill us with comfort, hope and peace. Amen