"God's truth never restricts you; it always sets you free...if you feel powerless to meet the challenges before you, take encouragement from the promise of Phil 4:13 [ 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. ] If you are defeated by circumstances, hold onto the truth of Rom 8:28 [ 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. ] ....(these) will have no effect unless you accept it and believe it." Experiencing God Devotional.
While I have not been released from my suffering of RA, I do find that the more I contemplate God and receive revelations about Him and what I am to Him, it makes this walk of pain easier. I still cry and mourn. I am so covetous of "normal people" who are doing normal day-to-day things.
Joni Earekson Tada talks about how being paralyzed limited her day into eating, breathing and sleeping (and watching TV)...and how the "normal" person is actually doing the same thing...how meaningless life really is. The "normal" person has things to distract from that cycle--work, social obligations, etc., but all of that is really meaningless as well. Without God, there is no purpose to anything.
Our main purpose is to worship God...and we get so distracted by every day things, the world poisons us to not think about God. How much easier it must have been in the Garden of Eden, when God was right there, took walks in the evening with us. How wonderful that must have been! I read that our natural response is to hide from God because of the sin in the world, and that if He did not draw us to Him, that is all we would do. Hide.
That sounds so terrible to me. I do not know what I would do if I did not have God to cry out to morning, noon and night--when the pain is the worst, the anxiety is ripping my soul apart or my nausea makes me unable to eat for days. I imagine that, as a Savior, and because He is to have felt everything we ever felt, He knows exactly how I feel....even with the best descriptions to a fellow RA sufferer, everyone is different. I imagine, whether I am right or not, that because He is within me, He knows exactly what I feel with every throb, wave of nausea etc. I had actually not put it into words until just now, and the thought that He knows exactly how I feel has tears streaming down my face. That I, who I consider the most horrible of people, could be valued enough by the God of the Universe to spend time with and understand. What a staggering thought. God is so good, and so kind...it is screamed out to us throughout the Word, from the Old Testament to the New...people tend to mark God as harsh in the Old Testament, but it is so vivid if you read how much He has always loved us. People are always caught up in actions being what makes one faithful, when all God wants is faith in Him. He is so loving, I do not think the love can ever be described. It is beyond human description.
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