Suffering

I wanted to a "camp post" that summarized all of camp...but I think I will write something that has been heavy on the hearts of our students and then post some pics later. Lately, through talking to some of the students, it has become truly evident that what most of these guys and girls are going through is...suffering. Suffering for their faith, suffering through family loss, and suffering through relationships. This morning I was reading Philippians 1:12-20: Paul uses his chains in prison to advance the gospel. I think the main question that comes to mind when we endure hard trials in our lives is "Why, God?"..."Why me? A good person?"..."I can't handle this."..."Why would something like this be for your glory?". Well the answers to those questions are simple yet tough and the answers will always be, "We don't know". I believe that if we knew why God did everything that He does then He would not be God. God is a god that is unexplainable. However, we DO know that God places everything in our paths to advance His name...to give Him glory.


When Paul was imprisoned, His focus was still not on himself, but on the Lord. Whenever I endure trials, I think of the many trials that Christ went through for me. We were made to be like Christ in all aspects of our lives...and that does involve suffering for Him in the same way He suffered for us. I'm sure that while sitting in chains in jail, Paul had no idea what was going to happen...he didn't know God's plan for that jail. However, Paul kept preaching and he kept telling others the joy of Christ. Through Paul's perseverance through suffering, prisoners in the jail found Christ, people were saved and would therefore go out and preach the name of Jesus.


There are so many things we go through in life that leaves us questioning "Why." Well, the answer remains, "For the Lord". Though we may not see an immediate response as to why God has us go through things, He does promise to reveal Himself in time. The only way for us to get through sufferings is through prayer and through faith knowing that He does not do anything "just because"...He does EVERYTHING for His glory. Scripture says that He will never give us anything that we cannot handle...so if you are going through suffering, know that God thinks you are strong enough and has chosen you to reveal Himself to.


I'll leave you with the neatest thing from camp:
The Wave Baptisms