A blackbelt in whining...That's me. I know that my problems aren't that desperate. There are folks praying for mercy while they puke their guts up on chemo. There are widows wandering their homes in deafening silence, wishing for the reprieve of sleep only to have it robbed from them. There is a single mother in Haiti wondering how she is going to earn enough to feed her family and worrying whether she or her children will survive another day of anarchy and violence. In light of these suffering servants, "I ain't got me no problems."
Still, I whine because the afib kicks my butt, and I'm a mover. I feel drained 90% of the time. With little effort, I can circle the drain with "What ifs?" What if the ablation doesn't work, and I'm like this for another 3-6 months? What if the procedure never works, and this is my new normal? What if everything starts to fall apart like my heart just did?
The "What ifs" have a sinister sister: the "Why mes?" I can easily descend into, "Why me, God? All I've ever wanted is to serve you. Shouldn't you make that easier? With all the heathen and the hateful out there, why am I the one who is feeling limited?
However, one habit I got into nearly two decades ago was spending the first moments of my day sitting quietly and focusing on Jesus. True Confession- As I sit, I daily battle the temptation to head down an online rabbit hole of information about my condition, checking out every new symptom and worrying. Instead, I go to the spot I've created with my devotionals, my Bible, and my journal and ask the Lord to calm my fretful, frenzied mind.
He always meets me there, even if I have difficulty concentrating. The devotional I'm reading currently doesn't have dates. The readings are random, but not to God. This is what He led me to this week. I want to share it with you because it was exactly what I needed, and it's perfect for the Easter season.
"That Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, would choose to endure the cross to pay for sin, that he would take on the sufferings of all people at Golgotha, changed the way I look at suffering and evil and how they reflect on God's character."
"The proven character of Jesus demonstrated in his sacrifice on our behalf makes him trustworthy even when evil and suffering overwhelm us."
"For me, Jesus changes everything."
"The Bible describes Christ in the garden before he went to the cross: 'Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground' (Luke 22:44.) The enormous stress upon him broke his blood vessels. He chose to die for our evils, to be alienated from his Father, to bear an emotional pain that exceeded even his physical misery."
"Bloody, realistic imagery disturbed many who watched the movie The Passion of the Christ. But Christ's very worst suffering on the cross—his bearing the sins that separated him from the loving presence of his Father—no one could capture on screen."
"How could he endure such suffering for us? And why, since he had done so, would we ever accuse or reject him?"
"Whenever you feel tempted to ask God, 'Why did you do this to me." look at the cross and ask, "Why did you do this for me?"
Can I get and Amen or maybe an Ouch!
From Randy Alcorn’s 90 Days of God's Goodness.