Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Where Is God When It Hurts?

(Image used with permission from FreeRangeStock.com.)

Having been through serious heartache this past year, I can totally relate with anyone who is struggling with the question: "WHERE IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS?"

When we hurt it may feel like God is not even there at all.

I want you to know that you CAN get through the pain of failure, break-up, loss, or other life challenge that causes you pain.

How do I know? Because GOD is ALWAYS there.

You see, the only thing is that God will HONOR OUR CHOICES. If we chose to be in certain situations, and certain events unfold due to those choices, it is within the power of GOD to HONOR that choice. How cool is that?

Not only that, but sometimes bad things happen to bad people, and sometimes bad things happen to good people doing bad things, and sometimes bad things happen to good people doing good things. This is all part of life experience. However, I find most often bad things happen to people (good or bad) not making the wisest of decisions.

For example, a woman likes to have three highballs every night (a functioning alcoholic) and one year has her pancreas explode and dies within the next month. Is that a bad thing? Yes. Was she a good person? Yes. Was she making a choice that was limiting her life? Yes. So did the bad thing that happen result from her choices? Probably.

Some times, things are just a fluke. One of my fellow students in High School, who I will call Rick Martin, went surfing one day and his back slipped out of socket. He went to the chiropractor to receive an adjustment. After walking out of the chiropractor's office, he started coughing up blood. His parents rushed him to the hospital. He died on the operating table six hours later. As it turned out, Rick's heart collapsed due to a "congenital defect" -- the wall of his heart had not formed properly and due to a weakness in the wall between the two primary chambers it collapsed upon first major stress. Once this wall collapsed, there was nothing to keep bad blood from mixing with good blood, and he died. It was a sad time for many people, as Rick was one helluva fun kid. Rick was smart and in many groups and enjoyed many friendships. He was a good kid, too. I worked with him at Taco Bell. We attended the same youth group at church. We shared some laughs at the Junior Prom. So, I knew him and felt the loss, too.

But, as great a person as Rick may have been, his time came and that was that. I later wrote a letter to his family. I never heard from them. I'm sure they were quite struck with grief over it.

When we go through times like that, how could it seem possible that God is even there?

I understand.

However, God is always there. You see, if "God" is "omniscient" then God is everywhere and in all things. And that means at ALL times. I like the Bhagavad Gita description of the Supreme Being: where both good and evil are comprised within this conscious source of energy. It is beautiful beyond imagination and horribly ugly beyond our worst nightmares.

Knowing this, we must tap into the good, and be aware of the dark side. Much like in Star Wars, whether or not we live for good and growth or for bad and destruction really boils down to a choice. Make a choice for good, and choose it again and again, even when it seems like the "Force" isn't with you. Because, in the end, God will be there - not just by your side or carrying you - but INSIDE YOU. When you realize this, you realize that it is your choice to see each circumstance in life as you choose. When you choose to see it as "good" then it probably will be good.
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Copyright © 2008 AspireNow. Rick Martin's name was changed to be anonymous. All rights reserved. Want more? Subscribe to the A-Blog.

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2 comments:

progressyourlife.com said...

The infamous God! I could never understand how something so evasive could be so powerful and strike so much emotion.

I have witnessed and caused quite a few arguments and it all comes down to the same thing, only people's feelings. No one really knows what or why, only that they believe and in order to justify that feeling they need constant reassurance, IE preaching.

People without personal direction or someone who needs a caretaker cannot see their life is what they make of it. The mindset of "I need someone to bring me salvation" does not allow a mindset of taking responsibility for their actions. People who take responsibility all seem to fall on the one belief,that is god is inside us. God is our minds, it creates heaven and hell from within.

In our refusal to accept the hidden parts of our minds, we "fall victim" to repressed and denied parts of ourselves and blame others for our problems.
Mark Babineaux
http://www.progressyourlife.com

Tracy said...

I beleive too that God is always there and that if you make a bad choice, God will honor it because it was your choice. I think a lot of us get into trouble because we don't realize that we have a choice. We aren't taking responsibility for our actions. The alchoholic for example will blame everything except herself for her problems. I think that events just happen randomly and we decide for ourselves whether they are good or bad (although events do happen when it would be very difficult to figure out what could have been good about it. Perhaps those happen because they are good for someone else in some way. Perhaps they happen because someone needs to learn a lesson.) I gather the purpose of events we don't like is to help us decide what it is that we would like instead.

Tracy Crowe
http://www.reachingmypotential.com

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