First of all, Mesha is sixteen weeks now, so I am not sure what's going on this week because I haven't looked, but I do know that she is still feeling much better than she did and I also know that we have only five months until we have a baby, so I feel the pressure of getting everything together!!!
In other areas of life, I have recently been thinking deeply about suffering. I have heard several stories of lives thrown into chaos by disease, death, and unexpected hardship recently. Also, our church looked at this subject this last week. The more I think about it, the more I think life is supposed to be hard and we are actually supposed to suffer. Paul told us to rejoice in our trials and I think I get it a little more this week. See, there are two reasons to be rejoicing in our trials. First, we grow through hardships. Think about it like a parent and child. The parent doesn't ever want a child to hurt or suffer, but sometimes has to allow this or even cause pain, so that a child learns the proper ways to move through life. It is the same with our heavenly father. He must allow us to go through hardship in order to grow our character. However, I think this call to consider our hardships "pure joy" goes even deeper. See, the thought has been in my mind this week that I feel out of place in this world. At first, I thought maybe I was suffering some kind of depression and even considered talking to someone about it, but then something occurred to me. See, the closer I get in my relationship with Christ, the more I become like Christ. Christ, would not feel at home in the world as it exists today either. See, this world is not my home! I shouldn't feel at home here. I shouldn't feel comfortable existing in the world the way exists at this point in God's plan. Therefore suffering and hardship not only build character, but also make sense in that we are not of this world when we have been transformed or are in the process of being transformed by the renewing of our mind!
