Conversations We Have. :)

Jason and I heard a sermon last Sunday that got us chatting about...well, what happens when things aren't going peachy keen.

Like why do we suffer?
Why do we have every day annoyances that really just seem pointless?
Why do we lose our job?
Why do we get sick?
Why are there evil atrocities?
Why? Why? Whhyyyyyy?

I mean, I KNOW the answers to these things.  I really do.  I'm sure you do.  I've been told it 100 times but then when it all boils down to it...it's hard to apply.

And honestly those answers just feel insufficient, insensitive, and shallow in the moment.
Like telling someone, "Oh, I'm really sorry you are going through this really terrible thing but you know, God really loves you and He is pruning you and making your stronger and you will look back on this time and be thankful one day."

Um.
Thanks? 
Not!

I started thinking though and realized that THIS is the very thing that brought me to Christianity in the first place.  This is the very thing that made me realize..."Wait, there can be hope?"

I don't really care about all the Christian Sunday school answers in the moment of suffering.
I really don't.  I know they ARE the right answers.  I know that one day they WILL sink in and I most likely WILL look back on times of suffering and say that "Yes, I am glad I experienced that."

But in the moment.  It doesn't help much.

What does help me though?
I think it's a general attitude of..."this matters"

The crap matters.
God knows exactly where I'm at...what I'm feeling...and it matters...to Him.
That blows my mind.

Little ole' me. 

The fact that God can use the crap...for His good in the end.  Gives me hope.  The every day annoyances.  The evils in the world.  He can bring good from it and use it all for His glory.  And I'm so glad.

Because otherwise?  What hope do we have?  Why do we suffer?  If God can take all the junk in the world and somehow bring beauty from it.  Well shoot.  I'm all about this God.

Otherwise...it's just suffering, it's just evil, it's just cancer, it's just loss. 
It's just hopeless.
That's it.
There's nothing else.

I'm so glad there is always hope to be found in Christ.  Always!  Even if it's the smallest, faintest little glimmer.  It's there.

And we matter.  Our sufferings matter.  Our anxieties matter.  Our troubles matter.

And it's so humbling.
And so beautiful.

****************

And THAT my friends...is a glimpse into Jason and I's conversation last Sunday.  Aren't we sooooo deep?!?  ;)  Ha!