“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” Psalm 119:71
Most people curse their afflictions and do not view them as any kind of blessing. Our personal afflictions try to take us down. In the way the world thinks about afflictions, the world would think David must surely have been out of his mind and delusional when he said afflictions were good. In the past fourteen months I’ve lost both legs to different afflictions and now live in an Assisted Living facility and sleep in a hospital bed as it is easier to get in and out of. I’ve come to see the wisdom in David’s words. If we ever really take a close look at our afflictions as blessings or as good for us; we must see how the affliction will benefit us and perhaps fit into God’s plan for our individual journey. We must see how we can use the affliction as a learning experience.
Take a close look at the children enjoying their Trinity HOPE meal at the school in Colminy which is located in the Arcahaie District. This school has around fifty children who are sitting on a small board with their lunch cradled in their lap and their feet planted firmly on a dirt floor, walls are constructed of palm branches; imagine what their homes must be like; affliction.
Affliction comes in many different forms; physical, mental, financial. To turn every affliction into a learning experience we must first learn what to do with the affliction. Sadly, too often we let afflictions have their way with us. We seldom think about doing something with our affliction or helping others with their afflictions.
In our life, we have to learn what it is God wants us to do with whatever may be our afflictions. When that direction is realized it becomes easier for us to help others with their afflictions. Thank you for turning to our Creator in your time of affliction and for sharing the love of His Son Jesus Christ with the children in Colminy.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay