Sorrow to Salvation

Lately, I have been thinking about the tsunami in Japan a few weeks ago, and how that tragedy fits in with God's plans and God's actions. Also, I was looking back through my journal of devotions notes, and I realized that I wrote about the same verse twice, and I think it's quite fitting for this subject:

"The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives, this leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death." - 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NCV)

In essence, I do think that everything happens for a purpose, but whether the event that happened was in God's control or not could go either way, and we can never know. In church today, Professor Kowalski talked about this, and he called it "divine ambiguity". The fact that there are some doctrine things that we are given the benefit of the doubt. Because if we knew everything, we wouldn't need to have faith or place trust in God. And the truth that there are topics that people can take different ways, so that people can uniquely apply it to their lives.

So whether or not God's hand was involved in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is something we will not be fully sure of while living on this Earth. And maybe God kept another natural disaster from coming somewhere else, but that's something we'd know even less. We could keep questioning and doubting, but that would get us nowhere, because God works on his own time and reveals certain things to us to guide us, but not to drag us. He gives us freedom, but he still actively pursues us!

But the foundation still stands that our world is broken by sin, and we don't deserve anything less than death and hopelessness. When God gave us everything, we turned away from his compassion and the chance to live with him. Our sin creates a barrier with him and with happiness. Luckily, God is compassionate and offers salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So that even in our sorrows, we can find hope in Jesus' absolute love for us. And because of our sorrows and pain, we may realize that we are nothing without God.

That is what 2 Corinthians 7:10 is saying. God never gives us more than we can handle. He may allow us to go through sorrow, because he knows that in the end it will make us stronger and happier. But he never supports the sorrow or sadness that we feel, those worldly things that nothing good comes out of. Blessings can come out of bad things; and in the end God is not to blame, He is the one to behold.

SHAYLA

♥ FAVORITE VERSE:
Can any of you add a single hour to the length of your life by worrying?
-Matthew 6:27 (ISV)

♥ TESTIMONY:
I grew up with an amazing family in the church, and accepted Jesus in preschool. I didn't really know what it meant, I just knew that that's what we did. When I was seven years old, I started experiencing extreme anxiety and panic attacks (I could describe how detrimental and downright scary panic attacks are, but if you really gotta know...look it up), but I never told anyone because I thought I was dying. It got progressively worse and when I was in 5th grade I had become so anxious that I couldn't eat. I could feel my body draining of energy and became so weak that I couldn't get out of bed or off the couch. Even though I really didn't understand the plans God had for me, or how he would enter my life, I was really comforted by reading the bible and talking to him. I would read Psalms mostly because it gave me just a little bit of hope. Around 7th grade, my panic attacks got so bad that I finally told my mom and we went to the doctor and I learned about my panic and anxiety disorders. That summer I went to a camp with my church's youth group and I experienced God through worship and fellowship in a way that I hadn't before. That was when it became real to me that I wasn't hopeless, and that God's love is for EVERYONE. That first summer gave me motivation to chase after Jesus, and over the years I grew in my faith and relationship with Him. Now in my life, I still deal with anxiety and depression on a daily basis, but it doesn't rule my life anymore. I'm so thankful that I deal with it, because the biggest struggles in life can teach you who you really are. Through this I've learned that on my own, I'm useless. I can't do life without God. I NEED God. It's the most humbling experience and journey. I now look at my anxiety as a blessing rather than a disorder. God has used something so ugly and life-taking to give me motivation to do something about it. I just got so fed up with life that my only option was to trust in God, and actually fight for him. He has given me strength, comfort, and the ability to help others in this painful situation. I've learned that God doesn't make situations easier, but there is no 'self-help' book out there that can compare to His support and love.