Suffering, Compassion, & Carrying On

I was reading a post today called Why Missionaries Need a Theology of Suffering Really, everybody needs to think about this for their own life, that suffering isn't meant to be avoided, rather it needs to be accepted and even embraced as a part of life. I know, I don't like that either. However in my work and life overseas I have learned the truth of that statement.

A simple example is making new friends. After about four years of living in Asia I was tired of making new friends. Not just a whiny tired where I thought about not making anymore new friends but tired enough to come to the point of not inviting new people over, not going out of my way to introduce myself, not really being welcoming. Why? Because it hurt to have to say goodbye 2 or 3 years later. If you keep ripping a scab off a wound, it ends up worse than it started; might as well just chop the whole limb off, seriously! But there is more suffering still.

What about:

• ever prevalent poverty, hopelessness
• abuse of children
• a family disowning a son because he decided to follow Christ
• the lack of regard for a person because he's not important enough, because she's a woman, because those children are just orphans, because they are elderly...
• the husband whose wife is lying in bed knowing the doctors have done their all so now it's wait and see
• natural and man-made disasters
• the knowledge that a friend has deceived you and took advantage of you and your family

It is so easy to close ourselves off to the suffering around us because it is hard, sometimes it is too much. But to do that is to close off our flow of love and compassion to the world around us. Jesus was sent because of God's love for us and showed compassion in so many of his actions towards the people around him. In our suffering we can open ourselves to receive the love and compassion of our Father and this is the source of our compassion to those around us (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

One of the things I do in member care is help people step back and see what situations/events they have gone through and how it has impacted them. How did they walk through it and how are they on the other side? A bit stronger, a deeper sense of God's peace in times of trouble, a shadow that now sits over them, a weariness in their soul, are they still in it, maybe they don't care about anything anymore... I am humbled to sit with the people I oversee. To allow space for questions about suffering and God's goodness, God's love for us and the world, expectations versus hopes versus reality, and to give opportunity to recall God's character and his faithfulness in the past. To pray for them. It is an honour. 

Several years ago, you may recall, I wanted nothing to do with going back to Asia. I wouldn't even talk about it. I felt beyond weary. It took just over a year and the help of some caring and wise people before I was ready and able to return overseas. The suffering experienced and compassion shown, shaped me tremendously. 

I pray, and want you to pray with me, that I can continue to do that for others.