[The Gift Within Our Struggles] - Paul Sungro Lee

🌿 In most cases, problems in Christian life are but uninvited reminders of our need for prayer. This is the principle of answering prayers through elevation … Sufferings we meet on our paths are meant to make us stronger at the end of the roads. It is rather in the unknowable dimension of God’s mystery.

I once heard a pastor preaching at a certain church I visited long ago in suburban Washington DC. He described the problems in life as follows: “Problems in our life are the very proof that we’re alive. The dead have no problems. Problems soar us up in the faith. Problems close one door but open another. Problems we face remind us of the importance of family. They mature and enlarge our souls. They cultivate our hearts fertile. They keep us from being arrogant by looking only at the harvest of autumn. Problems allow us to learn the secret to radiating the beautiful aroma of faith amid suffering like juniper trees producing an aromatic scent when crushed.”

💡 Problems and hardships permitted by God to fall on our paths are not to discourage us but rather to boost us toward greater Christian maturity by utilizing them as stepping stones.

* This article is excerpted from [Disciples of the Nations: Multiplying Disciples and Churches in Global Contexts]. To purchase and read the rest of the book, please visit Amazon or Wipf & Stock Publishers.