Xanga Archives 03/18/2005

⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. ⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. ⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

~2 Corinthians 12:7-10

My husband and I are suffering a trial together. It is in my husbands control and I have no power to "fix it".

I have fretted, worried and prayed over this many times. About 3 days ago, I got my answer. "My Grace is sufficient for thee."

It finally occurred to me that, even though, we are one, my husband and I are also separate in our paths to righteousness and what God may be teaching him may be different from what he is teaching me.

This trial may be a physical therapy of sorts. If you injure or have problems with one part of your body, you must put it through exercise and trials to heal it. During this therapy and healing process, other parts of the body may suffer from overcompensation and general fatigue at taking up for the lack of performance of the injured body part, but the result in the end is that the healthy body part will gain strength along with the wounded body part.

My husband and I are 2 parts of the same body and if God is putting one of us through His brand of therapy (spiritual), then the other may have to overcompensate and/or suffer while the other is healed, but the other will gain spiritual strength in suffering along with his/her spouse.

I confided in someone our problem and the advice of this person was Biblical and sound; this person also gave me Bible references to read and share with my husband on the subject. Funny thing, I didn't understand the message in the references. Why? Maybe I wasn't supposed to. God wanted me to have a different message.

So what does this mean?

I cannot presume to know what God is doing in my husbands heart, but His message was very clear to me. God uses trials to teach and bring glory to himself, but he doesn't always deliver us in the time that we would hope. I believe God was telling me to serve my husband in joy and live on His grace day by day.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

~Luke 11:3