Come What May (#1048)

16 Comments

1. Thanks Wayne for this episode. This has reached a deep part of my own suffering. Different circumstances and my pain being some physical and now large family relational (being dismissed) hurt. God speaking through your words as my painful confusion is being processed. You’ve articulated over and over to have eyes move away from outcomes and on to Jesus. Holding both hurt in ugly circumstances and his grace in this tension.

2. I’m sorry for every bit of suffering you’ve gone through, Sue. I don’t know the details, but I appreciate your heart and how Jesus is shaping you through the pain to reflect more of the glory in this world. I do know what it means to have family members lie bout you, then dismiss any attempts to discover what’s true. But you have another family in which you are loved, respected, and cherished. Blessings and love.

3. Thank you so much for sharing what our Father so graciously shared with you, Wayne (at 4am, no less!) I have a loved one who is often faced with pain and health challenges that lead them to despair of life itself. I loved picturing Sara kneeling down, taking your face in her hands, and reminding you to take the pain one day at a time. You also reminded us that God doesn’t give grace for tomorrow today and that experiencing his closeness during times of our own pain, loss, and suffering puts us in a unique position to be able to just sit with others in their pain with no judgement, no fixing, no Bible verses. I want to be a safe place for my loved one and others to pour their heart out, anger, questions, and all. It seems our own pain, difficult as it is, prepares us to be better at walking alongside someone else in their suffering.

   • You’re welcome LP. I’m sorry for whatever you loved one is going through. But it sounds like Jesus had prepared your heart to walk with them as much as they will allow. May God give you wisdom and patience.

4. Thank you thank you for sharing your heart via this podcast, Wayne. Your words are applicable in countless situations and very encouraging. To know God as someone who loves us so much more than we can imagine, who’s working to heal us and all for good, makes ALL the difference. I’m not completely there yet, even just knowing his love for me, but I definitely see the progress, and I’m very thankful for the input you’ve provided along the way.

   • You’re welcome, Lisa. I love your comment, and the process you share of learning to live inside a love that we cannot comprehend, but we can rest in. May his grace continue to walk with you through all the challenges life throws at you.

5. Thank you and thank God, this is so timely for us. My brother is grieving the loss of his wife who died recently and we are about to pray fully take a step towards reconciliation with my wife’s sister.

   • Thanks for letting me know, Nigel. I’m sorry for your brother’s loss and pray your attempts at reconciliation will be fruitful in humility and tenderness.

6. Thanks for responding Wayne. I can see that others also are processing pain….and finding your words very helpful. I’m feeling confused at times because Jesus’s affirmation is enough….also it’s hard to live with what feels like an unmet need for human affirmation….so that tension is difficult. Then I wonder if there are things that I’m missing (more than likely) or a combination of all of these factors.

   • Sue, I don’t understand what you meant about Jesus’s affirmation being enough. I find it is. While it is always great to receive an encouraging word from a brother or sister, I have found that being the beloved son of a gracious Father is really all that I need. It’s so easy for people to manipulate us, or for us to manipulate them if we are seeking our validation from others. I like the freedom of not needing that, though appreciating it when it’s there. I wish I knew you better, Sue, but I love it when you comment and appreciate deeply the journey you are on. I know it isn’t without cost.

     • You’re right Wayne….as I’ve followed TGJ for a number of years I know much more about your life than you know about me. If we were in geographic proximity (where we could meet and dialogue) …glad that your podcasts/discussions encourage so many of us who are spread across distances. God has brought some people who I can meet and develop connections with. I think that the tension for me is (remember Sean from a number of years ago who said “I feel emotionally as though it’s not enough”) where I see what is lacking and I see you having more fullness. I remember Sean also experienced the “waves” of sometimes “fullness” of that and other times “drought”. (Episode “why won’t God love me”). Appreciate that you are willing to engage with us.

       • Always, Sue. It isn’t easy sorting through our emotions, finding out if our expectations were off or if we’re missing something. That’s why I think contentedness is such a gift, especially when I hope for more. Content with what is, I’m more likely to see the path where he wants to lead me to more. Desperation or questions that focus on my possible failings never seem to bridge that gap, at least for me. But when I’m content with what I see, I think I’m open to seeing where he is and what he’s doing, and that allows me to grow more organically than trying to reach for something he hasn’t given me yet.

7. I lost my husband in June. The pain is so deep. I felt I was just getting to know him after 45 years. The relationship seems unfinished, he died so suddenly. I know I’ll see him again, but my journey seems so hard now, almost like I’m missing a limb. I lean hard on Jesus to carry me the rest of the way. He is speaking, speaking through the fog of pain. I am not alone.

   • Hi Kathy, I’m so sorry for your loss, especially that it was so sudden. The depth of your pain will reflect the depth of your love for him, so don’t let it discourage you. I’m so glad he is in the fog with you. Just let him walk through it, inviting Jesus to be inside your tears with you, and all that you miss about him. I’ve got a good friend who lost his wife in March. His pain is still great, but getting better. There’s no shortcut through grief; you just have to keep waking up, putting one foot in front of the other. Do what is before you each day, and hold your grief as a tribute to how much he meant to you. You will always miss him, I’m sure, but there is a way for God to rebuild life around you where you will find peace and joy again. I’m sorry you’re going through this, and pray that Father’s goodness will be apparent even in the grief. With love…

8. I was waiting before the Lord early one morning a while ago, deeply moved, but not knowing how to pray, (not unusual for me); when the words Jesus spoke to His disciples in Luke 22 were impressed on me, ‘sift you like wheat’.

   I looked up the verse: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” He said this to all of the disciples, but mentioned Simon’s name only.

   That Jesus addressed all of them implies, to me at least, that this can be our experience too. What struck me about the discourse is that while Jesus anticipated it, He didn’t advise Simon to hide in a room somewhere so as to avoid the coming storm and the shame of denying that he knew Him; Jesus allowed it to play out. What encouraged me most was that Jesus was praying for them that their faith wouldn’t fail, and this is true for all of us today.

   What prompted me to respond to your podcast, Wayne, is that, yes, I agree, God doesn’t on the one hand cause us to know pain and disappointment and suffering while at the same time comfort us as we struggle through it. It seems to me though, from what Simon lived through when he denied knowing Jesus and the formative impact it had on him, that in realms unseen and in conversations that we don’t get to hear, God in His infinite wisdom permits the enemy to buffet us so as to refine us. All the while, our Great High Priest, in unseen realms, intercedes for us, so that our faith does not fail; just amazing.

   Sifting wheat it seems was a prolonged and violent shaking process using a sieve in order to remove grit and chaff so to ensure that all that was left was pure grain that can be milled into flour. The sifting of the wheat enables the provision of the real bread of heaven, that Jesus speaks about in John 6, to find its way into our lives to strengthen our brethren through our fellowship with one another.

   Tommy

   • Hi Tommy. It’s great to hear from you here. That’s one of my favorite stories, watching Jesus navigate through a failure he had not even committed yet. I just love that. I think in this case the enemy’s desire to sift him like wheat was in alignment with Jesus’s purpose to show Peter that his confidence was still in his own strength of will, and not in the Father’s love to protect him. This brought him to the end of himself. But notice this “permitting” was not about something that happened to Peter, but a circumstance in which Peter would make a choice born of fear. The sifting was the choice; the restoration was to show him that his power prevailed even over our misguided choices.

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