trust, pain, sacrifice, hope

From a good book that MoiMoi bought me for Christmas...

Trusting God is dangerous business. Unless we're trusting Him for what He's promised to provide, the step after trust is disillusionment. In his college days, Ted Turner trusted God. When a loved one contracted cancer and, in spite of his prayers, died a painful death, the young Mr. Turner turned from God. He lost hope when his dreams were shattered. He could no longer depend on God. And he was right. God cannot be trusted to always minimize our suffering in this life. So what can He be trusted for? Exactly what is He doing with His considerable power? What would be different if we experienced that power, if His power were released in us? These questions are like arrows on the rim of a circle, each pointing to the hub, the central issue of hope. When dreams shatter, we lose hope. We may get on, but the fire is gone. The spark has been doused, our passion for life extinguished. At least that's how it seems... That is my problem with God (and perhaps yours): To people whose whole souls have been inudated with pain, God seems so unresponsive. We pray and nothing happens. We cannot manage to write His name at the top of our list of most cherished friends. We know we should and we know we would... if we could see things as they really are. How do we find the faith that lets us see what is invisible, to passionately believe that He's always wonderfully and lovingly responsive when He seems so callous? That's the question: What does it mean to hope in God as we continue to live in a world where good dreams shatter and God seems to do nothing about it? -Shattered Dreams, by Larry Crabb.

The ideas of suffering, sacrifice, and hope has been marinating in my brain recently. I wonder if it's because the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha happened recently, which commemorates the trial where God asked him to sacrifice his son. Maybe it's this continuing premonition that I'll be asked to sacrifice more of the things I love the further I get on this journey toward getting my master's degree and becoming a teacher...
posted by G at 12:00 AM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33