Dear Ones,
Hope you have a blessed day. I am going with Al to an appointment early this morning and then later we are having friends over for fellowship and prayer.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
We have all experienced emotional pain and trauma in our lives and we may ask, why did this happen to me? Or maybe it has happened to a loved one and we see their suffering and we wonder how can we help bring healing to them? I think of a sermon preached recently by our Intern as he just knelt by the altar before the cross and shared how Jesus became one with us in our suffering because of what He endured on the cross.

I have had friends who were sexually abused by their father, someone that should have protected them. They experienced shame, anger and grief. Even though we wish it never happened, it helps to know that Jesus is one with us in our suffering. It says in Isaiah 53:3-4, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow…” Jesus can identify with us as he experienced the most horrendous suffering of injustice, shame, nakedness, rejection, forsakenness, and unbelievable pain. So He feels what we feel and can identify with our suffering.

No matter what we have gone through, when we see our own suffering in light of Jesus’ greater suffering it helps us to know He understands. He weeps with us, He knows the pain, He will help us come to terms with our own suffering and be able to forgive the one who has harmed us. Only He can transform it and turn it into triumph through the cross. He can use our suffering to accomplish His purpose, just as God did in His son. Yes, He still had the scars in His hands and feet but they were radiant scars, just as ours become when we forgive. What the enemy intends for evil, God takes and uses it for healing, not only of our own souls but others.

Challenge for today: Give the broken pieces of your life to the Lord, let Him heal you and use you in ministering to others.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy