When does the thorn become a blessing?

I was listening to the song "blessing in the thorn" ( Link to song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI5Wowca5hw&feature=youtube_gdata_player ) today, and it really reached my soul and encouraged me that our life is about our outlook and where we are rooted.

Our Father had to walk through great suffering, and He tells us that all things are possible with Him. He also tells us to rejoice always, so if you find yourself in a place of suffering, just know that you are not there alone, and that God will give you the strength for joy even in your mourning.

Realize also that your spirit may have great joy in your circumstances despite what they are, but that doesn't mean that on the outside it won't display tears to others. I believe we have the ability to show great sadness in our circumstances, but also have great joy in our heart. They both can live together. You have to prove nothing to people watching you and "telling" you what you "should" be doing. Suffering is very personal between you and God. Be faithful to walk it out with Him, and He will be your guide, sustainer, strength, hope, endurance and your ALL.

Jesus IS our hope. When our situation feels hopeless just remember that Jesus (our hope) has overcome the world. Our circumstance are very much of the world and the result of sin being in it. God wants us to be willing to become more like Him because of what we face. If we will walk it out with Him instead of without him, hope is regained, our servants heart can be restored, our purpose can be found.

People are ALWAYS watching how you respond to your trials, don't focus on them. In order to provide the hope of Salvation to those around, we need to plant our lives firmly in Christ. That will not mean perfection, but it will mean transparency of self so they see through you to Christ in you.

Don't lose heart, Christ HAS overcome the world.

John 16
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

II Corinthians 12
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


Blessing in the thorn

I read about a man of God
Who gloried in his weakness
And I wish that I could be
More like Him and less like me
Am I to blame for what I'm not
Or is pain the way God teaches me to grow
I need to know

When does the thorn become a blessing
When does the pain become a friend
When does the weakness make me stronger
When does my faith make me whole again
I want to feel His arms around me
In the middle of my raging storm
So that I can see the blessing in the thorn

I've heard it said the strength of Christ
Is perfect in my weakness
And the more that I go through
The more I prove the promise true
His love will go to any length
And reaches even now to where I am
But tell me once again

Lord, I have to ask You
On the cross You suffered through
Was there a time You ever doubted
What You already knew.

Link to song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI5Wowca5hw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Triumphant in suffering by Merle Ruth

In reading this book I found a lot that encouraged me in it, but I am only going to share a few.

Chastening
by Grace E. Troy
I know not why His hand is laid,
In chastening on my life,
Nor why it is my little world
Is filled so full of strife.
I know not why, when faith looks up
And seeks for rest from pain,
That o’er my sky fresh clouds arise
And drench my path with rain.
I know not why my prayer so long
By Him has been denied:
Nor why, while others’ ships sail on,
Mine should in port abide.
But I do know that God is LOVE,
That He my burden shares,
And though I may not understand,
I know for me He cares.
I know the heights for which I long
Are often reached through pain,
I know the sheaves must needs be threshed
To yield the golden grain.
I know that, though He may remove
The friends on whom I lean,
‘Tis that I thus may learn to love
And trust the One unseen.
And, when at last I see His face
And know as I am known,
I will not care how rough the road
That led me to my home.
-Grace E. Troy, Osterhus Publishing House

I walked a mile with pleasure

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When sorrow walked with me.

-Robert Browning Hamilton

If it were not for the briars,
If the days were never dim,
If we met no disappointments,
Could we see our need of Him?

What God hath promised
By Annie Flint
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

Refrain

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

Refrain

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

Refrain



Life's Lessons
Author: John Henry Newman

I learn, as the years roll onward
And leave the past behind,
That much I had counted sorrow
But proves that God is kind;
That many a flower I had longed for
Had hidden a thorn of pain,
And many a rugged bypath
Led to fields of ripened grain.

The clouds that cover the sunshine
They can not banish the sun;
And the earth shines out the brighter
When the weary rain is done.
We must stand in the deepest shadow
To see the clearest light;
And often through wrong's own darkness
Comes the very strength of light.

The sweetest rest is at even,
After a wearisome day,
When the heavy burden of labor
Has borne from our hearts away;
And those who have never known sorrow
Can not know the infinite peace
That falls on the troubled spirit
When it sees at last release.

We must live through the dreary winter
If we would value the spring;
And the woods must be cold and silent
Before the robins sing.
The flowers must be buried in darkness
Before they can bud and bloom,
And the sweetest, warmest sunshine
Comes after the storm and gloom.