Romans 5: 1-5

"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Romans 5:1-5

This passage kept coming into my mind as I was in bed praying. I couldn't sleep.

This is one of my favorite passages in the bible. This passage was given to me to read when I was struggling with bulima in high school. Many years later, I was asked to pray this passage with a woman I knew who was going to prision after making some bad choices. Her love of God, her repentence and this passage was going to get her through her year in jail, away from her children. Years later, I read this passage to my friend eveytime she began her chemotherapy. If I wasn't with her, I read it to her over the phone. Recently, I shared this passage with a teenager. All of us in different seasons in our lives, with sturggles that seem too big to bear but with faith, trust and pure stubbornness we all can forge on, lead by faith to overcome. I hope that this passage continues to resonate with those who read it and pray on it. It is the climb up the mountain that enables us to overcome so we can become what awaits us on the other side.

Romans 5:1-5 is my mantra.

I think this passage speaks to our suffering in a very personal way. We all suffer through life at different times and in different ways. We personally suffer through difficulties, health crisis,life's hard times, grief and the list can go on. As a parent, I suffer as I sometimes watch my children suffer. It is through our struggles and suffering that God gives us hope in the possibilities of tomorrow.

I often feel that I live in two worlds, the world of this century and a spiritual world that is beyond my comprehension. A place of undeserved privilege. It is a separation of and a union of something bigger than me, a two sided reality of my life. Oh...and when I am there, breathing in the breath of God....I do have the faith to overcome and that feeling is what I lean on when I forget, which is only human, isn't it? The gift of knowing God is always, always with me, gives me my strength and hope in tomorrow.

On the one hand I am growing in Christ, feeling both His presence and the struggles of life. Then there is this peace that passes all understanding and lives in my soul. Having experienced that peace,I know the climb to the other side of my struggles, to that peace, is what I must overcome to become. It is in this journey that God carries me when the climb seems too much to bear, when I can't do it alone but I know I am not alone, as God lives in me.

I think this is what the apostle Paul is saying to us: We will experience difficulties that help us grow, we rejoice in suffering (yes, rejoice in suffering....I know this is a hard one and it totally sucks at times, but we learn to depend on the strength that God gives us, who is alive in us by the power of the Holy Spirit). We rejoice in suffering not because we like pain or deny the feelings that this pain brings. We rejoice because by faith, we know that God is using the difficulties we face to build our character to be more like Him. The problems we run into will develop our perseverance, which will also strengthen our character. This will deepen our trust in God and we are never, never alone.

Namaste',
Maureen



My 16 year old son told me this evening that I have written about Roamns 5:1-5 twice on my blog. My 16 year old takes the time to read my blog! Now that is totally cool.