When Everything Is Stripped Away

Blogging buddy Vicki (Victoria Gaines) over at Windows to My Soul posted the following thoughts recently. Vicki has a lot going on in her life and her husband is facing three (3) surgeries in the upcoming months. Please pray for Vicki and her family and enjoy the following post.

Check out Windows to My Soul at: http://www.windowstomysoul.blogspot.com

She mentioned a singer today on her blog who is from my hometown of Peterborough, Ontario. Check out what Vicki has to say about Katie Workman.

Vicki writes:

"We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."~ 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 "

No one ever said that they learned their deepest lessons of life, or had their sweetest encounters with God, on the sunny days. People go deep with God when the drought comes. That is the way God designed it. Christ aims to be magnified in life most clearly by the way we experience him in our losses."~ John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, pg.73

Life is hectic these days. I have to force myself to pause and reflect. As I do, the Lord reminds me that He is the only treasure that will last. In Him alone is my rest. Piper says in his most excellent book, Don't Waste Your Life, that God designs our tribulations to intensify our hope for the glory of God.

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Romans 5:3-4).

It's this hope that "grows and deepens and satisfies" through our difficulties as we lean on Him and savor His glory.If how we handle loss shows who our treasure is, I want to handle it in a way that magnifies Christ. And I desperately rely on His grace for that . . . His amazing grace.