Rejoicing Through Your Troubles
Friday’s Verse:
From 1 Peter 1:6 ESV
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials”
Cancer sucks. Seriously, there’s nothing nice to say about this horrific disease. It is awful, no matter what kind you’re battling. It just sucks.
Side effects of treatments really knock you around. From the list of possible side effects I could experience I face: fatigue (check), lowered immunity (check), neuropathy (this is fun when going down stairs), mouth sores (not so fun), always feeling cold (yup, all the time), easy bruising (back of my left thigh …beauty), dry skin, you name it. Oh, and the pain in different areas of my body likes to stick around.
I try not to complain about side effects because, well, no one likes a complainer. So instead of voicing how crappy I feel, I keep it all bottled up for my psychologist and/or God to deal with it.
Rejoice?!?!? Joy isn’t even close to where I’m at, but hang on….Isn’t that what Saint Peter says to do? Even in the toughest trials in this life, we are to rejoice. In the middle of our troubles, we put on a face of joy….and mean it.
Each of us who has been baptized into the family of God has been promised many things from our Lord. Through the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, we receive forgiveness of sin. The grace we have from God is not because we are good people…it is because God is good and righteous. He promises us eternal life through His Son, and by having faith in Jesus, we partake of God’s unimaginable grace. Nothing we have or will receive from our Father is deserved. It is bestowed on us because our God in heaven loves us and is gracious to us.
This is what we rejoice in! Whether you have the flu ( like everyone these days ) or are fighting cancer, we can rejoice in God daily. Thank the Lord this Friday and every day for the blessings in our lives.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Heavenly Father, thank you for all You have done for me. Please continue to guide me on the right path of true faith throughout my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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