Huisgenoot/You article

Hi everyone. If you are overseas or have missed the 5 January edition of the Huisgenoot/You, you can download the pdfs of the 4 page article here. Click here for Huisgenoot. Click here for You. (Right click and then 'save link as' to download).

After the article appeared I was made aware again of how many people have gone through similar experiences. My heart goes out to everyone who have also lost a child. Some have even lost more than one. There is no description for such a loss. The pain is real and it is a lasting pain. There is no good advice that will help. 

The only thing we have is hope, hope in Jesus, and without hope we might just as well give up. Thank God the Bible is not just another book with good advice. It does not require us to try harder or to become better and stronger. It is Good News, allowing us to start over, to become new.

In this Hope we know this is not the end. In this Hope we can stay focused when things are tough, because we know we are just a tiny pixel on a big screen. There is a bigger picture, we just can't see it right now, but one day we will. In this Hope we have a future. A perfect future where there is no sense of loss, no pain and no not-knowing. I am so thankful for that.

Proud to be the parents of brave little Tabitha!

I say all these things and you may think it sounds wonderful. But its a hope in what is to come. 'Future' in the Bible does not usually refer to next year, or next decade. It refers to heaven, so don't get confused. Jesus didn't promise a quick fix to forgetting our pain. But He did promise peace in spite of our pain. (John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”)

Its in times like this when we can relate with our suffering brother Paul, who said the famous words, so popularly (mis)quoted: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13) No, he did not say this as he wrote down his new years' resolutions.  He wrote this while in prison in Rome, to the Philippian Church. He explained to them that he has learned to be content in every situation, whether he has had little or much. When he was weak (probably physically from not having food) he found his strength in Jesus to continue doing what he has been called to do. When we are weak in our suffering, we can also find our strength in Jesus. And like Paul, we can learn to suffer well. We can be available to let God use our situation for His Kingdom, so that our suffering is not wasted. And in realising how wonderful God can work in any bad situation, we are humbled and encouraged and made stronger in the process.

Being rich or being healthy is not our goal. Learning to be content is. In this life some will be rich, and some will be poor. Some will be healthy, and some will suffer from terminal illnesses, die of cancer or be killed in car crashes. Some will bury their children. But nothing can separate us from God's love and no one can take our inheritance in Jesus away from us. (Romans 8: 35, 37-39  "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.")

Some people think that their fortunate circumstances is a result of being in the will of God. Yes, by all means, thank God for your blessings. But also learn to thank him should your blessings be taken away from you.  Don't pick a random verse out of context and expect God to fit in with your interpretation. He promised to supply our needs, not our wants. He promised us victory over sin in Jesus, not sidestepping unwanted circumstances. Yes, He can do miracles, but he never promised them. If our hope is in things, people, or in what we think we can manipulate Jesus to do, we'll soon be disappointed. But what a comforting thought to know that no matter what comes our way, we can walk through it with peace that surpasses all understanding and an unexplainable joy, only found in Jesus.

I'd like to share the story of a guy called Horatio Spafford, who's life was a great testimony of this peace and joy. He was a prominent lawyer in the 1800's in Chicago. A great fire destroyed almost everything he owned. Shortly after, his four daughters, aged between 2 and 11, died simultaneously in a ship tragedy. After the tragedy, him and his wife had three more children. The only boy died at age 4. While crossing the ocean to be with his surviving wife after the tragedy of loosing his four daughters, he wrote these words, that later became a well know hymn:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

(more verses follow - you can read the whole story on wikipedia)