Weathering The Storms of Life
Faith In God Makes The Difference
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24 (HCSB)
A few years ago, the expression was coined “Just the facts, Jack!” The fact is faith in God always makes the difference. Andy Cook is the pastor of Shirley Hills Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia. He tells the following stories about four years ago:
“It’s the story of two people. One is Ted Turner. He is 71 years old, and still in the news. With a net worth estimated around $2.3 billion, Turner has made an impact on cable television, news reporting, and major league baseball. He has given $1 billion to United Nations causes, and was once married to Jane Fonda. Through it all, Turner was never boring. Outspoken at every turn, Turner’s few missteps have included harsh statements about Christianity.
“Christianity is a religion for losers,” he said in 1990. On another occasion, he joked that the Pope should step on a land mine. He once asked some of his CNN employees who were wearing ashes on their forehead on Ash Wednesday, “What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks?” Turner even blamed his divorce from Fonda on her decision to become a practicing Christian.
Interestingly, Turner grew up in a Christian Home, and at 17, planned on being a missionary! “I was very religious when I was young,” Turner told Michael Eisner. “I was a born-again Christian. In fact, I was born again seven times including once by Billy Graham. I mean, I know it inside and out.”
But Turner lost his faith when he watched his sister die from a rare form of lupus, at the age of 20. For five years, turner said, “I prayed 30 minutes every day for God to save her, and he didn’t. A kind and loving God wouldn’t let my sister suffer so much. I said, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with you.'” In short, the concept of suffering separated Ted Turner from his faith in God.
The other person to consider? Her name was Amy Carmichael. She, too, knew the disappointment of unanswered prayer. It may sound silly to know that as a child she had prayed for her eye color to change, but she desperately prayed that her eyes would change from blue to brown. Many people in her native England had blue eyes, and Amy wanted them, too. The color stayed the same, of course, but Amy didn’t turn away from God. In fact, she followed more closely.
She became one of the most famous missionaries in history, moving to India, where she remained for the rest of her life. And there, surrounded by Indians, she noticed that the entire nation there had brown eyes. Her eyes, as it turned out, were a gift to her from God.
One other thing that was a gift from God? A painful nerve condition and a bad fall left her bedridden for most of the final 20 years of her life. But even there, Carmichael saw her suffering as a gift from God. Saying simply that, “A wise master never wastes his servant’s time,”
Carmichael wrote most of her 46 books from that bed, books that have inspired generations of believers, including a host of other missionaries. It was Amy Carmichael’s life and writings for instance that proved to be the major inspiration for Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, two more voices that changed the world for Christ, in part, through their suffering. And through such influence, Carmichael saw her suffering turn into pure joy.
Truth is, the storms are coming. They come for all of us, whether you accept that as a part of life, like Amy Carmichael did, or whether you reject God because of the same suffering, as Ted Turner did.”
Today’s Prayer
Dear Lord,
I believe that struggles, even pain and suffering, are a part of life. Help me to life by faith knowing that You will be with me. May my situations in life be an opportunity to proclaim Your love and grace to all people. In Jesus Name, Amen.
