Suffering and Blessing (by Rebecca Sheahan)

I gotta post this, for one reason Rebecca doesn’t have a blog of her own, it was in a congregation wide email for Easter and I posted it on our church website/blog (http://www.northlandchurch.net/blogs/category/oviedo/).  Secondly , and more importantly, this is a GREAT article because Rebecca is a person who, more so than most I know our age (well at least hers) is intimately aware of suffering with no explanation, no reason, and left with only Christ!  That is why I love this article and am encouraging everyone to take the time to read and think and pray…..

_______________

Suffering and Blessing

As Easter is rapidly approaching, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Doing a close reading of the book of John reveals over and over how Jesus saw His upcoming death. He saw it as not only obedience to God’s will, but a blessing and a gift to those that would believe in His Name. This idea, that Jesus could view His imminent torture and suffering as a blessing, has got me thinking about how I view blessing and suffering in my own life. Or rather, how I need to change my understanding of their definitions!

I’ve got to get this idea out of my head that God’s blessing comes in the form of what Iwant. What I want is not necessarily what God has for me, and what God has for me is not always what I want, especially at first. Take for example, Mary. In Luke 1:28, the angel of the Lord tells Mary she is highly favored. And just in case we miss it the first time he repeats it again in verse 1:30, saying “you have found favor with God.” Can’t be more clear than that, right? And what does her being highly favored by God get her? Well, God blesses her by causing her to become pregnant before she is married. I doubt Mary could see all that would come from this blessing. I’m sure she was very upset at how her reputation would be ruined and worried about how Joseph would see her. If Mary had refused this unconventional blessing because of the suffering it would initially cause, imagine what she would have lost out on! She would have missed out on being the Mother of Jesus! But putting myself in her shoes, I’m not so sure I wouldn’t have done just that. I can hear myself saying, “Well, thanks for coming all this way, I appreciate the compliments, and wow, I feel pretty special, but I’m happy with the way my life is going and I’d rather not muck it up with an unplanned pregnancy. Can’t God bless me in some other way?”

When we encounter difficulties do we immediately ask God to take them away because they are painful or inconvenient? Or do we consider that this difficult thing is a blessing God has given to us to bring us closer to Him and give Him glory? In John 9, Jesus encounters a man who has been blind since birth. When Jesus is asked why this man is blind, Jesus says clearly that he is blind so that God’s work would be done in his life!

I don’t know about you, but if someone asked me if I want God’s work done in my life, I’d say yes without even thinking. I’d probably even go on about how wonderful it is, and how I strive to bring Him glory. But when God’s work in my life takes the form of suffering, trial, and hardship, I know I am slow to see it as a blessing. I catch myself wondering if God knows what’s going on in my life, asking why He would let me struggle with this, or feel that pain. My knee jerk reaction to suffering is to ask for God to get me out of this situation or heal me of my pain, instead of stopping to see how he is working for my good and His glory. Sometimes it’s easier to see why something difficult would be for my good. But, more often, I really can’t see that far down the road. And since I can’t see any good in my suffering, I immediately think God needs to get me out of this, and quickly!

How different is Christ’s attitude when it comes to suffering! Even when His heart is troubled over the impending pain and separation He faced, He recognizes that His suffering was “the very reason I came.” And further, that His death and suffering would bring glory to His Father in heaven! (John 12:27-28). Had Jesus chosen to flee His suffering, instead of walking right into it, there would be no Resurrection. We would all be hopeless. Jesus did many things in His time on earth, all for God’s glory. But His ultimate act of obedience was to endure a suffering we can not fully comprehend. Jesus knew that His suffering was actually a blessing because it would bring God glory, and bring us to Him. The actual definition for blessing is this: to bestow upon or be infused with holiness, and divine will. And Jesus’ suffering on the Cross fits that definition perfectly!

So this Sunday as I celebrate Jesus coming out of the tomb and saving me from my sin, I will also be celebrating His suffering and blessing. Because they are one and the same. And I’m asking Him to help me see blessing the way He does. Not as some magical wish fulfillment, but the glory of God being revealed in my life no matter what or how difficult the circumstances.

Rebecca Sheahan, Site Coordinator Northland at Oviedo

Africa Sunday Success

We had been building up to Sunday, September 20th since we returned from our summer mission trip to Swaziland and apparently many of you were as excited as we were. We had the second largest attendance of the year, only behind Easter, and there were few dry eyes in the place. After the incredible message from Dr. Hunter on ‘being the church’ we shared with each of you what happened to a small group of people that started gathering to study God’s Word about 2 years ago and neded up ‘being the church’ in ways it never thought possible.

We shared how God had done a work in each of us as we began to experience ‘being’ the church together, as it says in Acts, by studying the Apostles teaching, having fellowship, breaking bread, having communion, praying, serving and even having a baptism in the group. This transformation culminated in our going to Africa together in July and building upon an already growing relationship between our Oviedo site through Northland, to Vredelust Church in Capetown, to this little school in Siteki, Swaziland. I briefly mentioned how each of us had incredible stories to share and testimonies of God’s power in, around and through our lives in preparation for the trip, while we were there, and even still now that we are back here processing it all.

Some amazing stories indeed like the story of a woman who never thought she would go at all, but still went, without her husband a year ago, only to return unsure of what it all meant and then to go back this year with 9 other people.  Or another woman who was positive she wasn’t going when the rest of this crazy group thought they might, but who went out of obedience to her husband and the Lord and is now contemplating not only returning, but what it would look like to be a long term missionary with her husband there? Or a guy who thought all he had ot offer was his strength, unaware that God would orchestrate meetings for him while there with Dr’s and at a hospital that had been unsucessful up until that point, and has through casual conversations since home been able to acquire the medical supplies most desperately needed by the hospital and Drs in Siteki. Or the guys who are incredible busy and successful businessmen who could not get away but went anyways and would never trade it for the world as they try to firgue out how to get back there as soon as possible. Or the couple who were so excited to go and found out only days beofre that they were pregnant and by putting their faith in God went anyways and did not let fear overtake their journey, instead going where He called them, which was into the homes and lives of the poor and sick. Or the couple who was just as excited to go but who felt the Lord closing the doors for their journey and instead of bailing out completely became an incredible source of strength and prayer for the team who did go, gathering supplies and prayers before, during and after!

Each of these stories and more were shared with many of you. Why? Because each of us is called to follow God wherever He calls us, to do whatever He asks of us, here, there and everywhere in between. I heard it said recently that you are either a Missionary or you are a Mission Field, there is NO third option! We are ALL missionaries, sojourners, and aliens in a foreign land seeking to tell everyone about the KING who is coming and how much HE loves every one of them, even if they don’t know it yet!

I was most humbled by the response you, the Oviedo congregation gave to the video, pictures and stories. Thank you! I challenged you to participate in the greater work of the Body of Christ, PRAYER! We had 400 prayer cards with the first names of kids, teachers and leaders of the work in Swazi and YOU took almost all of them! PRAISE GOD!  PLEASE continue to pray for and lift up these people that God loves so much and whose lives He has invited us into in a unique way! Get more cards on Sunday or at the NOCC and give them to friends or family that are prayer warriors, put them in your Bible, on your mirror, etc. We can NOT ever pray enough for people by name, even if you can’t pronounce it well, God knows who they are!

Blessings and THANKS for being you! We will keep you updated on the work in Siteki and the new ways we are invited into it as they become available!

Now What?

We are constantly talking about ‘how’ to apply all we are taught by Pastor Joel and led by Pastor Vernon in worship each week into our daily lives.  I have spoke recently in my sermon and to many of you individually about a Pastor in Simi Valley, Francis Chan and his book, Crazy Love.  I read a blog today that referred back to him and had a video posted that was “reportedly created by Chan’s church to explain why such a radical financial decision was made” as an application of the Gospel in their life.  WOW, this video Think of Me is amazing, the song great and the message simple!  Take a look and spend some time reflecting on the grace of God and the sacrifice He made for us, then listen for the soft whisper of His voice prompting you to go deeper into your faith walk with Him.

He may be asking you to think of him by thinking of others.  He may be asking you if your love for Him would be called Crazy?  He may be pushing you on into a life that could only be defined as, the passionate pursuit of His Son, a phrase we use often here at Northland Oviedo!  See that is why we do what we do.  It is not so you won’t have to drive to Longwood, or so you can gather at an amazing High School facility, or so you cna be a part of smaller more intimate community, although they are all nice benefits.  We are spurred on by the Holy Spirit to create opportunities for each of you, to inspire, encourage and edify each of you into a deeper passionate pursuit of Christ in your own lives.  All we offer in Oviedo: small groups, service opportunities, worship experience, social events, community gatherings and more are all tied directly back to that purpose somehow.  Our prayer is that you will be different and then others will that difference, which is Christ and Him being lifted up by you, in you and through you and He will draw them unto himself.  There are small sacrifices we can all make, choices we all have, opportunities He gives each of us to display that Crazy Love back to Him and to each other!  There are many people in our communities right now in need, in many different ways and we can all be on the lookout and listening for His voice to direct us to help.

Pastor Joel’s message last weekend sparked some real reflection within me when he said that Grace has an empowering element to it that we often don’t pay attention to.  We have power because of His grace and that power is to be a part of the change that the good news brings to the world!  He has invited us into that work, ALL OF US!!!  So as we continuously and persistently say, come and “BE A PART OF IT” with us at Northland Oviedo.

If you would like to get connected into a deeper relationship with Christ through study, community, serving or any other way please contact Jeremy Jobson, Site Minister!