Enduring Hardship

I was having a good pity party last night. My body was hurting and I was stiff enough to have difficulty walking. Worse, I was pondering my impending Stem Cell Transplant, starting two days from now. Specifically, I was grumpy over the projected side effects of the procedure- simultaneous extreme nausea AND diarrhea. Essentially, food poisoning symptoms, along with serious mouth sores as a bonus AND the convenience of being hooked up to an IV for the duration. (Probably.) Oh joy.

I opened my bible at random and was confronted with THIS passage, Acts 14:19-22:

"Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe...

Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,' they said."

Okay, Paul got stoned to death, and then raised to life. But was he really dead? I think so. Dead enough for them to drag outside the city. (How long does that take?) I assume they checked his pulse and listened for breathing to see if they were done with the execution, and before going to the trouble to drag his body some distance?

It says as the disciples were standing around him, he got up (what a headache he must have had!) and went back into the city. Wait, what?!? He didn't have PTSD? If it had been me, I would have gone in the opposite direction, and asked Barnabas to get our things and meet me somewhere. Such boldness! Such indifference to what men could do to him. He just didn't care. And then he goes on to the next few cities on his tour route and preaches about enduring hardships. (More on this later.)

Another reason I think Paul really died there, was his own testimony in 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10:

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or outside the body, I do not know- God knows. And I know that this man- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that a man is not permitted to tell...

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'

"Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

"For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Wow. Do I personally delight in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties? Not really, no. I am much more likely to cry "God, get me out of this!" But I wonder. Did being stoned to death give Paul that opportunity for God to show him such incredible things, things that were so amazing that he was not allowed to share them-- they were for him alone. Perhaps to strengthen and encourage him for his future trials?

Will this procedure, this 4-6 weeks in the hospital and potentially months of recovery time-- will it make me sit still so God can speak to me? Does God intend to show me incredible things while I am there and immobilized? Is this Hardship really an OPPORTUNITY, disguised as Inconvenience?

Please pray for me friends, that I take full advantage of this divine opportunity of Rest, free of the demands of working. That I will hear from God, and that he will give me things to write about.

May God's Peace be upon you, and may you endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:1)

sickness