How is it that some people have everything so perfect, and some people have so much suffering?

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I once heard, from a woman dying from cancer:* I am so glad God trusted me with this…*
 
Al_Masetti said:
Some years ago, I happened to make the acquaintance of some folks who had everything.

Over time, I got to know them. And I have to tell you. They don’t have everything. Never did.

Their lives were all filled with tragedies of the sort that I could never hope to deal with.

Some had at one or more times, lost every material thing … jobs, savings, homes, cars, bankruptcy, everything … and they moved in with others and just prayed and kept doing. I couldn’t understand that no matter what … they were so darned cheerful. "Oh, yes, well, we’re doing ok. We found other jobs hundreds of miles away and put our stuff in friends garages … ".

They just never gave up.

Winston Churchill once addressed a graduating class at West Point. He was very old and very tired. He had led England through one tragedy after another and persevered through the worst parts of World War II. And after victory, he was turned out. His speech was this: “Never give up.” “Never give up.” “Never give up.”

His whole speech … his whole summation of his whole leadership … was NINE WORDS.

What it was … was that they had in different ways offered up their personal sorrows to God and continued to live their lives.

These folks had children with lifelong crippling diseases that eventually took their lives. Some had only one child and some had as many as eight children. Some had personal illnesses and then were hit with other family tragedies … sudden deaths and financial devastation.

But … down deep … there was a kind of resilience.

A priest was recalling how he was assigned to a fourth-world country and was worried about becoming sick. He spoke to one of the senior priests and basically was given an exercise in resilience … to put himself in God’s Hands … to allow God to make him however God wanted him to be … and if that meant getting sick, then to accept it. And then to do whatever he could with that “raw material” of personal tragedy.

Basically, no matter what terrible situations befall you … you just accept it and continue on.

It really doesn’t matter how some people have it. [It’s probably not so perfect. There probably is some suffering … but they just don’t tell everyone.]

It’s all about taking what God has given you and with His Grace fabricating that “gift” into something wonderful.

This life is only very temporary … and our job here is to convince God that we are the kind of person that He would like to spend eternity with. At our last judgment, we will not be asked about what kind of car we drove. We will be asked what we did with those gifts, however limited, that we were given …

… even if we do nothing else, we can pray constantly for others … for people who this very second have their backs against the wall. Constantly. Every five seconds, say a prayer for someone else … for whoever needs it the most.

This very second, there is someone somewhere who needs prayers more than I need prayers … there is someone somewhere who needs help right now, more than I need help.

Someone, right now, is dying and they are not in the state of grace … how terrible is that! Their whole entire life of opportunity has been squandered or lost … and they need our prayers more than anyone else on this whole earth.

How lucky we are! That we are not in their terrible awful shoes right now.

Pray for them and pray that we will never ever be in that terrible awful situation.
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Wow … Thank you for this.

~~ the phoenix
 
spauline said:
Hi,
Thank you very much for your response and article on “Suffering”.
You know, I have tried to explain this suffering so many times, but you really “captured it” and brought a beam of light onto i!. will be sharing this with many folks who are always asking this question…so I printed it out. Is that OK?
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missal said:
Hi,
Thank you very much for your response and article on “Suffering”.
You know, I have tried to explain this suffering so many times, but you really “captured it” and brought a beam of light onto i!. will be sharing this with many folks who are always asking this question…so I printed it out. Is that OK?
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Dear Missal,

You are very welcome, and thank you for the compliments. Absolutely, you may share it with whomever you wish, that is what it is there for.

I feel touched and blessed that God has been able to help you through my writings.

I pray for God’s blessings for you, and that in any trouble you or loved ones find, that Jesus and Mary be with you always.

In Her Love,
Scott
 
spauline said:
Dear Missal,

You are very welcome, and thank you for the compliments. Absolutely, you may share it with whomever you wish, that is what it is there for.

I feel touched and blessed that God has been able to help you through my writings.

I pray for God’s blessings for you, and that in any trouble you or loved ones find, that Jesus and Mary be with you always.

In Her Love,
Scott
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YOU WROTE THIS WOW, I COPIED IT FOR MY MOM TO READ. TALK ABOUT RECEIVING GRACE!
 
rinnie said:
YOU WROTE THIS WOW, I COPIED IT FOR MY MOM TO READ. TALK ABOUT RECEIVING GRACE!
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Thank you, Rinnie! Again, I feel blessed that God can use me to write and help others.

I pray blessings for you, too.

Scott
🙂 :gopray:
 
spauline said:
Hi again,
I actually reviewed this article of yours over and over in my mind while I was out shopping, and when I came home I looked this up and found it as you described in Romans 6: 3-11.
There , it explains how we are incorporated into Jesus Christ at baptism, and therefore share in His life and death. We also share in His resurrection, which explains our being in union with him and thus our suffering is redemptive( if we remain a state of grace) if offered up in union with our suffering Christ. WoW God made it a tool for us. A weapon. Right?
I never was able to explain this until now. You have really been a help. Thank you again.
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missal said:
spauline;4141523:
Hi again,
I actually reviewed this article of yours over and over in my mind while I was out shopping, and when I came home I looked this up and found it as you described in Romans 6: 3-11.
There , it explains how we are incorporated into Jesus Christ at baptism, and therefore share in His life and death. We also share in His resurrection, which explains our being in union with him and thus our suffering is redemptive( if we remain a state of grace) if offered up in union with our suffering Christ. WoW God made it a tool for us. A weapon. Right?
I never was able to explain this until now. You have really been a help. Thank you again.
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You are welcome, God Bless you, Missal. I am so grateful to have helped you.

🙂
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spauline said:
those who receive greater crosses are loved more, called to greater glory. God always gives enough grace. If one suffers more, it means they are special and God loves them more than their siblings.
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With all due respect, this is not my personal experiece - nor, it would seem the personal experience of many other folks in the world. I used to believe it. I felt I had a very close relationship with God. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was in the throes of suicidal depression. I checked myself into the psych ward and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was like being in the bottom of a cold, dark well. God was nowhere to be found. I came to the conclusion that God either wouldn’t or couldn’t help me. Either way I got no help. Nothing. No even a sliver of comfort. Over a decade later I returned to the church. It happened again. Not quite as bad as I was able to avoid the hospital, but in other respects it was the same. I struggled, prayer, did all of it. But my faith, which God supposedly gave me, wasn’t strong enough. My dad was also bipolar and he committed suicide about 10 years ago. Clearly he had a bit more than he could handle as well. If I sound may it’s because I am. It’s not directed at you. But when I hear someone say that God never gives anyone more than they could handle and I look around at all the folks in the world who simply gave up in the fact of suffering, it really upsets me. Especially because I tried so hard and believed so much. Now I don’t believe at all.
 
Swan said:
With all due respect, this is not my personal experiece - nor, it would seem the personal experience of many other folks in the world. I used to believe it. I felt I had a very close relationship with God. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was in the throes of suicidal depression. I checked myself into the psych ward and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was like being in the bottom of a cold, dark well. God was nowhere to be found. I came to the conclusion that God either wouldn’t or couldn’t help me. Either way I got no help. Nothing. No even a sliver of comfort. Over a decade later I returned to the church. It happened again. Not quite as bad as I was able to avoid the hospital, but in other respects it was the same. I struggled, prayer, did all of it. But my faith, which God supposedly gave me, wasn’t strong enough. My dad was also bipolar and he committed suicide about 10 years ago. Clearly he had a bit more than he could handle as well. If I sound may it’s because I am. It’s not directed at you. But when I hear someone say that God never gives anyone more than they could handle and I look around at all the folks in the world who simply gave up in the fact of suffering, it really upsets me. Especially because I tried so hard and believed so much. Now I don’t believe at all.
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Dear Swan,

I am very sorry to hear of your losses.

Please know that no one is culpable in mental illness. My best friend who is a devout Catholic has bi polar and gets terribly suicidal in his episodes. It is in those moments that you fully share in the cross of Christ, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”

Please don’t give up. The pain does not last forever. Mother Teresa went through this.

If there is no God, and eternal love is not possible, why even live?

Is life somehow better without God’s existence?
 
Swan said:
With all due respect, this is not my personal experiece - nor, it would seem the personal experience of many other folks in the world. I used to believe it. I felt I had a very close relationship with God. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was in the throes of suicidal depression. I checked myself into the psych ward and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was like being in the bottom of a cold, dark well. God was nowhere to be found. I came to the conclusion that God either wouldn’t or couldn’t help me. Either way I got no help. Nothing. No even a sliver of comfort. Over a decade later I returned to the church. It happened again. Not quite as bad as I was able to avoid the hospital, but in other respects it was the same. I struggled, prayer, did all of it. But my faith, which God supposedly gave me, wasn’t strong enough. My dad was also bipolar and he committed suicide about 10 years ago. Clearly he had a bit more than he could handle as well. If I sound may it’s because I am. It’s not directed at you. But when I hear someone say that God never gives anyone more than they could handle and I look around at all the folks in the world who simply gave up in the fact of suffering, it really upsets me. Especially because I tried so hard and believed so much. Now I don’t believe at all.
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You have lived a very difficult life. There has been much suffering.
Where do you find meaning in your life now?
 
Dear Swan, I think everyone feels like that one time or another in their life. Especially when they are the ones suffering. But please hang in there, Your rainbow is comming, Keep waiting for it, and looking up, you will find it. I know its easy to talk, and sometimes life seems like it just keeps getting worse not better. But i promise someday as fast as things got worse and couldnt get any worse they will make a turn. And all of a sudden out of the darkness will appear Light, and things will start getting better and better. Just hang on. God is listening to you, and he is suffering with you. Just trust in him, He is the only person in this world who will not let you down. Dont give up!
 
People who suffer can obtain virtue (like Job); people who are perfectly happy cannot. I’d say they’re equal.
 
Depression is an illness and it CAN be treated. I went through it once and it almost did me in (or more correctly, I almost did myself in). But instead of distancing myself from the Church, it was the catalyst that bought me back to the Church.

I was a lapsed Catholic at the time, and I was feeling helpless and trapped. Fear of dying, and doubts about God or Heaven or nothingness finally took its toll.

Looking back on things, I look at this time as a blessing in disguise. Although it was difficult to live through, I believe I came out better than if I had not gone through it.

IF you think you are depressed (or bi-polar), get professional help. God does not condemn folks for being sick. In the past, the Church thought that folks who committed suicide were condemned. However, now that depression is a recognized illness, the Church no longer teaches this. Don’t let an illness keep you away from God. Get help, it’s well worth it.

BTW one of the things (besides the medicine and therapy) that helped me get out of my funk was seeing a poster in a store. It was the one about foot steps in the sand. I felt as if God had abandoned me, but reading that poster, I knew that God was helping me all the time. We may turn our back on Him, but He never turns away from us.
 
*“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense! Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished…Very different is the mood today.” *

-Sir Winston Churchill
Address at Harrow School (his alma mater), October 29, 1941

marietta
 
missal said:
Hi,
I recently had some one ask me this question and I am looking for some solid answers for her. I answered, first of all …All of our sufferings is the consequense of Adam & Eve’s disobedience. So, while we are here on earth, we make decisions, and choices which are sometimes consequences which affect our lives, our families, and our descendents.
I tried to explain we are victims and sometimes we are recipients of choices humans make, decisions humans make, consequences from human actions.
What else can I reply? Am I on the right track?
Thank everyone for their responses.
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All is pleasantry with God. 🙂
 
missal said:
Hi,
I recently had some one ask me this question and I am looking for some solid answers for her. I answered, first of all …All of our sufferings is the consequense of Adam & Eve’s disobedience. So, while we are here on earth, we make decisions, and choices which are sometimes consequences which affect our lives, our families, and our descendents.
I tried to explain we are victims and sometimes we are recipients of choices humans make, decisions humans make, consequences from human actions.
What else can I reply? Am I on the right track?
Thank everyone for their responses.
Click to expand...
look to the parable of lazarus and the rich man
 
Some people have it “so good” on earth because God knows they won’t experience eternal happiness, and the reverse goes for those who have it so bad…
 
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