Greater Than Every Suffering

God lives and works today. Is there anyone who doesn't have a sorrow in his life, who has never known suffering? Ever since Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden, mankind has had to live with sorrow and suffering. That is why there is no question as vital as, how can I overcome my suffering? How can I make it lose its crippling power in my life? Today's meditation by Basilia Schlink will tell us about a power that is greater than every suffering.

That there have been people who have overcome suffering is clear. The chronicles of the early church tell us about countless martyrs who triumphed in a royal way over the most difficult sorrow and suffering. Take, for example, the elderly bishop Polycarp of Schmyrna.

As he stood bound to the funeral pyre, surrounded by angry, raging crowds, he prayed aloud, Lord God, I thank you that you have counted me worthy of this day and this hour, that I have been allowed to become one of the number of martyrs to share in the sufferings of your son, Jesus Christ. This isn't just a happening of long ago. It's something that the martyrs of Jesus have experienced throughout the centuries to this very day.

And we too should be able to experience this within the frame of our own small lives, with our sorrows that are often very small. There truly is a power that is greater than every suffering. Love for Jesus.

It was love for Jesus that made those first Christian martyrs able to thank God for their suffering. And when we, in our lives, must confess time and again that our suffering has oppressed and enslaved us, we are actually accusing ourselves. It is a sign that the love for Jesus is still very weak in our lives.

It is not the vital power that proves to be greater and stronger than every suffering. How can we acquire this love for Jesus in our lives? We must look at our suffering in the same way that Jesus did when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. If we humbly say, Yes, Father, yes, with all my heart lay your suffering upon me, I will bear it gladly.

Then the doors of heaven will open. A stream of grace will flow down upon us and transform our suffering into bliss, just as the first Christians experienced. When we surrender our will completely to the Father, saying, Yes, to the suffering, then Jesus' love will stream into our hearts.

And with it, we shall be filled with a great love for Jesus. It is a matter of surrendering the will, for love is unity. Two wills made one in love.

Therefore, listen to this good news. Love for Jesus is greater than every suffering. You can receive it as a precious gift.

How? When you humbly say, Yes, Father, to the sorrow and suffering in your life. I can testify for my own life. Through a Yes to the will of God, the power of suffering has been completely broken.

God's will is goodness and loving kindness, and good the grace he leads us on. You have been listening to a program written by Basile Schlinck of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website, www.canaan.org. If you contact us, we would be happy to send you a free inspirational booklet.

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