may God be seen

Week of July 17
My Struggles are About Him
by Max Lucado

What about your struggles? Is there any chance, any possibility, that you have been selected to struggle for God's glory? Have you "been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29)?

Here is a clue. Do your prayers seem to be unanswered? What you request and what you receive aren't matching up? Don't think God is not listening. Indeed he is. He may have higher plans.

Here is another. Are people strengthened by your struggles? A friend of mine can answer yes. His cancer was consuming more than his body; it was eating away at his faith. Unanswered petitions perplexed him. Well-meaning Christians confused him. "If you have faith," they said, "you will be healed."

No healing came. Just more chemo, nausea, and questions. He assumed the fault was a small faith. I suggested another answer. "It's not about you," I told him. "Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God's song."

Oh, that you could have seen the relief on his face. To know that he hadn't failed God and God hadn't failed him--this made all the difference. Seeing his sickness in the scope of God's sovereign plan gave his condition a sense of dignity. He accepted his cancer as an assignment from heaven: a missionary to the cancer ward.

A week later I saw him again. "I reflected God," he said, smiling through a thin face, "to the nurse, the doctors, my friends. Who knows who needed to see God, but I did my best to make him seen."

Bingo. His cancer paraded the power of Jesus down the Main Street of his world.

God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.

Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.

Through your problems and mine, may God be seen.

AMEN! *blushed*

My update:
I decided to talk with the HR anyways after contemplating for quite some times, so we'll see what happens...
So sad to hear and see all the news today is about bombing that happened yesterday at Jakarta. Thank God really for my dad's visa. It's like right on time, He got before all this happened. Must be harder to get it now.
When talking with my parents yesterday, I sense they still want me to be here. I was again of course upset especially with my mom, because why wouldn't they just support my decision and said: Yes, i know it's gonna be hard but we're going to go through it together. And besides, to my defense: God's protection is not limited to people staying in the United States!!! *arrrghhh* I'm so emotional. And other thing: do you think i'll be fine and happy having the "security" here but knowing that my mom and dad are not.

:( *confused*