God Gives Pain and Sickness To Those He Loves

Today my mom, sister and I were out shopping. A man was highlighted to my mom so she asked him if he was in pain. Come to find out the man had bad sciatica pain( and a lot of other problems). My mom asked if we could pray for him. He and his wife both said they believed in healing and that they had been pastors. We were also in a Christian book store, standing by the bibles and worship music was playing. We thought that you couldn't ask for anymore! This will be easy then!

We prayed and asked him to check it out and his pain went down! But immediately the couple said that they believe that sometimes God chooses to not to heal people for the purpose of teaching the afflicted and others around them.  They then continued to preach their warped belief of God. But wait there is more! The man said that in a few years everything would be ok because Medicare would kick in and everything would be ok and he would be "fixed".

The three of us just stood there…the man felt God take away some pain, but decided to believe that God had given him the pain and that in a few years Medicare was going to heal him. Wow.

This belief is common in the church. The church believes that our loving God would hand out sickness and pain. And what puzzles me is that the church defends this belief! They say "Well Paul had a thorn in the flesh so that must mean it was from God." I'm sorry, but would please go read your bible? If you took the time you would see that the "thorn" was not from God but the devil (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Even so the church wants to say that that one verse trumps what Jesus did on the cross. I was under the impression that Jesus paid for everything on the cross once in for all. He defeated death. Sickness and pain is slow death.  So why would one verse from the bible cancel out all that Jesus did on earth and the cross? Why would you even follow the belief system that states  that God punishes people with pain and sickness in order to teach you something?

Another thing the church has done is say that their pain/sickness has been given to them so that they can have a ministry. Ok if that was the way it went, why didn’t Jesus have pain and sickness all the time? Think about it.

Why would a unbeliever want to join a belief that says God puts cancer on those he loves? Just to simply "teach" them a lesson?

"If you believe that God wants you to be in pain so He can teach you a lesson, then you have a twisted and warped view of God. Just saying it how it is."- J.M. Schiele

 God is love. He has always been a God of love. There is no evil in Him. He is a father who loves His children. 

My heart hurts for people who believe this.  As Christians we hold the answer to all sickness and pain. That is Jesus. He lives inside of us!  There is hope for every single person. His life paid the price so we could live a full healthy life.

Whatsoever Think.

Anxiety: A Part Of Life

Last week I was told that anxiety was a way of life whether I realized it or not.  I was also told that since I’m young I probably haven’t experienced it yet…but just wait it will come.

Once I heard this I knew it wasn’t the truth, that we can live in as sons and daughters of God. But I also recognized that anxiety has touched my life and so many others. So what’s the deal? I decided to look up what “anxiety” really means:

[ang-zahy-i-tee]
noun, plural anxieties.
1.       distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
2.      Psychiatry. a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder.

Synonyms
3.      1. fear, foreboding; worry, disquiet.

British Dictionary definitions for anxiety
1. a state of uneasiness or tension caused by apprehension of possible future misfortune, danger, etc; worry
2. (psychol) a state of intense apprehension or worry often accompanied by physical symptoms such as shaking, intense feelings in the gut, etc, common in mental illness or after a very distressing experience.

So what I am seeing here is that anxiety is fear based and it can become so bad that it is a disorder!

This is not the life we were meant to live. Yet anxiety is a large part of people’s lives. I looked up some facts and I can’t believe what I found: 

•   Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18% of U.S. population).

 Wow! That's crazy! So next I looked to see what the Bible says about anxiety I love what the Bible says about it!

^“ Don’t be anxious about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” - Philippians 4:6-9

The Bible also says: 

“No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.” -1 John 4:18

The Bible  is clear, we don’t have to live in fear because we have a perfect love that gets rid of fear in our lives! Anxiety as no hold on a person who lives in love. 

And what about mental illness? There is power in the name of Jesus. There isn’t a mental illness out there that cannot be healed. Jesus died once and for all, for every sickness. 

So know that I know all of this, I am going to have to change the way I think. If I start to feel anxious than I know I’m not living in love. I’ve moved out from under that love. It’s easy to step back into. But a lot of times I think we like living with problems. …Weird stuff!  You don’t have to live with anxiety, you can live in the opposite which is:

 certainty, serenity, tranquility.
 

You can live anxiety free! It doesn’t have to be a way of life. It’s not a grown up problem that you just have to deal with. It’s a lie from the devil. You don’t have to spend countless dollars or pop a pill to be free. All you have to do is live in the Love of God. Get into His presence, learn to rely on Him for everything. I still have times where I don’t do it right. But this week I was reminded that I don’t have to live this way and neither do you.

Whatsoever Think…

Below is a song I did for anxiety and any other darkness:

https://soundcloud.com/janellschiele/darkness-is-bound

Facts from: Dictionary.com , ADAA.org  and Biblegateway.com