What do you do with all the suffering in your world?

This past weekend, we visited church planters, Bill and Christy Reynolds in Rhode Island. Shirley, a member of their church who had just lost her husband a couple of weeks ago,  received word on Saturday afternoon that her only son, father of two little girls, was electrocuted on his job. 

What words can you offer?

A friend's grandson is suffering through chemo for cancer...

a cousin's baby was born with a disease and died...

a friend emails that she has been diagnosed with lymphoma...

a godly Christian shares her heartbreak over her prodigal ..

our son just had his tenth surgery for Crohn's... 

What can you say?

When I look around and see so much suffering in the world, I am grateful for the resurrection.

In this week prior to Easter, we often think about Jesus' suffering on the cross and the horrible pain He endured. What were the people thinking in that silent time between His death and His resurrection, when there were no words to offer...no words to say?

But Jesus' victory over death and suffering gives us hope that there is more. The hope that there is a way out...not of suffering, but of forgiveness for sin and a new and better life with Him forever. 

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” ― C.S. Lewis

God made us for more than suffering and sin...He made us for an eternity with Him. Jesus' death and resurrection made this possible.

What a reason to celebrate!