Reading your blog, reminded me of some scripture that i put in one of my blogs,        1Peter 4:12-19                                                                                                                  Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer it should not be as a murderer or theif or meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?  So then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Toni <>< 

Amen!

Too many rules, not enough love.

Guarding our preferences, instead of going about our mission.

Too much focus on us, instead of setting our eyes on Christ ... and others.

Phil. 2:1-5 (NLT):

 1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

I'm up a little late and have work tomorrow, but I want to let you know that I can relate completely.  A few weeks back I wrote a blog on this subject on another site, and I want to share it with you.  Here goes ::

There's a funny rumour going around worldwide that the people who loyally church have these perfect lives. Nothing bad happens to them, and they're a bunch of do-gooders who are looking hard for the moment when you stumble so that they can throw the bible in your face. Apparently, these people spend all of their time indoors. You'll never find them speaking to lowly sluts or associating with people who do drugs -- like smoking and drinking and taking aspirin. They simply don't have their own lives.

Well, of course they don't! For them to have lives, they would have to be alive -- on THIS planet. And being alive on this planet means that NOT a single one of us escapes the pains of sin, so let us discard that notion right now. We are all sinners. We are ALL human, and we've all been, are, and will be hurt many times in this life.

Today, my father was unusually late picking me up from church; he was held up at the grocery store. Nevermind the details. Almost everyone had gone home for the night, but there was one family still lingering. As the same old fella -- a true character, we'll call him Clarence, was telling me the same three jokes as he does every Saturday night, some yelling outside errupted. A little girl came running inside crying hysterically, embracing her grandfather rambling something about, "Uncle threw a rock at my sister! He threw a rock at my sister!"

The yelling persisted and there was a lot of confusion. One of the women inside, presumably someone's grandmother, began starting on how this girl--not the crier but her sister--needed respect for her elders. There was a mess of pointing fingers and further confusion, and not an utterance of the word God.

Soon another girl came in, weeping horribly. She went straight for the dark and isolated room and in all of the drama, no one noticed. I would assume this girl to be about 11 or 12. I went to sit with her and nearly began weeping myself. My heart was weeping.

She didn't want to talk, didn't want a hug. So I asked her if I could pray for her, and she nodded ...

I am a young Christian. I am not used to praying out loud and admittedly, I have trouble finding the right words the second I open my mouth -- especially with so much screaming and yelling going on outside of the room. But here there was a dark ambience -- just me, the girl, and God. And so on her behalf, I spoke to Him. I asked Him to forgive us for our struggling, for we live in a dark world and it's hard sometimes to know what to do or where to turn. How we have so much trouble controlling our hearts, and how we wish, sometimes, we could just take those hearts and give them to him -- completely. Just do it all right ... But we can't do it all right. That's why we need Him.

I sat with the girl in silence as her elders stood in the other room by the doors, talking about what happened and setting the story straight. I didn't know what happened and perhaps it wasn't my business, but something stood out to me. No one seemed to be outright defending the girl, but there was no hesitance in pointing out her flaws. "She's selfish. She's a teenager, she needs tough love. She needs to respect her elders!"

My heart went out to this girl ... because so many times in my life I have been that girl! Crying -- alone, with people yelling about how bad I was and how I needed to be punished. Not an utterance of hope for my future. No credit for being simply confused. No one to come and talk to me -- nicely -- about what I was doing wrong. Just about how hopeless I was.

It was an eye-opener. I go to church, and I must seem as delightful and open-spirited and full of life and problem-free as the next person -- at a glance. Why are we hiding our problems? Why are we pretending and supressing it all -- hiding it in the darkest part of our closets, away from light -- away from God?

I have my problems, too. To this day, I argue with my parents. I want to be the bigger person, but at times I fail miserably and give in to the rage, yelling, shouting, slamming doors. This is not me -- this is every one of us, in our own ways in our own homes, in our own hearts, also slamming doors...

So ENOUGH of this selfishness! I should be repeating to myself, again and again, "This isn't for me, this is all for God. Not for me, all for God. No self, ALL GOD!" We should be submitting ourselves to Jesus as His slaves, only so that we can be truly free! No worrying whether our submission will cause others to take advantage of us. No worrying whether our supression of rage will cause others to defy us because they do not fear us. Maybe it will! Maybe living God's way will put us at complete odds with man's way -- perhaps our physical bodies will be walked all over, torn apart and persecuted for the world to laugh at? BUT how can we erase sin with sin? How can a single of us be a testimony to God's grace if we're not willing to live by His word?? Friends, forgiveness and salvation cannot come without the hurting of hearts and the shedding of blood. By living in God's law, loving and forgiving and submitting selflessly, this world will tear us apart and our hearts will be broken again and again! It is inevitable, but it is the only way our SOULS can endure! Don't take my word for it; this was Christ's life, and not a single one of us hasn't been called to live it.

I WISH every church goer--and everyone else, for that matter--had a problem-free, happy life. I wish that the only tears were tears of happiness, and the only shouting would be shouting of praise. I wish there was simply no NEED to point out scripture, that it were written straight into our lives so that love could prevail endlessly! But the simple fact is that this day has not yet come and things will get far worse before they get better. Will you go along with the world's ways, continuing on like this, fighting fire with fire -- sin with sin? Or will you sacrifice yourselves for God -- the ONLY hope?

May we pray for all of us -- that we fight these selfish temptations with all our life so that we can love unconditionally, no matter the cost. This world may seem to be winning at a first glance, but I've bet my soul to Christ that His ways will prevail for all of those who put their heart to it. It's the only hope we've got, because not one of us can do this alone ...

I agree with your post. When we appear to have constant joy and happiness in our lives, we don't allow others to minister to us or allow our struggles to become a testimony for others. We need to become more real with ourselves, so that we can be a blessing to others.

Thank you for pointing this out to us. :) 

Thanks for the post brother.  Sometimes when you are as "real" as I am, people don't accept it, but they will just have to get over it!  Their loss :)