"Alexander was on his first research trip to Cuba for Open Doors. He asked a Cuban pastor what his needs were. He expected the response to itemize the many material needs that the churches in Cuba obviously lacked.
“The first thing we need is your prayers,” he replied, “to know the Body of Christ is with us.” Then he went on to list their tremendous need for Bibles, teaching aids, Sunday School materials and printing supplies. Then he concluded with the statement that they could use anything and everything.
“If you send us just a bar of soap, we’ll be grateful,” he confessed. “We'll praise God for it!”
Alexander says, “I felt a big lump in my throat as I thought of all the Bibles, literature and freedoms I enjoyed. Yet even with all my blessings, my testimony was not as strong. So I struggled to articulate my feelings. ‘Pastor,’ I said, ‘I can only begin to sense and imagine the difficulties you have encountered.’”
The pastor’s eyes became misty and he softly responded, “Oh yes brother, we have been through a most difficult twenty-five years. Yet we don’t fear persecution. As a matter of fact, we welcome it because it purifies us!”
There is a story called, The Butterfly. It implies a certain process that turns us into what we need to be so that we can do the things we need to do.
Keith Price, "Affliction is a great watershed. It either drives us to God or from Him. Which course we take likely depends more on our existing relationship with God than any other factor. I have come to the conviction that my closeness to God is more precisely measured by my capacity for suffering than it is by my capacity for joy."
"We do not want suffering; we want success. We identify not with
those who are low and hurt but with those who are high and
healthy. We don't like lepers or losers very well; we prefer
climbers and comers. For Christians, the temptation to be
conformed to this world is desperately sweet and strong. Yet, says
the apostle Paul, we are children of God if we suffer with Christ. ...
God does not give his hardest assignments to his weakest children." -- Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
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