Changed By Pain

Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people . . . . I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive. Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope, p. 41

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1

This week it occurred to me that the transforming work of God happens in our lives when we aren't comfortable. Perhaps you've noticed that times when you have felt most uncomfortable, least self-sufficient, and even powerless, you have been most open to change and trust in God.

One of my sisters in Christ moved away this week to be with her daughter in Tennessee. I met her 13 years ago at Church. Over the years she grew to know God's love and saving grace through worship and studying the scripture. She had good friends and a supportive family. She was happy.

But God must have been messing with her because not long after I met her she made a decision to do something pretty uncomfortable. She became an advocate for homeless families in central Florida and went out recruiting other pastors and churches to form what would become the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Central Florida (a network of churches to help homeless families find dignity, get employment and back into a home).

What makes her decision even more surprising is that she was a retired nurse and had never stood in front of pastors and churches to make speeches before. That was really hard for her, made her really uncomfortable. But as it turns out, she wasn't the first person to ever find in her personal ordeals an opportunity to transform herself and heal the people.

Apparently this is the way God has chosen to transform the world . . . through a cross. God's desire isn't to serve us as a kind of divine genie who grants our wishes if we're good enough. God looks at us in love and longs to make us new. God sees for us a new reality which we aren't capable of seeing apart from sharing in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what leads Christians to say things like this:

But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:13

It took a long time for the Interfaith Hospitality Network to gain momentum and get started. There were days when it looked like it might not happen. But even if it hadn't, Shirley was being changed, deepening her trust of God and concern for the poor. Her discomfort had revealed God's glory.

In what ways might God be using your discomfort or inviting you into it in order to transform you?

How have you noticed the way God uses discomfort to bring transformation?