Friday, November 23, 2007

God's Plan for Suffering?

Listen to the testimony of this man and his experience with suffering. His name is John Farese, from Coconut Creek, Florida. John, who is my age, is one of the oldest persons living after having been diagnosed from birth with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He is bedridden and uses speech recognition software to operate his computer system, which enables him to do everything from reading the Bible to creating Web pages for his customers on the Internet.


From his website, he says this:
"He has turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy, and made my heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He drew me when I struggled to escape from his grace; and when at last I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to his mercy seat he said, ‘Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer.’ I bear witness that never servant had such a master as I have; never brother such a kinsman as he has been to me; never spouse such a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a better Saviour; never mourner a better comforter than Christ has been to my spirit. I want none beside him. In life he is my life, and in death he shall be the death of death; in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness he makes my bed; in darkness he is my star, and in brightness he is my sun. Jesus is to me all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and grace he is full, infinitely full."
John's testimony is a powerful commentary to the truth Jesus told in John 9 when asked the reason why a man suffered with blindness, when he answered:

"It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:3)
God IS good... ALL the time. Even when we suffer. Comments?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Incredible. That should be memorized by every believer!

Nate said...

Amen! I am a father to three precious girls - our oldest is free from SMA, our second has gone HOME after struggling with SMA for only 1 year, and our third is now two - and has SMA. God IS good, even in suffering -- but MAN can it be hard. :) :( I happened upon your bLog via a Google Alert for Spinal Muscular Atrophy and I am glad that I did. I share your Reformed convictions and I am thankful that there is an interest in the non-SMA community about the positive sides to suffering. Thanks for posting this story. Check out our site: www.hopeforemily.com
Peace <><

Doulos Christou said...

Nate,

Your story is incredible, and my family and I will be praying for you and your family as well.