A Thorn in the Flesh

"To keep me from becoming conceited (elated) because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
-2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Today marked quite an extraordinary closure to my life. In the sense that I felt like God was speaking to me directly thru this amazing sermon i heard at church today. It's Easter next Sunday. The day of Christ resurrection. I have given up some things that i wanted to fast for higher purposes. To maintain a stable need for the Lord in my life. Todays sermon was right on que to the things and events that are taking place. A THORN IN THE FLESH was my main highlight that I've gotten. These days i've been seeing that not only I but those around me are having the most difficult times in their lives. I always wondered WHY we go thru these times of trials, hardships, difficulties.. maybe for endurance to get us stronger? as they say "no pain no gain" but today it became a reality that WHEN WE ARE WEAK that is when we become desperate, we become IN NEED, we become desperate .. for God..

I was deathly sick this past weekend. I realized in these modes of desperation is when I seek the Lord. "OH GOD HELP ME IM SOO SICK! HEAL ME" when prior to this little prayer i hardly even give up token prayers. I realized when I got better and became healed the day after that I would become puffed up with Pride and say "I am better now, I'm healed" when thru that prayer possibly God is the one that healed me. When we become prideful that is when we seize to seek God. Todays sermon clarified that sometimes God allows us to experience pain, turmoil, difficulties, EXTREME hardships JUST so that we'd SEEK him out thru those times. We would come to a point where we could come back to him. It's like a parent seeing their kids go thru trials with school or friends. Sometimes we only learn from experience. In the same sense, God allows us to wander off for a little bit so we'd learn a lesson and come back to Him for help.

He'd allow us to walk away and get hurt so that we wouldn't walk too far and be able to turn back to Him. When God does remove this thorn in our lives we should always maintain humility and become humbled by the fact that God helped us endure this trial.

"When I become prideful, I no longer feel the need for God. It leads to a sense of self-sufficiency, self-importance, and self-centered confidence. So, God takes measures to prevent this"

"God uses thorns to crush my pride; they keep me from exalting myself"

"I experience God's power, not by the absense of thorns, but by enduring through thorns"

So in light of this spiritual journey.. coming Easter next Sunday, i blog about this. To maintain and hold stable to the enduring of the trials and difficulties. For this does not last forever. Everything will get better in time, during this time stay strong.. hold fast.. live productively...