#joyinsuffering

[ingodsarms57]

🌷The joy of the Lord is my strength!!🌷

This has gotten me through so much in my lifetime. The Lord will be your joy even when in sorrow.

[ingodsarms57]

‪Bible Study on Philippians.

2 Corinthians 4:6-18. ‬

‪Learning joy in suffering. ‬

Jesus had to suffer for us. Jesus suffered greatly for us all. Paul also suffered for Christ. We will, also, have to suffer for Christ’s sake. If we cannot suffer with Him, we cannot reign with Him.

[among-the-gently-mad]

I've always wanted to get to know St. Thérèse of Lisieux in a spiritual way. But I didn't realize until now, tonight, on the 3rd day of the Novena that my previous sufferings didn't merit my getting to know this Saint beloved by all. I needed to experience pain such that I've not known in order to make my pain worthy of invoking the Help of St. Thérèse. I understood her suffering and her teachings but I could not fathom the depth of her love for Jesus unless I experience pain. Although the pain consuming my heart now is just a drop in the ocean compared to what she went through, but still it's mine. (We have different threshold of pain.) Hence, my pain is worthy of St. Thérèse's help. And indeed, there is JOY in suffering 🙏🏼❤ #StThereseofLisieux #StTherese #TheLittleFlower #Joy #JoyinSuffering

[anaandrada]

The greatest suffering one can experience in this world is the agony of his separation from God. As long as we have Him, everything else, no matter how great the suffering may seem, is bearable.

Ana Loreta

[viv-on-net]

I have been encouraged by our dear pastoral care coordinator to take some time out for/by myself. So here I am trying to have a proper day off - complete with a cuppa, laptop, journal, bible and a special appearance by our sisterhood’s nail polish stash. It has been a while since I posted anything! We have been at the University of Queensland for six weeks now and have officially kicked off our ministry at UQ - faith studies, discipling, accompanying students, trying to increase the Catholic identity on campus.  Over the last 3 months I have become more self-aware of myself - my habits, strengths, weaknesses. I have also found that I am also more attune to Jesus speaking to my life. Our supervisor visit a couple of weeks ago was so much fun, but was also very confronting - one of the roughest things as a sanguine-phlegmatic (in my case anyway) is external parties pointing out areas of improvement - hearing that you could improve, that you could do better & be better as a team leader, sister, campus minister.  In my personal attempts to take on this challenge to be better, more, great - the clogs in my head have perhaps been working a little too hard. Headaches, nausea, tense shoulders, jaw clenching, bizarre dreams.. which then culminated into a casual panic attack last week (which was a fairly terrifying experience in itself.) And so, over the last couple of weeks I have found myself on this major spiritual journey - painful and uncomfortable - but a time of real refinement. I have been getting a real sense of being pushed outside of my comfort zone by Jesus; of being challenged to go beyond myself and what I have come to believe are my limits. This has put a bit of a weight on my heart, but as a good friend of mine often reminds me, “when you do something outside of your comfort zone, your comfort zone gets bigger.”  Through this, I’ve felt the importance in asking the big guy upstairs for the grace to find joy in the suffering, especially as I read St Therese of Lisieux’s autobiography:

One cannot attain the end without adopting the means, and as Our Lord made me understand that it was by the Cross He would give me souls, the more crosses I met with, the stronger grew my attraction to suffering.

The lives and intercession of the Church’s saints has also been an inspiration lately. Just the concept that the Catholic Church is beyond that on earth.. that we have a whole army praying with us and for us in Heaven - is that not such a comforting thought!? One big thing I have found helpful (and am working on being better at) is being still and allowing myself time alone to reflect and process the kazillion things running through my mind. I ask whoever might be reading this to please pray for me and my team as we continue our mission to sow seeds all over campus!

The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.  - Exodus 14:14