# Moving through suffering Day 2 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Father, I know my wounded and broken places oh so well. At times they can consume me and keep me from being able to hear your voice. Help me to see my pain as an invitation to know you more intimately rather than a reason to doubt the goodness of your heart. Help me to know that through my pain you desire to accomplish something very good in me. In the name of Jesus, the author of our salvation, who was “made perfect through suffering.” Amen. (JLB)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 121 #### My Help Comes from the Lord #### A Song of Ascents. *121 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.* #### Scripture for the Day: 1 Peter 4:12-19 #### Suffering as a Christian *12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory[a] and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And* *“If the righteous is scarcely saved,what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”[b]* *19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.* #### Reading for Reflection: *Dear Jesus,Thank you for the hard and sometimes uphill road I have had to walk in following you. I am stronger because of it. And we are closer because of it. For all good things that have come to me along the way, I thank you. But I have to say, I wish it were an easier way, a shorter way, a more scenic way. I wish the road didn’t have to go past the garden of Gethsemane, with its darkness and loneliness and tears. I wish it just went in endless circles around the seashores of Galilee, and that walking with you were more of a serene stroll in the sunset. Help me to understand that Gethsemane is as necessary as Galilee in the geography of a growing soul. Help me to remember that even though you were a son, yet you learned obedience through the things you suffered. Paul talks about entering into fellowship of your suffering. I do so very much look forward to having fellowship with you, but honestly, Lord, the thought of having too suffer to experience it stops me in my tracks. Help me, Lord Jesus, to want your company more than I want serenity, and to love fellowship with you more than I fear the suffering necessary to enter into it. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: It is Well *When peace like a river attendeth my way;* *when sorrows like sea billows roll* *Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say;* *It is well, it is well, with my soul* *Refrain:* *It is well….with my soul…it is well, it is well with my soul* *My sin O the bliss of this glorious thought;* *my sin not in part but the whole* *Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more;* *praise the Lord, praise the Lord O my soul* *And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight;* *the clouds be rolled back as a scroll* *The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;* *even so it is well with my soul* ### Closing Prayer *Father, heal my wounds and make them a source of life for others; as you did with your Son Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen. (JLB)*