Two post in one day...

I guess I am making up for lost time, and I have something else to blog about.

Recession + suffering = a gift??? Check out these links and let me know what you think...

http://media.austinstone.org/

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/rebels-guide-to-joy/the-rebels-guide-to-joy-in-suffering\

My thoughts:
It is encouraging to know there is a reason/purpose to today's recession that includes a gift/blessing/promise through the suffering some are experiencing today. Being a direct casualty of the recession, I am encouraged from these messages to suffer well, and that this experience should not be wasted, but instead, used to gain perspective on the life I was living pre-recession. Wasteful...yes, fearful...yes, entitled...yes, really trusting God no matter what...no.

I am so glad that God is teaching me so much during this time. It isn't pretty sometimes. I've had at least four temper-tantrums in the past six months that rival my two-year-olds daily outbursts. I've never seen a purification process that is pretty. A diamond comes from black coal being pressurized over a long period of time. In order to get all the impurities out of gold, it has to undergo a melting process. Many people feel like they are experiencing pressure and melting in their lives today...including myself at times. Could be due to the recession, or maybe something else. Maybe its your health, maybe its the death of a loved one, maybe its debt, maybe it's and unhappy marriage...whatever. Could it be that this pressure and melting is a blessing? Each and everyday we forge through this trial, I am finding that it is.