G is for Glory

G is for Glory
“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
2 Corinthians 4: 16-17
Hi, everyone, welcome to week seven of The ABC’s of Contentment. Today’s letter is G and it stands for Glory. We look around in our world and it seems like there’s trouble everywhere. When we watch the news, we hear about a new illness or something else that causes cancer and then doctors find a new treatment or cure. Yay! Just when they find a cure, a new illness is discovered and we ask ourselves, “Does it ever end?” Have you ever considered that maybe the reason for your hardship is to bring glory to God? Think about it; we live in a very fast-paced society. We’re always busy. In today’s American culture, God’s word is being pushed out of many things. We’re going here and there; we don’t do a whole lot of pausing. Suddenly, when a hardship such as an illness happens, we pause and reflect more on our lives. One of my former caregivers used to tell me, “The very same God who created the jackrabbit is also the very same God that created the tortoise.” She said that when she was trying to encourage me to use my muscles and do what I can for myself with cerebral palsy. I’ve heard that saying so many times now and said it so much to the patients at the hospital, I have it memorized. Trust me, I know it, but it’s hard to apply it. My caregiver is always saying, “Remember what you tell the patients.” Even though my body can often only do one thing at a time, my brain is often thinking of several things. I’ve noticed when you have something that doesn’t go away you tend to think about God more. In our broken world, it seems those people who have full use of their bodies are often even more spiritually disabled on the inside. For instance, because of my physical limitations as a child I really enjoyed Awana, a Bible program at my church that focuses on Scripture memorization. Because I can’t move from one spot to another easily without help, I had more time to memorize the verses and think about what they mean. I’ve been serving in the Awana program for 19 years and sharing the gospel with children. As I’ve become older, things have become tougher and those verses have really helped me lean on the Lord. I’ve found that as kids get older, they often lose interest in the Awana program and move on to other things. Maybe if I didn’t have this disability, I would lose interest and not have a deep relationship with God, and I wouldn’t be able to share the gospel the way I do. I’m reminded how God is glorified when the kids at Awana have said to me, “Thank you for being my leader.” My friend Jessica told me about today’s song called “God of Breakthrough” by Mack Brock. My favorite part says:
“Who can turn our failures into glory?
Who can bring a hope to any story?
Only You can. Only You can.”
How can you bring glory to God through hardship? Thank you for watching and I’ll see you next time when we talk about the letter H for healing. Bye and God Bless. 
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