Having Jesus Is Better

Before I begin I just wanted to share that what I am about to write is not something that I consistently live out. I haven’t arrived. I struggle day to day to live here, sometimes moment to moment. But I so desperately want to move this truth from a head knowledge into my heart so that I live it consistently. But I need reminders from God and His people. Just last week I was reminded of a truth I had long buried somewhere. A truth I had walked in before but now it was gone. It was the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 which reminds me that Jesus is sufficient for all my weaknesses, distress, and difficulties. When I am weak, He is strong.

 I know this verse, I have read it, studied it, quoted it and shared it, but the thing is I am now learning to apply it into my life in a new way. Friday night I sat with two friends and shared my health struggles. I was honest about the depths of pain, both emotionally and physically. These two women have been where I am, they are were I am. Both live with chronic illness and pain. They were encouraging, pointed me to Jesus and then prayed with me. During prayer one of them said something like, “help Sharon see that You are better than her health.” That changed something inside me. Kind of a refocusing of my thoughts. Jesus is better, He is sufficient, He is more than enough. If I never go into remission of Graves Disease, if this life is my new normal and there is no healing here on earth, Jesus is enough.

 Let’s be honest, many reading this are struggling in some form or another. It might not be with your health, but it could be with any number of trials, heartbreak or suffering. When sin entered into this world along came much pain and suffering. Suffering that we can not endure on our own. We need to invite Jesus into our suffering, for He alone will be our strength. “His grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness...Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10)

 This is not easy. We like to be comfortable. We do not like pain or suffering. We want to be healed. We place a high priority on being healthy and pain free in this life. But we need to recognize that having Jesus in our life is better than all these things. So even if God does not heal you, or rescue you out of your current circumstance He is still good. He is still faithful and He is, with a doubt, enough!

 One final though, while Jesus is enough, we must also remember that He never intended us to walk through suffering or life alone. We need our brothers and sisters in Christ. There are so many verses in God’s Word that remind us that we need to share our burdens with one another. Honestly, this is another hard area for some of us, but I pray that we learn to not only remind one another that having Jesus is better than what we are going through, but that we are there for one another for support and prayer.