Warn them that this devotional has a sad part but the sadness will illustrate the joy of God.
We will start this time of study with what should be a simple question. Which one of you has lived your life without experiencing challenging times when you didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? Who here has led a carefree life with no worries at all? Please raise your hand if you have. I’ll give you a moment to think about that.
I certainly can’t raise my hand to that question. I’ve gone through more than my fair share of hardships & challenges. I have shared with you the fact that I almost lost my life in a car wreck. On June 4, 2006, I was driving down a road after a rain & my car hydroplaned, spun off of the road, & hit a large tree. The impact knocked me unconscious. I was in a coma when paramedics arrived. I was taken to a hospital for treatment. That day I became a survivor of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Statistically most TBI survivors don’t live much longer when they are in a coma when EMS gets to them. But God had more for me to do so I overcame that tragedy. I was in a coma for almost a month & doctors didn’t know if I was going to make it or not. When I came out of the coma I spent more time in an acute care hospital. After time in that hospital, I was able to start rehabilitation. I will spare you the details of what I had to go through but I was in rehab at different facilities from July 2006 until August 2008. Those were inpatient & outpatient rehabs. For those two years, I was recovering from what happened in a split second on June 4, 2006. In the years since I have needed to be encouraged. I needed someone to tell me that I would make it through all of these hard times. Family & therapists gave me that type of encouragement.
Have any of you ever felt like that? Did you feel like you needed someone to put their arms around you with a hug of encouragement?
I have a book of devotionals that I read every morning. The book is David Jeremiah’s Walking with God.
Survivors of traumatic brain injury “celebrate” the date of the injury with what we call a rebirthday. It’s the day the TBI version of ourselves was born. Some survivors have a big party, some go out for dinner, & some try to forget it. As for me, it’s just another day that I remember what happened all those years ago. A great way for me to celebrate it would be if all my loved ones would forget what happened that day & it just be a regular day at the beginning of June.
On June 4th this year I celebrated my 18th rebirthday. I am thrilled to say that no one did anything different that day. Hopefully, no one but myself & God remembered what that day was. And, in His perfect timing, the devotional I read on June 4th was just what I needed to read. It was a dose of encouragement on a day that I needed it. The devotional was titled Looking Forward. I will share that devotional with you now.
JUNE 4
LOOKING FORWARD
“Looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace.” (2 PETER 3:14)
Whatever problems you're facing, news you're dreading, or burdens you're bearing, all will be resolved within two seconds of Christ's return. This world brings tribulations, but we can be of good cheer because Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33). When He comes, He will give rest to the troubled, & an eternal weight of glory for those facing "light momentary affliction" (2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV). Then we will see that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
One day soon, our sighs will become songs, our heartaches will become hallelujahs, & our worldly woes will be swallowed up in everlasting joy. There will be no heavy hearts in our heavenly homes. That's why the Bible tells us to "seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).
Let's set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2). Great joy comes to those who look forward to the Lord's return. Learn to visualize it, meditate on it, speak of it, study it, and pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
The wonders that are to come are so glorious the troubles we go through now are not worth thinking about. If anyone in the Bible knew of hard times it was the apostle, Paul. He was persecuted more than any other Apostle. What kind of hardships did Paul have to endure? Here is a list of some of the things he went through:
1. Paul was imprisoned, flogged, and exposed to death more than any other Apostle.
2. He was officially flogged 195 times for preaching the gospel, yet he did not look back.
3. Apostle Paul was beaten with rods three times for preaching the gospel, yet his faith grew stronger.
4. He was once stoned for preaching about Christ, yet he did not deny Jesus.
5. He returned to synagogues to preach the gospel despite being condemned & persecuted in them.
6. Three times his ship was damaged on the ocean when he was on a missionary journey yet he continued carrying the cross.
7. He once spent two days at the open sea because his ship was wrecked. He held to the gospel.
8. Apostle Paul suffered many dangers & risks on the sea, in the hands of robbers, by fellow Hebrews, in the wilderness, & among nonbelievers.
9. He went for many days without water & food, not because he was fasting but because there was no food or water to be found during his missionary journey.
10. For the sake of the gospel Paul decided not to marry, or have children, & he remained celibate.
11. In all these he did not make a financial demand on the churches. He still managed to work & sent offerings to the churches.
12. He had a right to demand offerings and tithes from the Church, rather he worked with his hands to earn a living so as not to be a burden on the church.
13. Paul suffered weaknesses & sicknesses as a result of his afflictions.
14. Paul was once imprisoned in Damascus, & he escaped through a window by a basket.
15. Apostle Paul even placed a curse on himself if he refused to preach the gospel.
Those are some of the things Paul had to endure that are recorded in the Word of God. There were probably other hardships that were not included in Scripture. Would you say that Paul had a hard life? I think so. He had to go through those things but Paul had a very close relationship with the Lord & he knew the glorious life with Christ that awaited him.
That same life is in our future as well. Paul knew what it was like to struggle yet in Romans he wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
Would any of you call what Paul went through a “light momentary affliction”?
I know I wouldn’t. Yet that’s what Paul says it is when compared to the glory of God. To the Corinthians, he wrote, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the unseen things. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Would I want anyone to suffer the way I did with the brain injury God blessed me with? No, I would not. Those years were hard on me physically, emotionally, & spiritually. When I was in rehab fairly soon after the wreck, I heard something I was not expecting. At this point, I did not fully understand the severity of the injury & thought I would go through a couple of months of treatments & then go back to work & back to live with my wife & kids. Needless to say, that dream didn’t happen. This is the sad part I warned you about. I found out that my wife did not want to remain married to me. I heard that she said, “He isn’t the man I married.” That was before I could fully understand things & before I had found the Lord. I felt like I had failed the family, like she had deserted me, & like I wasn’t good enough for her anymore. Looking back at it now, I can honestly say that was definitely the lowest I felt even after all I’d gone through. I tell you this not so you’ll feel sorry for me but so you can see how the joy of God can turn things around. After this happened, I found the Lord & He showed me why this happened. It would have been a lot for her to handle with me needing more therapy, continue making mortgage payments, & having to bring up two young girls.
My wife was only one of the things I lost because of what happened. I don’t want to bum you out but I wanted to tell you more about how the injury affected me & my life. Because of the injury I no longer had a car, a job with a good income, coworker friends, my own house, my college education, & many memories from my childhood. I lost all of that yet what I gained was so much greater. I firmly believe that everything we go through in life God either caused it to happen or allowed it to happen. This injury was the event that brought me to God to ask for salvation. That’s why I am one of the few TBI survivors who will call the injury a blessing. God also gave me a heart for the elderly & He blessed me with this ministry I have with seniors at Hopewell & here at Assisted Living.
We can again look at the Scripture to something else the apostle Paul wrote. One of his most often quoted verses is Romans 8:28. Would any of you care to tell me what that verse says? You don’t have to quote it exactly but what does Romans 8:28 tell us?
Romans 8:28 says, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.“ After all of the trials Paul had he knew all of those things were going to work out for the good purpose God had for them.
I had those struggles then, but God blessed me with joy so great words cannot describe it. It’s the joy of knowing that I will be spending forever & ever with Him. One of those joys is the opportunity to spend time with you & share the love of God with all of you. I hope & pray you have that joy as well.
Looking back at the June 4th devotional Looking Forward again we read where it says, “our heartaches will become hallelujahs, and our worldly woes will be swallowed up in everlasting joy. The hardships we are going through are not worth mentioning when we compare them to what God will have blessed us with.
God knew I would be preaching to y’all on this topic today & He gave me another devotional to share. One on the joys there will be after we endure hard times. The title of the June 16th devotional was Joy in The Morning! It tells about the Great Tribulation. I’d like to share that devotional with you now.
The Great Tribulation will last three and a half years, and not a moment longer. If this period of calamity were to last longer, no one would survive. For the elect's sake, there's a termination point; it will not go on forever.
That's true of our current troubles too. Sometimes we feel our problems have no end. There's no light at the end of the tunnel, no dawn at the end of the night, and no joy at the end of our sadness. The psalmist expresses this when he cries, "How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?" (Psalm 13:1-2). But keep reading. By verse 5, the psalmist writes, "I have trusted in Your mercy," and in the final verse he exclaims, "I will sing to the LORD because He has dealt bountifully with me."
In Christ, all our problems are temporary; all our blessings are eternal. Don't give up. There will be joy in the morning.
The time that you are spending here in Assisted Living will only be a second when we look at it on the eternal timeline. We will be here for but a moment & we will be rejoicing with the Lord for all eternity. Glory. Glory. Hallelujah!
Before we close would anyone here like to share anything?
Closing Prayer:
