Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day. For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]! So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Amplified Bible (AMP)
It is hard to hear God when I’m suffering with Chronic Fatigue. My thoughts circle like vultures, throwing shade everywhere. God seems distant, and I feel very discouraged.
I read Paul’s words and think, first, that “momentary” feels like forever, and that “distress” has an overpowering voice. I can hardly see my “inner self” at all, let alone detect renewal. “Fleeting” isn’t recognized until afterward, and I’m not sure at all how to “see the unseen.”
I’m looking, but it’s hard to see any glory at all.
The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day. – C. S. Lewis
So, “unpleasant interruptions” are normal, and God-sent. That helps.
God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way. – C. S. Lewis
So, the divine purpose is for my ultimate good. That helps, too.
God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain. – C. S. Lewis
So, if I’m specially equipped, I can do this.
Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done. – C. S. Lewis
So, if God thinks this affliction is that important, I will try not to whine (too much anyway), but to write on today’s slate with faith, trusting that it will all be worth it because God says it will.
And because, deep inside, I know it is. Even in the midst of it, I know it is.