Do you ever wonder why God allows bad things to happen? Do you wonder why He allowed the Tsunami just about one year ago? What about Hurricane Katrina? The earthquake in Kashmir? What about suicide bombers? Murderers? Rapists? Fires? Auto Accidents? Or birth defects? I am sure there are many other circumstances that have come into your life or those around you that has changed your life forever. If this describe you, then I highly recommend this book, Brokenness: How God Redeems Pain and Suffering by Lon Solomon. It will help give you an understanding of God uses this pain suffering for His purpose. If you are going through a time like this, then ask God for the strength to carry on. Feel free to email me as well and I will gladly pray for you.
Lon Solomon is the pastor of McLean Bible Church in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. In this book he relates his personal experiences of his daughter was born with a rare disease that causes thousands of seizures. These seizures have left her brain damaged and totally reliant on others for her care. He relates how the struggles he and his family faced through this experience taught him how to truly rely on God.
Lon explains how God used this process, which he calls brokenness, to show him how he relied on himself instead of God. He reveals how God took all of his personal plans and discarded them. Lon finally got to the point of knowing that God is in total control. He learned that he must rely on God for everything. His ministry has flourished and God has blessed it mightily. It is now larger than even Lon had planned. It is also tremendously more effective now as well.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Catana
LMAO
2 - swingingpuss
So, let me get this straight the big G is being cruel to be kind.
I rather not be a parent/ god who lets bad things happen to his/her children just to teach them a lesson.
3 - JR
God plans our lives and uses them to further his Kingdom in a way that glorifies him and not us. Lon walks us through why God breaks each of us who wants to truly serve Him. He explains that God must break us so he can fully use us.
Hmmm, don't think I like God.
4 - Mark Sahm
I used to wonder how Santa Claus could allow bad things to happen. But then I learned it was actually the Easter Bunny causing the problems, because the furry bastard was jealous of Santa.
5 - Back On Welfare
The tsunami and katrina happened because of gay marriage.
6 - larry
that last post is ridiculous
7 - swingingpuss
Gay marriage? Here I was thinking of weather wars
8 - gonzo marx
silly heathens...
it could just possibly be another bet between Jehovah and Lucifer...you know, like Job
try and see how much they can fuck with us
of course, JuJu, may his tusks always glow with the Light of Reason, tells me, it's because of the scale of time...during all of the last 3000 years the gods have been playing cards and so a bit distracted
Lucifer is up 13 trillion quatloos, but he is really good at bluffing..Yahweh and Jehovah are about tied, Odin is right behind Lucky Lucifer but Osirus went flat broke around the time of the Inquisition and is off drinking with Zoroaster and Dionysus
Excelsior!
9 - ss
So whatever happened to the daughter with the seizures?
10 - Lennie
Their daughter must be under constant supervision. Her disease was finally diagnosed and being treated, but the damage is too severe to reverse. The frequency of her seizures has decreased. She can no longer speak.
11 - Brady
God lets bad things happen to good people because either God doesn't exist or God is unfair. Choose one and move on.
12 - Victor Lana
I wonder about a god who "causes" things. I mean, didn't the Greek gods mess with humans kind of like as an experiment? In the Judeo-Christian tradition the Old Testament god is one nasty dude, but then he gets all soft and paternal in the New Testament (what becoming a daddy does to even the Big G).
Still, in the end, he sends his only son to a death that could have been prevented.
Bad things happening to good people? Is it free will or a free for all?
Hmmmmm.
13 - diana hartman
i let go of the notion that God had anything to do with anything about the same time i stopped believing in santa claus...
i've never understood this propensity to credit someone(thing) else with the good things in our lives and the good things we do, and blame someone(thing) else for the bad things in our lives and the bad things we do...
where's the sense of responsibility and accountability in that?
if there is God, it has unlimited powers of creation, and its powers are limited to creation...
shit just happens, and what we do with it and about it is a direct reflection on our own character...believing that there must always be someone or something to blame is really just looking for a way out...eventually, we have to deal with what life hands us no matter the blame or the credit or the lack of either...
14 - Dan
Maybe God lets bad things happen to people because they have been bad in a past life. Maybe they got good breaks in a previous life, but didn't handle it well. Perhaps they took it for granted and were cruel to others. He might then re-incarnate them in trying circumstances to see how they handle it. If they handle their new existence with peace and dignity, he might move them back up to a more favored existence. Maybe even to a different, more enlightened planet in the universe. Or if they bitch and moan, they could get stuck in another set of unfavorable circumstances. If they go really wrong, like say Hitler, He might even take away their free will for several life sequences, and make them an animal or send them to a barbaric planet somewhere in the universe. Through suffering, the way they made others suffer when they were on top, they could maybe ascend the evolutionary ladder again.
15 - larry
isnt reincarnation a hindu and an or buddhist belief.
keep coming back till you get it it right. larry
16 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
That's what I thought too, Larry. One day, my kid came home from school here telling me how the rabbi was talking to them about "gilgúl neshamót," recycled souls.
I asked him to explain it in detail - reincarnation. My teeth nearly fell out of my mouth. And I don't have a plate of false teeth.
Apparently, it is a Jewish concept too, a very old one. Go to www.signsfromheaven.com to see more about one gilgúl neshamá, a girl named Galia.
17 - Dan
I'm not up on Hindu or Buddhism because I'm not that spiritually curious. Not yet anyway.
But the main complaint most people seem to have with God, is that 'he ain't fair'.
It seems natural that a theory of re-incarnation would evolve. It's a perfect system for fairness, and satisfies the "mysterious ways" conundrum that turns off so many of His fans.
Given the consistency in spiritual lore of a separation of soul and body, re-incarnation seems almost probable.
If it were applied to the universe, and all the possible existences throughout, the precise reward/punishment/growth opportunity for a wayward/progressive/stagnant soul could be assured.
On a more secularist scale, I think most of us have witnessed karmic justice work, more often than not, towards fairness in our lives and others lives around us.
But just like in the news media, it's those trajedies that grab the headlines. The unfairness of something that gets our attention and challenges our perception of a loving God. If that's even what we have to begin with.
18 - diana hartman
fair, like time, is a manmade concept...
"fair" only exists in man's mind, not in the rest of the animal kingdom or elsewhere on this planet or in the known universe...
as such, it probably doesn't apply to any god of any kind and serves no purpose in any discussion or debate about any god...
19 - Mary reborn literally
In Revelations, it speaks of two witnesses that control the weather. In Biblical times, the parting of the red sea and stange bursts of clouds were seen. In my time, I was at a campground in Tunkhannock, Pa praying and singing out loud when my fellow campers teased me about it. I said, I just read about witnesses controling the weather, let's see, I know I am a witness, let it not rain all summer long. Folks,
it did not rain all summer long and they had to order bottle water and their ponds dried up.
The people came to ME and said they were sorry and to please pray for rain. I prayed and the next day it rained and rained and rained.
Now, you can say many things but that is not the first time I ever prayed and it was about weather.
In front of my own mother, I asked God to strike a stump with lightning in a swamp and as soon as I said it, God did. My mother was a science teacher and did not want to believe that God did it so I said, okay, he sees your disbelief and will strike that stump again and it will burn to the ground. Again, it was struck and could not be found the next day. It burned to the ground.
I am a firm believer of Christ. I know that people are marked with 666 or a gold seal. I have a gold seal. I asked God to mark me one of his own. God is wonderful and truly amazing. I do so pity anyone who does not know God is real.
20 - Mary reborn literally
So what does Revelations tell you about the end times and the earth going through a tumultuous shaking and quaking? Read it. Is it purely geological or are the prophecies coming true?
Maybe a mixture of both? But it was foretold.
Oh yes, we have had these shakings and quakings for years upon years. YET there is one more sign in Revelations that we had not had. MY BIRTH.
For it states, THE FAIR AND CHOSEN ONE and calls down the fire from Heaven. I did this. SO I must be the omen you are looking for.
21 - Mary reborn literally
In first grade, I used to carry a Bible to school.
I told kids who teased me, what God says to me and what I have to say to the world is far more important than what they are teaching us now.
I made predictions and they came 100% true and not only what I said would happen but when it would happen as well. God does not make trash.
I am not trash.
22 - gonzo marx
"Mary reborn literally" sez...
*what God says to me *
seek...professional ....help
nuff said?
Excelsior!
23 - Jesus
You must forgive Mom. She tends to rave a bit.
24 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Gonzo wrote, responding to MRL:
"Mary reborn literally" sez...
*what God says to me *
seek...professional ....help
nuff said?
Sorry Gonzo. It's the wrong thing said. Some people feel G-d very strongly. They don't need professional help. They are the people you feel lucky to know, because they are the ones who make you realize that there is a G-d and that He does watch over us - all of us.
I am married to such a woman. My faith journey has been made much easier because of her, a woman who feels G-d surrounding her like a warm blanket. And there are times that she feels G-s speaking to her. I don't mock - I pay close attention. I have never NOT benefitted by doing so.
25 - gonzo marx
Ruvy, there is a vast difference between someone who is spiriually "aware"...for want of a better Term
and someone that believes "god" speaks directly to them
the former, i envy their "gnosis"...the latter, need professional help
just my one sixth billionths of the world's Opinion
your mileage may vary
Excelsior!