{"id":11,"date":"2007-12-18T20:29:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-19T02:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/18\/rough-times-at-such-a-wonderful-time\/"},"modified":"2007-12-18T20:29:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-19T02:29:00","slug":"rough-times-at-such-a-wonderful-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/18\/rough-times-at-such-a-wonderful-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Rough Times at such a Wonderful Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This last week, I received news that a friend that attended Diakonia with me, was diagnosed with cancer. That really was a blow. She has a wonderful disposition, and continues it even now. She came through surgery well, and so far has a clean bill of health. I don’t always understand “WHY”, bad things happen. I do know that good without bad, is not good either. Bad helps define good. A top without a bottom is no top at all.<\/p>\n

Does God have to allow pain and suffering? No, I don’t think God must allow, but if all was just wonderful, how would we appreciate anything, including God himself. There is just no good way of explaining this very clearly. It can be difficult to a believer, but near impossible to a non believer or a seeker.<\/p>\n

God has a plan. We may not know what it is, or at least fully. Discernment of God’s plan is very difficult. However, I have a Pastor who likes to refer to Deut 29:29 to explain what we do not know. I think this covers it, and covers it well. <\/p>\n

<\/span>\ufeff29\ufeff <\/span><\/sup>The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.<\/p>\n

If we have this to fall back on, and remember that really, it is all about the Love of God for his children and our love for him and his children, then “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This last week, I received news that a friend that attended Diakonia with me, was diagnosed with cancer. That really was a blow. She has a wonderful disposition, and continues it even now. She came through surgery well, and so far has a clean bill of health. I don’t always understand “WHY”, bad things happen. … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-11","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-b","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/30\/gods-love-can-do-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":0},"title":"God’s Love can do all","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This may sound strange, I say it and have been saying it, but I REALLY believe it now. God's Power and Love can do all. His will, will be done. We only need to allow him to work through us, however even when we fight him, he still will use\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/30\/gods-love-can-do-all\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2011\/11\/30\/giving-and-receiving\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":1},"title":"Giving and Receiving","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"November 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of us have heard that it is better to give than to receive. \u00a0Advent is the awaiting of a gift from God, in his Son Jesus Christ. \u00a0As we await this gift, we also await another gift, the one of salvation that comes apparent at Easter. \u00a0Yes, I know\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":518,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/30\/love-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":2},"title":"Love of God","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Link to Audio Sermon Galatians 5:1 Galatians 5:13-25 1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.\u00a0 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Love"","block_context":{"text":"Christian Love","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christian-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.santuariopenapolis.com.br\/fotos\/4861383e6fd6ab36e855727602418ab2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2160,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2019\/02\/04\/prayer-is-needed-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":3},"title":"Prayer is needed now…","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw this blog post today. I have identified with this and in some ways still do. Prayer does not come natural for me, yes, as a pastor, it does not. It does when I am leading as a pastor, but not in my private life. It has changed over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Prayer"","block_context":{"text":"Prayer","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/prayer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1463,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/12\/24\/tell-the-good-news-be-the-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":4},"title":"Tell the Good News, Be the Light","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"December 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Currently the sermons and services are not being recorded at Calvary. Sorry for any \u00a0inconvenience this may have caused. Thursday, December 24, 2015 Christmas Nativity of the Lord Old Testament Isaiah 9:2-7 New Testament \u00a0Titus 2:11-14 Gospel \u00a0Luke 1:1-20 The time of Advent, the time of waiting for the birth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Acceptance"","block_context":{"text":"Acceptance","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/acceptance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/25\/thanks-and-blesings\/","url_meta":{"origin":11,"position":5},"title":"Thanks and Blesings","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"December 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"First, from the entire Dill family, we wish to express our gratitude for all the support over the years and especially at the \"Deportation\" party in December. My last service as your Deacon was December 24th-25th. Obviously you all are in good hands with Pastor Ben, Deacon Glen and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}