Back in 2014, Bay and I were asked by a friend of ours (who works closely beside Franklin Graham at Samaritan’s Purse) to fly back to Boone, NC to assist with the debrief of their Liberia team.
This team evacuated the country a mere 15-days prior to our arrival after the devastating effects of Ebola took their tole on the team in every way.
Those previous 15-days had been spent in isolation and quarantine, and now these dear folks were being brought to headquarters for a season of debrief.
That’s why we were on site.
Bay and/or I would speak in a chapel service each day, and then we would meet (along with other counselors) one-on-one with team members.
Why us?
Well, because the head of the Liberian team attended RVA during the time that we were there, and he and his family were very much “family” to us; and, because just prior to the Ebola outbreak, Bay had spent a couple of weeks ministering there in Liberia with them, staying on their compound.
That September, I learned that Ebola wasn’t just a noun, it became, for this team and those associated with them, an adjective to describe a form of HaRdShIp and SuFfErInG: the most difficult form any of them experienced to date.
To define suffering is difficult.
Webster doesn’t do the word justice to the depths that match the experience, saying only, “the conscious endurance of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.”
According to Buddhism there are four universal sufferings of mankind: birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Buddhists apparently forget that “living,” in general, need be included…for we will all experience, at one time or another, a form of suffering that just comes from walking this earthly road.
James, the brother of Jesus, uses a WORD to remind us of this.
He says:
Count it all joy….WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE TRIALS (including suffering, hardship, persecution, pain, difficulty of any kind)…
James 1:2
Did you catch that word, WHEN….
Not if.
When.
James is strongly emphasizing being prepared in order that we might respond to these seasons of life with joy (not happiness):
a deep inner calmness of spirit that leans upon trust in a God who is Sovereign and still in control of all that happens to us.
Ebola was excruciatingly hard.
Not just the disease (though that was a nightmare), but on so many other levels.
Ebola meant imminent death: the life of friends and loved ones snuffed out before your eyes, the end of a successful ministry, the death of a dream, the death of a culture you had come to embrace as your own, the death of naivety, the death of a season of peace, the death of day-to-day routine, even the death of an ability to process what is happening as it occurs (rather, living in survival mode, existing in the day to day, simply doing what must be done next)…
For you and I, we can replace Ebola-hard with another adjective.
You fill in the blank:
__________________ -hard (divorce, prodigal-children, cancer, murder, rape, child-sex-trafficking, abuse, car-accident, recovery from addiction, military-deployment, pregnant-out-of-wedlock, not-enough-money-to-pay-the-bills, religious persecution, imprisonment, loss of reputation, misunderstanding, relationship)
For all of us, hard is just hard; and, suffering is traumatic…
These things never happen expectantly.
Suffering ALWAYS catches us off guard.
It takes our breath away, and our ability to think and formulate a plan forward is paralyzed.
So, back to James’ words.
Here are the verses in their entirety, and here is where I camp today…
Count it all joy, my brothers (and sisters), when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4, ESV
This verse became a life-line during this season of walking alongside those suffering from Ebola-hard.
They weren’t meant for our dear friends, not in that moment, but for Bay and I, as we processed our own experiences with the hard that the Lord has allowed us to walk through, and will give His permission for in the future….and, maybe for you.
These were our lessons:
1) Be as prepared as possible. Trials, tribulation, and trauma are coming. Know how, where, and methods/ways to steady your heart before-hand.
2) Remember all suffering can either make us bitter or it can make us better. Choose better. What can I learn in my current suffering? Where is the Lord in this? How do I see Him at work?
3) Stay steadfast in faith. The easiest path to take is the one that walks away from the Lord. Steadfastness requires bravery and patient waiting. There is no question, trials often tell us what is really ruling our hearts – faith or fear? trust or doubt? The age old question is being asked of us, once again: “Did God really say ___________?”
4) Of all the lessons, this one is BIGGER to me than all the others. In it, I rely heavily under every circumstance that comes my way:
Trials come in all shapes and sizes.
James uses the word “various” to describe the trials we will experience.
Greek word: poikos
ποικίλος
I’ve heard some bible teachers say it’s where we get our word for “polka-dots.” I don’t know if this is true or not, but it does mean diverse, literally, “many colored,” or many shades of color.
Isn’t that a perfect description? All our trials come in a variety of shades – some are darker, deeper and more intense than others; in the same vein, some are light, delicate, vivid and bright.
I remember cross-referencing “poikos” during that early September in Boone, NC.
One of the verses that stood out to me, I discovered in Peter’s writings (1 Peter 4:10) as he described the grace of God. His words: God’s “varied grace.” His “poikos”grace. His manifold grace. His many-shaded grace.
I imagine you’re connecting the dots, just as I did.
FOR EVERY SHADE OF TRIAL THAT COMES OUR WAY, THERE IS AN EQUAL SHADE OF GRACE TO MATCH.
The Lord comes alongside of us to meet our trials shade for shade with His grace.
He gives us exactly what we need..
With grace like that at my disposal, how could I not stay steadfast, if for no other reason than to see how my Lord resolves the trials, and makes all things new according to His amazing grace, when life all pans out in the end.