Good Words for Today: December 3

God uses suffering to teach us many lessons we couldn’t learn any other way. Three positive things happen when we go through hardship and difficulty—no matter what the cause:

We slow down . . . and begin to think. We calm down . . . and begin to listen. We look up . . . and begin to learn.

Why doesn’t that happen every day? Because we go so fast that we don’t have time to think about what we are doing.  God has to slow us down, and often the only tool he has is suffering. It’s not that God isn’t willing to speak to us in the midst of life; we’re usually too busy to pay attention. Slow me down, Lord, so I can hear your voice speaking to me. Amen. 

December 3, 2016