{i.still.have.much.to.learn}

"dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way..."  james 1:2

"so after you have suffered a little while..." 1 peter 5:10

i'm currently reading jen hatmaker's "interrupted" and in it she says

 "likewise, i still can't believe it, but i managed to attend church three times a week as a fetus ... observe every form and function of church, get swallowed whole by Christian subculture ... and misunderstand the main point.  i am still stunned by my capacity to spin Scripture, see what i wanted, ignore what i didn't, and use the Word to defend my life rather than define it.  i now reread treasured, even memorized Scriptures and realize i never understood what they really meant."

well.then.

i can relate to that!

i can really relate to jen's statement

"i am still stunned by my capacity to spin Scripture, see what i wanted, ignore what i didn't, and use the Word to defend my life rather than define it." 

and it's not something i'm exactly proud of!

so, as she mentions, i've been trying to see Scripture, re-read Scripture and understand what it means!  i'm trying not to just quickly quote favorite, memorized passages but to read the verses surrounding them and take them in context, not spin Scripture, seeing just what I want. i also don't want Scripture to "defend" my life, i want it to "define" it.

so, this weekend when the above passages both showed up in my daily devotions, i realized that we are being told that there WILL be trouble in our lives.

"when troubles of any kind come your way"

"after you have suffered a little while"

when troubles come your way, after you have suffered ... that doesn't say "if" troubles come your way or "if" you have suffered.

"when" and "after" indicate that we WILL have troubles, we WILL suffer, ok, i've heard and {i think} understood that before, but I don't know that i ever paid attention to the fact that 17 short verses after "when" trouble comes your way is spoken of in james, we are told to be "quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry".

well.then.

that means, they go hand in hand. when trouble comes ... be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.

i.still.have.much.to.learn!

this book, "interrupted" is {breaking} me ... in a good way. i'm reading. and listening. and learning ... and praying that through this book {and God speaking to me through this book!}, i can learn to live a life interrupted ... by Jesus and by others. that "when" trouble comes my way and "when" i am suffering i will be quick to listen, slow to speak {a hard one for me} and slow to get angry!

i.still.have.much.to.learn!