A postlude to RIDICULOUS & it's remedy

New meaning of ridiculous:

Being described as "perfect and upright" and then having

1. ALL of your oxen, [donkeys] stolen in the same day -(Job 1:14-15) RIDICULOUS 

2. ALL of your servants and sheeps consumed in flames from heaven- (v.16-17) RIDICULOUS 

3. ALL of your sons and daughters killed in a freak accident by some random wind destroying their house- (v.18-20) RIDICULOUS 

4. All of this happening in 24 hours and being able to say "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (v.21) REALLY RIDICULOUS.

It gets worse, just wait. 

5. THEN having "sore boils" afflict you from head to toe (Job 2:7) RIDICULOUS

6. Having your best friends turn against you in the time you need them most, being judgmental and suspicious instead of comforting and caring (Job 4, 11) - RIDICULOUS

7. All of THIS happening and still being able to declare, "Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15) - REALLY RIDICULOUS

I have yet to read all 42 chapters, but I am sure it just gets more and more ridiculous. And I thought my life was ridiculous...

Today in Sunday School we talked about how God is love and light. We had a good discussion that awakened in me a series of questions and concerns I didn't realize I had. The teacher mentioned how it is important to seek out signs of God's love in your life daily. She mentioned how it could be simple, like the beautiful trees or living in a place with nice weather. Another example could be avoiding a car accident or some other catastrophe. While I am the first to appreciate nice weather, it got me wondering...What about when the weather is bad? It's been raining for months? Obviously that doesn't mean God doesn't love you. What about when you don't avoid that catastrophe? What about when you personally or someone in your family encounters a trial that seems unbearable? What about when you pray really hard for something, and you don't get an answer? What about when righteous desires are left unfulfilled? What about little children who grow up in an abusive home? 

How can we really feel God's love, even in moments of rejection or despair? In the midst of trials that we find unwanted, unwarranted, and unbearable? 

After pondering about these things, I have had two examples/sources come to mind: 

Job. He had a testimony of Jesus Christ even when all was gone in His life, even when it would have been a lot easier to assume that God didn't love Him or that He didn't care. Pretty amazing that Job was faithful through all of those trials and was still trusting in God's love for Him as an individual. His faith was awesome-RIDICULOUS. Although I know my life doesn't even compare to his, I want to have faith like he does and trust like he does. 

Elder Christofferson's talk from last April General Conference: "As Many As I love, I Rebuke and Chasten"

I love everything about this talk. It has spoken to my heart on so many occasions, and especially right now. 

Today, this was one of my favorite parts about trials and sacrifice: 

"Sadly, much of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler 'who meets their needs when summoned' or a therapist whose rolse is to help people 'feel good about themselves.' It is a religious outlook that 'makes nor pretense at changing lives.' 'By contrast,' as one author declares, 'The God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism."

Even our trials are meant to refine us and helps us bring forth more fruit. I want to be able to join with Paul when he says, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,  nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

The remedy to ridiculousness.