Grace Amid Trials

*BT Song 1192: Trusting God’s Grace Amid Trials*

Two sentences from Philip Yancey provided food for thought for today’s meditation. First, “Resolution of the ‘Why?’ questions lies beyond the reach of humanity—was that not God’s main message to Job?” (p.213). Second, “If for whatever reason I refuse to trust God, what, then, can I trust?” (p.213). I have to agree with Yancey on both these points. In my life, this remains true throughout my pilgrimage in the Lord.

I like the verses from Philippians 4:6-7, especially: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Muktinath.” According to my understanding of this verse, the peace of God won’t bring an exact solution to my problem. But when I approach the Lord with thanksgiving and prayer, He will first give the peace which transcends all understanding. This is not some kind of stoic indifference but an inner peace based on past experiences with the Lord. Then that peace will calm both the heart and mind.

When problems come, most people either use their mind/brain to think calmly to find a solution or use their heart and jump with lots of emotion, not knowing what to do, thereby creating more problems for themselves and others. But when we trust the Lord, He gives His peace, which will calm both mind and heart, allowing us to use them to analyze the problem. Once we see the nature of the crisis using the God-given mind/buddhi and also our heart to involve with personal involvement (or emotion), with the help of other devotees’ guidance and help, we can try to handle the crisis.  Even if we don’t achieve the expected outcome, we will surrender to God’s will, understanding that whatever happens is for our benefit, and that God has fulfilled His purpose in our lives. Sevanand echoes this sentiment in Romans 8: “Everything works together for good for everyone” [as per the original context], not just for those who love God individually, but through them for everyone else, according to scholars interpreting the original text.

*Recent Experience*

After my mother fell down on April 4th and recovered, she got severe constipation. We both underwent severe trials as there was no one to help us in this crisis. Particularly for me, as I had to lift her every time from the cot and toilet seat, I got severe back pain again. She also became tired as she used all her energy to release her bowels. One major reason for our ordeal is her overweight. Whenever I point it out and request her to do something to reduce her weight, she argues back about how to do it. When I suggested she give up using ghee, which I give her only on alternate days, she fought back, saying, “If I die due to overweight, you are not going to carry me for cremation, but four people will come for that.” Then with a smile, I used to respond, “That will happen after your death, but now I alone have to lift you every day.” Particularly during the night, she finds it difficult to get up from her cot, and I have to rush to help her. Every night, more than five to six times, I have to get up after midnight until early morning. So, no proper sleep for me, resulting in dizziness and back pain.

*Prayer and Solution*

So every night, my only prayer to the Lord is to give me more patience and good health to take care of my mother. This morning during the meal, when she demanded ghee again, I said that yesterday I gave it for pongal (South Indian kichidi) for tiffin, so no ghee today. She fought back, saying, “That was only for tiffin and not for the meal. So today is my turn to get it for the meal.” Then I took the ghee to give her as there was no point in arguing further. Then, within a flash, one idea came to mind. I told my mother that as our homemade ghee was finished, I bought this from the shop which costs one thousand per kg. Of course, I bought only 100 gm of ghee for one hundred rupees. But if I told her that the ghee I bought was one hundred rupees, the impact would be less. So, diplomatically, I told the price in kg. This really shocked her, and she began to shout back, “Why do you buy ghee for that much cost? Such costly ghee won’t digest easily when I think about the cost. Apart from that, shop ghee won’t be good and tasty. So don’t give me any more.” Then, with a smile inside me (not smiling openly), I thanked God for resolving one issue. Though stopping a little bit of ghee on alternate days won’t reduce her overweight, at least it will give me some kind of mental satisfaction. For your information, I don’t use ghee much, and when I serve half a spoon of ghee to my mother, I use only three to four drops, which she also notices. Now we almost stopped using ghee completely.

So I used the God-given mind/buddhi and heart/emotion as He already gave His peace when I sought His grace to handle the present crisis in our life.

Revised on 8-7-2024

Gurukulam