Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of "Every Dark Cloud has a Silver Lining" (without using the actual phrase or literal example). (02/28/08)
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TITLE: The Gift | Previous Challenge Entry
By Hanne Moon
03/04/08 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
My life has changed dramatically since being diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, as well as arthritis and a few other things not worth mentioning. In the last sixteen years I’ve gone from a fairly active woman to one that paces her activities meticulously so as not to go into a flare.
I can’t sit for long periods of time, and I can’t stand for long periods of time. Migraines come on a consistently regular basis, sometimes two or three times a week.
My heating pad is my best friend.
And yet…
My condition allows me the time to read and reflect on God’s Word in the morning without the frantic need to finish up so that I can be ready for work on time.
I can enjoy the luxury of sitting down with a cup of coffee and visiting with old friends.
It let me stay home when my children were growing up, enabling them to avoid a latchkey existence.
It gave me the ability to be at my mother’s bedside twenty-four hours a day when she was in ICU for three months before she died.
It has given me the freedom to live in the moment, to work toward a goal unhampered by thoughts or concerns about what’s over the horizon.
It has taught me to trust in a Father’s gracious, sustaining hand.
My pain is a part of me, but it doesn’t define me or my life. It does help me choose the important things to focus on, and the rest I let go.
Sometimes God’s better gifts come to us packaged in grief, despair, or illness. They’re not pretty, and our first instinct is to recoil and question His motivation. But our God is not a capricious God; His acts are neither impulsive nor cruel. He doesn’t drop them at our feet and turn away.
He’s there at our side through it all, encouraging us to look beyond the outer wrapping to discover the hidden treasure within.
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In the last half, the verb tense shifted several times between statements.
Great message for all of us and a perfect illustration of the topic.