No Pain - No Gain

Do you like pain? How 'bout suffering? Grief? Heartache? Who does? Not me...in fact, one of my biggest fears is that when I have surrendered everything to God he is going to zap me with some sort of unbearable anguish that I know I just wouldn't be able to bear. Where is this coming from? This past weekend a girlfriend and I headed up to Campbell River for the Women Alive conference. Susie Larson was the speaker. For those of you who have heard her speak, you'll know what I mean when I say: "WOW" She is the most dynamic, real, engaging speaker I have EVER heard! EVER! Absolutely loved her...anyhow, I took some great notes while I was listening to her (although she talks at break-neck speed, barely pausing to breathe!) and they've vanished! Can't find them anywhere....but that's okay, because even though my memory is not very good - God knows what we need to hear, and so while I was doing a little bit of supper prep (Lentil Soup!!!) this afternoon, I had the radio on and was listening to my fave again - Dennis Rainey. Here's what he had to say: "God does not greatly use the man who he does not first greatly wound" This made me think back to Susie's lecture and although this was not the emphasis of her talk, it was definitely what I summized as I listened to her tell of the horrific abuse she suffered as a child, her months of being layed up in bed while pregnant and undiagnosed with Lymes disease, near death experiences, and financial hardships. All of these circumstances were intended to shape and mould her into the woman God called her to be - and what a woman she turned out to be! And although I said I was scared, part of me is a little excited about becoming a little more like Susie...Whoops! I mean Jesus - tee hee! My dear friend Alanne e-mailed me this verse just yesterday: 1Cor 4:8 We are hard pressed on everyside, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. I like all the "but-nots" in the verse...I'm such a wimp! If you feel like doing some reading, Susie has written some great books. Check out her website: http://www.susielarson.com/homepage.html and from this site you can be directed to her blog as well.