These light afflictions

I was listening to a new CD from Jamie Soles and was struck by the chorus of the title song. The words are taken from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. The chorus is as follows:

So we do not lose heart

Even though our outer man is melting like the dew

Yet our inner man is new

All these light afflictions are only for a time

And they work for us a greater weight

A greater weight of glory all the time

I found this to be very encouraging and in a small way made me think of you, Mom, with some of your current physical afflictions.

Reading through the Corinthians passage makes you realize that nothing we're going through compares to what Paul is talking about. I recently watched The Hiding Place with my children, explaining to them as we went, all about the holocaust and the concentration camps. In the movie, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister are confronted by others about believing in a God who would allow the kind of suffering that they are enduring. In the end, I felt that the message from the movie in answering that accusation was a little weak. This passage in 2 Corinthians and others are encouraging and I believe the bottom line is that "nothing can harm me that won't turn out for good" (from another Jamie Soles song, This Confidence In Me). I wanted to include a link to hear the song, but Mr. Soles' website isn't working for some reason. But I will include the web address because there is no one's music I would more highly recommend, as it is all taken directly from scripture and has helped myself and my children memorize a lot of God's Word through learning the songs. His website is http://www.solmusic.ca/.