Faith Akers: Christians and Goat Heads

If you live in a desert area you have not only seen goat head

stickers but no doubt have stepped on a few. If your lucky, when

you pull one of these stickers out of your skin, it all comes out.

Sometimes it breaks off under the skin, leaving a part of the

thorn in you.

These thorns are what I think about when I read about Paul's

thorn in the flesh. Especially the thorns that break off under the

skin. These thorns are small, in size, but can cause a major

irritation to our well being.

There is much debate about what kind of thorn Paul had, but

whether Paul's thorn was physical, mental, emotional, or

spiritual. We know that Paul prayed that God would take the

pain away, and God's answer was, "My grace is sufficient for

you."

As Christians today, we still have to deal with pain, physical,

mental, emotional, and spiritual. It seems like as soon as one

temptation is over, another is on the way. Much like finding

ourselves in a patch of goat heads, no matter which way we

try to get out, it's still going to hurt.

Christianity is not an easy road, it is filled with strife,

persecution, temptation, and pain. Somehow through all of these

trials and tribulations, God provides for His people. He lifts us

up and carries us, so that we may rest and get prepared for our

next battle.

While we know there will be struggles and thorns in this life,

God blesses us with joy, peace and happiness, in the midst of our

turmoil. For Christians, this joy and peace, in the midst of conflict

becomes a common place occurrence.

To our friends and family that are not Christians, this seems

strange, even bizarre at times. Christians have learned to find God

in the eye of their storms.

Paul talks about peace that passes all understanding, for Christians

that peace is found in Jesus Christ. When we let Jesus have control of

our storms, sometimes they go away, like the storm on the Sea of

Galilee. Other times Jesus allows the storm to rage all around us,

and He provides peace and rest in the eye of the storm, and the

takes our hand and shows us the way out.

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