Recently, Mark and I had a conference call with a pastor of a large church to pick his brain on some potential writing projects. As he spoke wisdom poured out of his mouth and one of his comments struck me, “God just doesn’t seem real to a lot of people any more.” 

He believed a big reason why is due to our avoidance of suffering.

Okay – I don’t like to suffer and I’m guilty of doing my best to rid it in my life and my family’s life. I want everything to be fun, easy-going and feel-good. However, by doing this, am I missing out on an opportunity to experience God in a new and deeper way?

Perhaps I’m not alone in dodging suffering. Our culture has made it convenient for us. If something hurts, we can numb it with a pill. Our mobile and transient lifestyle allows us to escape stressful relationships. We can change churches, schools, jobs, even marriages instead of dealing with the issue.

Every now and then I’m asked by a publisher to do a book review. Not long ago, Zondervan offered to send me the book Every Body Matters by Gary Thomas for free if I’d be to write a blog post about it. Well, uh…yeah! I love to read and stuff that is free. Plus the topic of the book intrigued me.

The title is a play on words – it’s not talking about everybody but every body matters. Thomas connects our spiritual being with our physical body. When you take care of your body with healthy eating and physical exercise, you’re empowering your spirit with zeal to do good work for God.

Thomas is quick to point out that he’s not promoting one to build his or her body to be admired by others, but instead to strengthen it in order to serve God.

It was the worst day in my life. Our daughter Anastasia was two-years-old. We were living in Germany in a townhome, three-stories high with winding, marble stairs. Anastasia, like most two-year-olds, was my shadow and followed me continually up and down the stairs.

I worked busily that morning, getting ready for an overnight guest. The drain to the shower was clogged so I used a spoon to pour with some Draino crystals directly into the pipes. A small amount of the crystals mixed with some water and stuck to the spoon.

At the hospital she was put in the pediatric intensive care ward. We were blessed that the majority of the burns were in her mouth but her saliva had carried some of the chemicals down her esophagus and the doctors needed to see the extent of the damage.

Last week, we passed the 1-year anniversary of the horrific day in Tucson, Arizona. On January 8, 2011, a lone shooter shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen other people. Six died, including 9-year-old Christiana-Taylor Green.

Recently I read the book As Good As She Imagined by Roaxanna Green and Jerry B. Jenkins. It’s a wonderful book that portrays the life of this 9-year-old, Christina-Taylor. My heart mourned for the victims and their families but especially for the Green family. No one wants to lose his or her child.

Green and Jenkins share stories from Christina-Taylor’s short life and I couldn’t help but fall in love with her and her family. It’s reminded me of the importance of community, love of family and how enduring challenges develops the perseverance needed to survive later trials.

Do you ever feel your life is full of many “almost made it” opportunities? The interruptions of life continually prevent you from accomplishing your goal and living out your dream. You almost got the promotion, almost got married, almost won the competition, almost got into that college, almost bought the house, almost had a baby, almost beat cancer…

They can happen to us or even our loved ones, either way they put a sharp curve in the road, taking us in another direction, to a destination we have no desire to visit.

Some times these are self-invoked and happen because we (or another around us) turned the steering wheel in the wrong direction due to a bad decision – texting while driving, cheating on our taxes, shaving our legs with a dull razor.  (Uh…TMI on that last one?)

A cool thing happened to me this morning. I went for an early morning run before work. It was still dawn (I was going to say “twilight” but I didn’t want to distract you and cause you to think the movie Twilight and then wonder if I believed in vampires - which I don’t, btw). The sun was beginning to rise over Boise’s foothills but not enough to give much light.

I like running in the dark. It keeps me from looking at how far I still have to go and instead forces me to focus the steps in front of me. I’m not distracted by the scenery around but look solely at the path in front of me.

It was peaceful and therapeutic.

Life’s been rough lately and the world’s craziness makes it even harder to find peace. God tells us in the Bible not to be anxious about anything but that is easier said than done.

Do you ever find yourself praying away your circumstances? I do. However, when I look at my “wishes” I often find contradictory statements…  “Please let us have a bigger house so we won’t be so crowded.” Then…“If we had a smaller house it wouldn’t take me so long to clean it.” Or…“May I have a job that is more mentally challenging?” To…”I wish I had an easier job so I wouldn’t have to think so much.” and on and on it goes.

As I drove in to work this morning, my prayers were filled with petitions to God for Him to change a circumstance in my life. But my mind floundered. What would happen if He removed the circumstance? Would that solve the problem and bring me peace? Or would I be bored and complacent?

I thought about this and then Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to mind. If there was ever a woman tempted to wish away her circumstances, Mary was probably it….

A while back, a friend and I met for coffee. We chatted away about our families and life but towards the end of our time together, she began sharing with me about a personal issue. It wasn’t devastating but it definitely wasn’t something she’d want to tweet or post on her Facebook page. She had made a bad choice and because of it, a relationship had been severed. Openly she poured out all the details of how a few bad decisions had led to a regretful action.

The next day she called to thank me for being a sounding board (as opposed to sounding bored). Our time together allowed her to process her thoughts. It gave her the courage to reach out to her other friend and work to rebuild the friendship.

After we hung up, I thought about how much I admired my friend. Her humbleness and transparency was helping her to right a wrong and to move beyond it in a healthy way. She wasn’t hiding her mistakes but instead she was owning up to them and beginning the healing process.

Mark is turning 40 this year and to celebrate it, he made it his goal to complete an Ironman 70.3 triathlon - a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and a 13.1-mile run. Being the supportive wife that I am, I offered to watch him do it. But he had other plans. He asked if I’d train with him to do one. Uh…

After reviewing my vows, I realized that I had agreed to support him in “sickness” and even though he didn’t agree that this was an illness. So I told him I’d think about do a triathlon but on a much smaller scale.

Our local YMCA has a triathlon team that meets throughout the week, offering swimming and running clinics and bike rides, all for beginners to the elite. One by one my family joined the team...Anastasia, Mark, Noah. I watched their practices from afar and cheered the kids on at few local children’s triathlons. From the sideline, I began catching the tri-bug.

The other day, while grocery shopping, I turned down an aisle and faced a roadblock. A two-year-old boy was flinging around on his back. If I were deaf, I may have thought he was in the middle of a seizure, but my ears were working well and I immediately recognized it as a temper-tantrum.

The mom, at her wits-end, grabbed him off the floor and forcefully put him in the shopping cart. He squealed loud and she barked louder (figuratively that is). Twenty years ago my heart would have been with the kid, Poor little guy. What a mean mommy.

However, today it was with the mom. I now have kids and have been there and done that. My busy schedule, lack of sleep and responsibilities had collided and it pushed me over the limit. My patience flew out the door and I said and did things I later regretted.