Where Was God When My World Was Falling Apart?

J. Lee Valentine DO

Description

This is a Christian guide to help you or a loved-one navigate how the presence and will of God relates to tragedy, pain, suffering, and loss.
When bad things happen, have you ever struggled with finding an explanation for it? Did you try to explain it as part of God’s will?
Do we really understand what is meant by God’s will? This book was written as a guide to help us navigate through the maze of uncertainty and find the answers to our questions.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Will of God
• Redemption
• Suffering
• Rédemption (homonymie)
• Tragedy
• Pain

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 04 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663222855
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Where Was God When My World Was Falling Apart?
A Journey of Discovery: Tragedy, Pain, Suffering, and God’s Will
J. Lee Valentine, DO


WHERE WAS GOD WHEN MY WORLD WAS FALLING APART?
A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY: TRAGEDY, PAIN, SUFFERING, AND GOD’S WILL
 
Copyright © 2022 J. Lee Valentine, DO.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
 
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-2284-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-2285-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022904517
 
 
iUniverse rev. date: 05/04/2022
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1The Journey’s Beginning
Chapter 2Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Chapter 3The Will of God
Chapter 4Lessons from Job
Chapter 5The Intentional Will of God
Chapter 6The Self-Limited Will of God
Chapter 7The Ultimate Will of God
Chapter 8Putting It All Together
Chapter 9How Does Prayer Fit into This?
Chapter 10Where Was God?
Chapter 11Finally, Home
 
References

To Helen , my wife and best friend; to my children, Nelson (Liza), Patton (Rachel), and Mary Lela (Adam); and to my grandchildren, Ellie, Carter, Andrew, and Emma. You are my heart, my love, and my inspiration.
Preface
Coming to grips with tragedies, pain, suffering, and loss of life can be emotionally taxing. After reading this book, I hope you will be in a better frame of mind to deal with your adversity. It is not the cause of the adversity but our reaction to it that is most important. God has given us a choice. I pray your intention is to learn and grow from the adversity, allowing God to work through it with you and not letting it separate you from Him.
Why do things like this happen in the first place? Is God punishing us? What did we do wrong? Why didn’t God answer our prayers? Are all bad things “God’s will”?
During my years of medical practice, I have had the privilege and the opportunity to interact with patients during their good times and bad times. Due to advances in medical knowledge and technology, we physicians have been able to help patients with diseases and conditions that previously went untreated or were poorly treated. However, pain, suffering, and loss of life are still commonplace.
Have you ever been to a visitation, a wake, or a graveside service and just didn’t know what to say to the family? Maybe it was an accidental death of a child or a young person who developed a terminal illness. Do you try to console them by labeling it “God’s will”? Do we understand what we are saying when we say it is God’s will?
What is God’s will? Do you have a definition or a concept of what that phrase means? Have we thrown that phrase around thinking we completely understand it? I believe we have been extremely loose in using that phrase. Using the phrase “God’s will” without a clear understanding of what that means can affect our inner peace.
This book was written to bring some clarity and organization to the term “God’s will.” It is a complicated issue and, I’m sure, an issue that will continue to be examined and debated for years to come. It’s important for me to help the reader visualize my journey to understanding how tragedies, pain, and suffering occur in this world, why they occur, and how it fits into God’s plan. As a physician, I needed answers to these troublesome questions. This book is certainly not a complete treatise on the subject. It’s a blend of scripture, books, reference materials, input from ministers and theologians, my own Christian beliefs, and forty years of practicing family and emergency medicine.
If you’ve ever struggled to make sense of senseless violence, tragedies, pain, and suffering, this book is for you. Finding answers to the question, Why do bad things happen? is difficult, if not seemingly impossible. Hopefully this book will serve as a resource for possible answers question and help the reader begin the process of redemption and healing.
Personal stories or events depicted in this book are based on actual events. However, the names and a few of the details have been changed to protect the real identity of those involved.
Acknowledgments
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my initial editors, Laura Hyche and Rev. Dr. Tom Sikes for wading through my first draft and dealing with all the grammatical and punctuation errors. Their guidance, corrections, and suggestions, as well as their patience, were invaluable. I also want to thank my pastor, Rev. John Branning of Central United Methodist Church in Meridian, Mississippi, for his encouragement and support, as well as my Sunday school class, The Loftin Class, who tolerated the Sunday school version of this book. This book would not have been possible without the love and support of my wife, Helen. Her diagnosis and our journey through trying to find the answers we sought were the reason for this book. I also want to thank her for the excellent care she provided for me during my recent prostate cancer surgery. The inspiration for this book came during the time I was recuperating from surgery.
To God be the glory, great things He has done.
Chapter 1 The Journey’s Beginning
Little Rock, AR
We entered the parking lot of the John C. Clay Cancer Center in Meridian, Mississippi.
“There’s a good spot,” Helen said. “That will put us close to the entrance. They said for us to get in the elevator and go to the second floor.”
The elevator opened on the second floor, and we proceeded to the check-in desk. After answering the necessary questions, we were taken back to the nurse’s area so Helen could be checked in—blood pressure, height, weight, temperature, and pulse. When all of that was completed, the nurse ushered us to an empty exam room.
The exam room sounded hollow as someone knocked on the door. As the door slowly opened, a nice-looking man in a white coat walked in and reached out his hand to greet my wife, Helen.
For several months before this appointment, Helen was having persistent pain in her right hip and groin. There was no history of injury, and since she was healthy, it was puzzling as to what was causing it. The previous testing had failed to reveal any cause. A few days ago, she’d undergone some additional preliminary laboratory testing. That was why she was in this clinic today—to get the results from this latest evaluation.
“Hi, Helen. I’m John Voss.”
Being a physician, I already knew Dr. Voss.
“Nice to meet you, John,” Helen responded.
“I know you’re here to talk about the results of your recent test.