Transcript
I think the most powerful way of being a good soldier in your own suffering to fight the temptations that every sufferer greets is to be aware that you are always preaching to yourself some kind of gospel. It's the gospel of God's absence, of His unfaithfulness, of His distance, of His lack of actual care, His weakness or the gospel of His presence, His goodness, His love, His care. And you need to become more self-conscious of the gospel that you preach to yourself.
Invite People to Interrupt Your Private Conversation
Second thing, invite people to interrupt your private conversation, to ask you what have you been thinking, what have you been saying to yourself. Luella would say to me, "You know that's not true." That was something that I needed. She was interrupting that conversation and saying, "Paul, you know better. This is not what you know is true."
Maybe the best way to say it is your suffering is a community project. You're going to need people who will, at moments, preach to you what you need to hear and you, in your moment of weakness, are not able to preach to yourself. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray without ceasing. How about instead of going with those waves of doubt, those waves of fear, those waves of discouragement, when those waves come, begin to pray.
This may sound surprising to you. In those moments, pray prayers of thanksgiving. Think of everything, anything you can possibly think of for which to be thankful. That's not playing monkey games with your mind. That's reminding yourself of things that are true that you are likely to forget in those moments of struggle.
