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Shit happens is my favorite phrase. I barely use it, because of social norms, but I am always thinking it. Why did my chair break when I was sitting on it.. Shit happens. Why was it me who slipped on the wet floor carrying a large tray of spaghetti.. Shit happens. Why is it that I get pulled over, when I’m already late to work.. Shit Happens.. Why did I break my foot, always fail my classes, have an abusive father?
Shit happens is a great philosophy for all the dumb annoyances in life, but for bigger problems it is a little harder to stomach. It is very difficult for me to understand why I was my dad’s stress releaser or why I sink into a state of depression for months, and its even more frustrating when I believe in a personal God who wants to "talk" with me. If Shit Happens and I’m trying to be a faithful person, then why doesn’t he just say, "Woah, Nelly.. Stephen’s had enough for a lifetime."
Now I understand most of the bigger problems in life are caused by smaller issues that just escalate, and psychiatrists could associate my depression with family history and an abusive father but that still doesn’t answer my question.
The Revelation
Then one Sunday during a group discussion, a man whom I don’t even know said that maybe God allows suffering so that we can help others who go through similar situations. Even though one could technically respond, "well either God can’t stop suffering or God doesn’t care", but the input from the man in the discussion gave me a whole new perspective. Why does God allow suffering is an unanswerable question with only theoretical responses, but not our reactions during or after the suffering. God told Abraham in Genesis 12 that God will bless him so that he can be a blessing to others then Jesus endured a death of suffering that would comfort millions throughout two thousand years. I can hear God whispering to me, "I need you to be a blessing and comfort those who are in need, therefore for their sake, you need to suffer alongside them."
Jesus told us that to follow him, we would lose everything and gain little. Following God doesn’t mean Big issues wont occur nor will they be probable, but they will come and hit harder with a tougher impact for followers. My struggles with addictions, suicidal thoughts, and troubled history rip at the walls of my soul and faith, leaving me drowned in tears on the floor alone. Many days, it is too much to even get out of bed and I don’t know if I could tell anyone that there would be rainbows on the other side, but in my struggles I press on in faith. I can’t explain why shit happens, but because of faith I will be there to comfort my student whom comes in with bruises on his face.
Shit always happens, but what do you do about it?
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I would have to have to agree. Bad things must happen. If they are done because of other people (abusive family members, terrorists, and your big brother punching you in the arm), God usually won’t do a thing to stop it, because he has given us the wonderful gift of agency. It is unfortunate when someone uses their agency to take away someone else’s agency, but those are the sins that are most “punishable” and harder to repent of, because sometimes you have taken away something that can’t be given back.
If, on the other hand, they weren’t necessarily caused by other people–they were self-inflicted or just “stuff” happening–then yeah, God can allow that to happen to try our Faith and see if we will keep enduring to the end, a la Abraham and Isaac.
There are some great scriptures out there that deal with this too. We should take comfort that God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 CORINTHIANS 10:13). Also, there is a great passage in the book of Mormon where Lehi tells his son Jacob that there must be an opposition in all things. Where it not so, “righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad” (2 Nephi 2:11). Without bad times, the good times wouldn’t feel so good! It is all about perspective. Bad times will always come. But as you say, “what do you do about it?”
[...] I agree with his opinion that bad luck comes upon everyone. I recently wrote about this in my post Shit Happens. It really isn’t about the actions from a bad experience that is important but our reactions that [...]