WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE SUFFERING

上帝 要 擦 去 他 們 一 切 的 眼 淚 ；  不 再 有 死 亡 ， 也 不 再 有 悲 哀 、 哭 號 、 疼 痛 ， 因 為 以 前 的 事 都 過 去 了 。 (啟示錄 21：4）

What to Do When You're Suffering - From His Heart 

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE SUFFERING [Paul and Barnabas were] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."  Acts 14:22 Who can't relate to some form of suffering?  Whether it is:     a broken heart from rejection.     financial disaster from a job loss.     physical problems from sickness, disease or injury.     deep and lasting hurt from abuse or divorce or the death of a loved one. we have all experienced suffering in our lives. Paul, the great man of God, had more than his fair share of suffering.  He was stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, lied to, lied about, and eventually beheaded for his faith in Christ (see 2 Cor. 11:24-30).  One day, after being stoned and left for dead, God raised him up to preach yet again.  He encouraged the disciples to keep walking with Jesus saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."  Acts 14:22  What do you do when suffering touches down like a tornado and rocks your world? 1.  Recognize that suffering is part of life.  Suffering does not necessarily mean you have done something wrong and are being punished as a result.  Paul suffered for doing what was right, not what was wrong.  Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered greatly on earth.  Isaiah tells us that Jesus was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3).  If Jesus did not escape suffering, why should we believe we will? 2.  Realize that God has a plan in suffering.  The Lord uses suffering to get us to depend upon Him more.  We all have a great tendency to forget God when times are good. but we cry out to Him when times are bad.  God allows the suffering to show us how much we really do need Him.  Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5).      3.  Accept the suffering as an opportunity for Christ to shine through you!  In addition to all of Paul's external issues, he also had a physical issue. a thorn in the flesh that bothered him greatly.  He asked the Lord three times to take it away.  Hear what the Lord said to him about it: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Paul went on to say, "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10). You and I need to remember that weakness and suffering bring humility and dependence, the precise conditions for Christ to really shine through our lives. Are you suffering today?  His grace IS sufficient in your suffering. and He wants to use it for good.  You will never shine more brightly for Christ than when you experience hardships with a joy and a peace that passes understanding.  That gets people's attention faster than anything and helps them see the reality of Jesus Christ in your life! ONE LAST STORY I heard about a young husband and wife who came to Christ.  They were asked how it happened.  "Well," they said, "our neighbors, Tim and Julie are Christians.  Tim lost his job a year ago due to cutbacks.  We knew things are very hard for them, yet they hadn't lost their joy, their peace, and their confidence that God would take care of them.  We saw through their hardship, a power that we did not have. and we asked them how we could have what they had."  Allow God to use your suffering for good.  Paul's greatest river of God's power came through his suffering, his thorn in the flesh.  The same can be true of you.

Abundant Life in the Jailhouse?

Notorious 'career criminal' now preaches Jesus to prisoners: 'Abundant life can be found in the jailhouse'

Notorious 'career criminal' now preaches Jesus: 'Abundant life can be found in the jailhouse'

BY LEAH MARIEANN KLETT

A former drug addict-turned-pastor who was arrested 35 times and sentenced to prison five times has opened up about the series of events that led him to Christ.

A former drug addict-turned-pastor who was arrested 35 times and sentenced to prison five times for eight felony convictions has opened up about the series of events that led him to Christ and why his mission is to tell others that abundant life is possible, even in prison.

The first time Scott Highberger got arrested he was just 12 years old. Growing up in Michigan City, Indiana, he was surrounded by dysfunction and substance abuse from a young age — and it wasn’t long before he began to adopt the habits surrounding him.

“I was a really angry kid who learned how to solve my problems through violence and fighting, and I ended up in a juvenile detention center at 12 years old,” he told The Christian Post. “Around that time, I started drinking, and that started a domino effect of committing crimes and abusing drugs and alcohol.”

Unable to stay out of trouble, Highberger dropped out of school in the ninth grade. By the time he was 17, he’d been arrested so many times that authorities placed him in an adult prison instead of trying him as a child. From there, he became trapped in a constant cycle of drinking, drugs, and prison stints, culminating in a 12-year sentence for selling drugs.

“I lived a very haphazard life with no real target or purpose,” he said.

While living in a halfway house following his release from prison, Highberger began dating a woman who eventually gave birth to their son. One time, the couple went to a movie theater to watch “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” a film about a demon-possessed girl. Shortly into the film, Highberger said he experienced the “fear of God” for the first time in his life.

“I didn't know anything about God, but I knew it was God and it was just really crazy,” he said. “I ended up going out in the parking lot, breaking down, crying my eyes out. I went home and got the Yellow Pages and started looking around for a church.”

But God had different plans for Highberger’s life: The very next day, he was arrested on a warrant he didn’t even know about and found himself in prison yet again. This time, Highberger spent two weeks studying the Bible and eventually gave his life to Christ during a church service conducted in prison.

“I thought everything would change once I got out,” he said. “I thought, ‘I’m born again, things are going to be different. I’m going to marry my girlfriend, and we’re going to have this incredible life together.'”

After returning home, however, Highberger’s girlfriend told him she was leaving him and taking their son with her. Devastated, Highberger returned to his former lifestyle, looking to drugs and alcohol for comfort. He ultimately attempted to kill himself, ending up with 40 stitches in his arm.

But the lowest point of his life, Highberger said, was the night his ex-girlfriend allowed him to take care of their son by himself.

“I had begged her to let me take him for a night, and she finally let me,” he recalled. “He was about 1-and-a-half years old. I got drunk and ended up driving to the ghetto to a crack house. I locked him in the car and got drugs, got back in the car, and drove home, smoking crack the whole way home with him in the backseat.”

“She found out about it, and was understandably livid,” he continued. “She told me I could never see my son again.”

With multiple charges pending against him and nowhere to turn, Highberger once again attempted to kill himself by taking over 100 sleeping pills. When that proved unsuccessful, he fled the state and wound up homeless, traveling from Florida to Arizona.

“I would sleep in dumpsters and on the street and just beg for change to buy the next drug,” he said. “I’d hit rock bottom. I was just so tired of my life.”

Eventually, he returned to Indiana where he was once again arrested. But this time, things looked different.

“Jeremiah 29:13 says, ‘If you seek me with your whole heart, you'll find me,’” he said. “At my lowest, I sought God — and I found Him in prison, and He just began to radically change my life.”

Highberger developed an overwhelming thirst for the Bible, and after his release from prison would bike through sleet and snow to attend church services, volunteering wherever he could. Determined to save others from the life that nearly destroyed him, Highberger approached church leaders about starting a prison ministry.

What started as a one-week service for inmates led to four services a week — and today, Highberger, along with his wife Danielle, ministers to thousands of prisoners, leading them to freedom in Jesus Christ.

“Looking back, I see that all those years were God setting me up for a comeback, to become desperate for Him,” he said. “To the outside world, prison is a place for punishment. For me, prison was a place to be alone with God, to begin a recovery process, to be away from negative influences, and to be stripped of everything. I found freedom in prison, and I want others to, as well.”

Highberger shares his powerful story in his book, Behind the Wire: A Prisoner's Journey to the Pulpit. In it, he details practical, biblical steps individuals can take to find true freedom. 

"I've handed out thousands of books to prisoners, and I've received so many letters from people sharing how it's changed their lives," he shared.

“Freedom isn't just about a physical location; it's a spiritual condition,” he explained. “There's an invisible prison that holds many in its grip, and the only way out of that is through Jesus.”

Today, Highberger serves as the outreach and prison pastor at Road to Life Church in Michigan City. Now reconnected with his son, the pastor says his message is simple: New life is possible through Christ — even for a career criminal.

“What I really preach from the rooftops is that Jesus leaves the 99 for that one,” he said. “He left those 99 for me and he grabbed ahold of my life in prison. There is hope for that drug addict, the alcoholic, the career criminal, the one that is so far gone that you think they can never be redeemed.”

“Abundant life,” he added, “can be found right there in the jailhouse.”