Carry Your Cross

"He who will not take up his cross and come after me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:38

Yesterday, we celebrated our covenant community's 42nd anniversary. Our theme was a play on our name, Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon (The Joy of the Lord)- "Ligaya ko ang Panginoon" (My Joy is the Lord). 

One of the sharers was Rosanne Romero, who has persevered with her Multiple Sclerosis for 31 years. MS is a degenerative disease that destroys the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Can you imagine the pain she deals with every single day? We who get so scared of going to the dentist because of the excruciating pain when he hits a nerve? We can't. And it's not only the pain. Things we can do easily, takes her forever to accomplish! 

Rosanne said, "God is sovereign. He decides when and how He wants to use me." And use her He does. She has written books, magazine articles, given talks around the world. Always with her bittersweet humor. She is an example of a beautiful rose in God's garden, blooming in spite of the heat, the blizzard, the storm, the floods sweeping away everything around her. She bears fruit under pressure. She flourishes not fails. She carries her cross triumphantly. 

Indeed we too are supposed to bear fruit in and out of season. We are supposed to bloom under pressure. After all, we are not subject to earth's economy but heaven's. God meets our needs according to HIS riches, and He has met Rosanne's needs while she, like us, are on our pilgrim journey to our real home. 

Rosanne said in closing her sharing, "Nowhere is far enough if it is short of where God calls you to." 

Father, we fall short many times. Teach us to go where You lead, and carry the cross You've given us joyfully as it says in James 1:2, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." May we have a triumphant entry into our eternal home!