How can I keep from losing heart when I love a prodigal?

Here's the Precious Prodigal post for July 25, 2014: How can I keep from losing heart when I love a prodigal? #dontgiveup #Chekhovsgun Please "Share" using this "ShortLink" = http://bit.ly/1nDC69Z

2 Cor 4:1 “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.”

What does it mean to have a ministry? The word translated “ministry” in the New Testament means “to serve” or “to serve as a slave.” Paul certainly saw himself that way and often referred to himself as a “bond slave of Jesus Christ.” (Rom 1:1, Titus 1:1)

It’s in that spirit of submission and ministry that he says, “as we have received mercy, we faint not.” (2 Cor 4:1) The NASB translates it as, “We do not lose hope.” What in the world does ministry have to do with hope or with loving a prodigal?

There are two basic reasons heartbreak comes into our lives. The first is because God is about the business of conforming us into the image of His Son. (Rom 8:29) That shaping and molding is a painful process, but the only way I become willing to change is if it becomes too painful to stay the same. Loving a prodigal is a painful thing, and sometimes it’s that very pain that makes us grow.

The second reason is so we can reach out and give others the same comfort we have received from God...our God who “comforts us in all our tribulation.” (2 Cor 1:4) Who else can understand the tears of a prodigal’s broken-hearted Mom or Dad the way you and I can? Who else can assure them with confidence that it’s not their fault? Who could know as we do that there are times it’s best to just listen and say nothing?

There’s a dramatic principle good writers use called “Chekhov’s Gun.” Simply put, it means if you introduce a gun in the first chapter, you absolutely must fire it by the second or third chapter. If it’s not relevant to the story, you remove it. If God has allowed heartaches in our lives, it’s only the first chapter. He’s going to use those heartaches by the second or third chapter…you can count on it.

Given my choice, I’d rather be able to sing like Sandi Patty or Amy Grant. I’d rather paint like Thomas Kinkaid or write like C.S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia. However, that’s not the ministry God had planned for my life. Instead, God has given me a broken heart and the knowledge that He uses broken things. And He’s given me the ability to write about it in a way that gives my readers hope.

I saw a quote this week that said, “My life didn’t turn out the way I planned…and that’s ok.” Does it hurt? You know it does. And you’re probably right there with me. This path wouldn’t have been my choice, but God didn’t call me to be “my own person.” You and I are called to be men and women who belong to God…bond slaves. That means we don’t have rights, and it’s not our job or our place to question why God does what He does.

So you didn’t have good parents. So your kids have broken your heart. So your husband walked away and never looked back. So what? Do you get to quit? I know it hurts. But do you really think God would have let these painful things come into our lives if He didn’t intend to use them? When you and I can’t see God’s hand, we can trust His heart. And giving in to despair is one of the things we need to lay aside.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, choose to hold on and not lose heart? Can you trust that God is going to use your pain for your good and His glory?