Peace Will Reign

I know some people who want to be martyred.  Not me.  Torture?  Rather not.  Suffering is not something I ask for.  I've told God that I don't want to ask for it, so if it's something I'm supposed to ask for, He'll have to bring me to that place of willingness.  But I won't avoid suffering by doing something I don't believe in.

So sometimes I imagine what the people being imprisoned, kidnapped, murdered, martyred go through; and when I pray for them, I don't always pray for physical deliverance.  But I hope, somehow, that God's comforting presence will shield them from the pain, the emotion, the mental torment; that peace will reign, and the joy set before them. 

And it's my philosophy, that God is able to do that, in the midst of hard times: to overwhelm us with His love.  I count on it for my own trials, light as they may be by comparison.  I feel hopeful that God's love will envelope me, and enable me to bear with grace the hard things that come.  And, of course, I hope that God's love will enable me to dance with grace, rejoicing in good things that come.