{"id":3412,"date":"2016-08-22T19:18:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T03:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2016-08-23T07:05:57","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T15:05:57","slug":"with-suffering-comes-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/p\/3412","title":{"rendered":"WITH SUFFERING COMES BLESSINGS (Yvonne\u2014My One and Only Beloved)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2016-01-15<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Book2cover
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

By:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Lai<\/p>\n

Translator: Agnes K Y Tai<\/p>\n

Although God has allowed my cancer affliction, there have been hidden blessings that have been released and realized through the suffering.<\/p>\n

The first blessing bestowed by God by the illness and suffering is that it causes me to draw closer and become even more intimate with Him.\u00a0 In an acute calamity, prayers and the seeking of God\u2019s will inevitably get more fervent.\u00a0 During unceasing prayers day and night, God has let me experience His great love, joy and peace, and see the vision of His sending.\u00a0 This is the best preparation from Him for my ensuing ministry.<\/p>\n

This first blessing which lets me know God in a much deeper way is well-illustrated in the Old Testament of the Bible where a person named Job has said, \u201cMy ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.\u201d\u00a0 Did Job not previously know God?\u00a0 He certainly did, but not deep enough.\u00a0 Job was a good person, a righteous man, one whom God was very pleased with.\u00a0 God did not hold back suffering from him.\u00a0 Job would know God much better after suffering was upon him.\u00a0\u00a0 This was certainly not a knowing in a logical sense but rather a knowing that comes from a more in-depth experience with God.\u00a0 From a hearing only to an actual experiencing turns a once objective view into a subjective one.\u00a0\u00a0 My illness has let me personally experience God in a deeper way.\u00a0 His words are more precious and amidst suffering, God\u2019s words become more distinct.\u00a0 He has spoken with me and His words and promises are so vivid.<\/p>\n

The second blessing from God is that due to my own physical and mental agony I am now better able to understand how cancer patients feel both physically and mentally.\u00a0 This permits me to draw so much closer to them, to sincerely care about their misery and to preach the one true Gospel of Salvation so that the Hope of Glory can reach their hearts.\u00a0 Personally suffering from cancer has prepared my heart to be filled with love and compassion for the afflicted and has given me a sense of increased urgency to share the Gospel message with others.<\/p>\n

The third blessing from God is expressed in the many fruits that resulted in my life through my experiencing cancer, and there have been numerous persons that have been saved and blessed as a result.\u00a0 After I had cancer, over 90% of those to whom I preached the Gospel were willing to believe in God.\u00a0 Thanks to the Lord, this is God\u2019s amazing plan.\u00a0 All glory and honor to God! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Apart from this, God has used me at local and other churches and fellowships at various places for teaching and testimony.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAfter Rain Comes Rainbow\u201d testimonial records were published and reprinted and the Gospel is now propagated via the internet, writings and worship songs.\u00a0 \u201cThe Songs of Rainbow\u201d CD has gone out through media such as electronic video and WeChat, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks to the Lord, Who lets me not only spread the Gospel to those seriously ill, but also enables me to witness to many more of His truthfulness and love through the use of my personal experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Lai Translator: Agnes K Y Tai Although God has allowed my cancer affliction, there have been hidden blessings that have been released and realized through the suffering. The first blessing bestowed by God by the illness and suffering is that it causes me to draw closer and become even more intimate with Him.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3452,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions\/3452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rainbowpaullai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}