Finding Peace in Suffering

I hear from so many people that they think Lent is the most difficult time during our Liturgical Year.  I get that, I really do.  But at the same time, I think that there is something beautiful in finding peace within suffering.  There is something life changing in letting silence enter our lives to try to process, even just a little bit, the suffering, offering and love that Jesus gave to us by dying on the cross for our sins. 

I have been doing a lot of my own suffering lately as I have been carrying the cross that God has asked of our family with the loss of our son Samuel, as we experienced a miscarriage.  So I think, what can I do this Lent to bring that suffering to Him, how can I bring my suffering to unite with Jesus at the cross?

We are all hurting in one way or another, and our job is not to compare our sufferings with others, but to bring them to God and to be a support to each other through this time.  Our job is to be quiet enough, and give ourselves enough time and space to really listen to God and what he is asking of us and then trust what he has planned for our lives. 

Can we give God silence each day this Lent?  Through prayer, in adoration, or in listening to Him through scripture? 

I am learning that bringing the Church into our domestic home is not always about having activities, but learning how we witness our faith to our spouses and children through our daily actions and words.

How can we show trust in God through our suffering today? 

How can we witness God's love and devotion to us that he would die on a cross for our sins within our families, church and community? 

How can we allow Jesus to become a part of the fabric of our love to extend to the people who we are closest to?

How can we find peace in the suffering?

This is my challenge to myself this Lent.  I hope we can come together and offer our sufferings, no matter how big or how small, to the foot of the cross.