I will always seek God. Some people find God in church. Some people
find God in nature. Some people find God in love; I find God in suffering. I’ve
known for some time what my life’s work is, using my hands as tools to relieve
suffering.
The quote above is from the late ISIS captive Kayla Mueller. She found God
in suffering. More than just a dry theological question, for Kayla suffering was
a spur to act out her faith.
You see, faith is more about action than sitting back and talking about
one's convictions. As I've come around to what I feel is a more mature belief in
God, it is important for me to focus on what all believers in God have in common
- or perhaps I should say should have in common. That is, the desire to
do the right, the godly, thing.
I live in the so-called Bible Belt of the United States. Where I live the
name of Jesus is on just about everyone's lips. It pains me to say the majority
of these folks I know live very unlike their alleged savior. Do they never
notice that Jesus spent more time defending the poor and helping the suffering
than he spent preaching about correct belief?
Nonbelievers are sometimes content to use suffering as a reason not to
believe. Yet in what other way are all humans bound together if not in
suffering? Not all of us love; not all love nature; not all of us seek God in
organized religion - but all of us suffer. The hands that attempt to relieve
suffering are the very hands of God.
We know a whole lot more about how Kayla Mueller lived than how she died.
But that's okay, because for all of us the way we live is what will be
remembered more than the way we die.
God bless the memory of Kayla Mueller
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