I’m reading the most amazing book right now called “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor Frankl.
It’s a true story about a Jewish Psychiatrist who endured three years in a concentration camp and then later pioneered a new treatment called Logotherapy that helps people find deeper meaning in their lives.
It’s riveting.
He explains how the prisoners he saw with the greatest capacity to endure their sufferings were those who were unequivocal about their why – the meaning they had and the deep purpose they felt for their existence.
In his book, Viktor share’s a story about a young man who exemplifies this very theory.
Jerry Long has been paralyzed from his neck down since a diving accident which rendered him a quadriplegic. He was seventeen when the accident occurred. Today Long can use his mouth stick to type. He ‘attends’ two courses at Community College via a special telephone. The intercom allows Long to both hear and participate in class discussions. He also occupies his time by reading, watching television and writing. And in a letter I received from him, he writes:
“I view my life as being abundant with meaning and purpose. The attitude that I adopted on that fateful day has become my personal credo for life: I broke my neck, it didn’t break me. I am currently enrolled in my first psychology course in college. I believe that my handicap will only enhance my ability to help others. I know that without the suffering, the growth that I have achieved would have been impossible.”
Or as Romans 5:1-5 puts it:
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
So be encouraged today friends.
The trials you are enduring serve a purpose.
The monotony of everyday life serves a purpose.
The struggles we face this side of heaven serve a purpose.
Because we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
