Beth said that we have to embrace the bad news to fully appreciate the good news!
Example:
If I go to the doctor for a physical and he says, "Sarah, you are healthy and don't have any cancer." I would be really happy.
However, when my father goes to Dr. Mainwaring every 6-months to have his CT scans and have his blood checked and he gets the good news of no cancer... it has a totally different meaning. My dad has been there with Stage IV colon cancer, unrelated bladder cancer, liver & lung cancer that spread from his colon.... My dad has heard the bad news and the GOOD NEWS IS SOOOOO GOOD!
My father was healed by the Great Healer and is living here today, enjoying his grandbabies!
Like Beth, our study leader, I was saved early in live at the tender age of 8. Being saved was wonderful then, but what did I know about the world and God's wrath? What did I know about sin? It has only been in adulthood, post-teenage, post-rebellion and living for myself that I can see how incredibly ugly I was! God saved me from myself! At 30-years-old I am saying, "God, please show me who I am without You so I know how good the Good News really is! It's shameful. It's horrible. Then, I found myself in a place knowing that I can't offer Him one single worthy thing from myself- yet he STILL chooses to have a relationship with me. I am so undeserving, but stand righteous before Him because Jesus Christ lives in me. How amazing is He? Wow!
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