Christian Medial Fellowship
Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=article&id=2166
close
CMF on Facebook CMF on Twitter CMF on YouTube RSS Get in Touch with CMF
menu resources
ss triple helix - Christmas 2008,  A thorn in the flesh: finding strength and hope amid suffering.

A thorn in the flesh: finding strength and hope amid suffering.

InterVarsity Press 2007
£7.99; Pb 192pp
ISBN 978 1 84474 188 5

Some people claim to have lost faith in God because he did not answer their fervent prayers for healing. Pablo Martinez, Christian psychiatrist and Bible teacher, reveals how prolonged suffering can instead enhance a relationship with God as the sufferer learns to stop futile (though not purposeful) fighting and discovers 'the supernatural antidote of grace'. Godly grace gradually enables those undergoing the sorest trials to display patient acceptance – 'the best “sermon” that we can never preach.'

Pablo openly tells of his own protracted, distressing eye disease and intermittent surgery. The 'thorn' of his title refers to anything similarly painful, limiting, humiliating and prolonged. He illustrates how God can provide a way out by helping the sufferer to look for and then accept his perspective on the problem. With prayerful support, reflecting on biblical examples, especially that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, will in time take us beyond the suffering to find what it can achieve. Pablo's own painful journey has through God's grace produced a pearl. This book will enrich sufferers and carers alike.


Christian Medical Fellowship:
uniting & equipping Christian doctors & nurses
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instgram
Contact Phone020 7234 9660
Contact Address6 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1HL
© 2024 Christian Medical Fellowship. A company limited by guarantee.
Registered in England no. 6949436. Registered Charity no. 1131658.
Design: S2 Design & Advertising Ltd   
Technical: ctrlcube