Have you ever looked around and been overwhelmed by the suffering you see in the world?
For the last ten years, this has been my problem. I have frequently been presented with the suffering of strangers, family, and friends.y reaction is often to suffer more along with them. I was angry at God about it.
I questioned his goodness. I wondered how a good God could allow such bad things to happen. I finally remember that not everything is God’s fault.
Yes, he created us. Yes, he has the power to intervene and prevent the wrongs. Yes, he can redirect us.
However, if he did those things he would not be good. We each get the freedom of choice. We get to choose this way or that. We get to choose to believe or not believe. We get to choose almost everything.
I say almost because all of our choices are limited by the choices of others, the laws of physics, and the evil in this world. For example, we can choose to wear any clothing, but mostly we choose to wear what we already own. We could choose to be with any person, but we mostly choose to be with someone who also chooses us in return.
Now, God would not be good if we chose to date guy X, and God decided to not allow us to do that because he maybe saw guy X was not good for us. Maybe guy X is abusive, or would convince us to use drugs, or he would take all our money and leave us homeless. But God doesn’t intervene. He wants us to be happy and healthy, but he doesn’t intervene. Instead, he gave us written guidelines to follow. We get to choose and often, we choose something that will hurt us.
He would not be good if he prevents us from making our own decisions and makes a choice for us. We frequently look backward over our actions once a situation turns into a hot mess and say “why?”
God didn’t want to micromanage us. He didn’t want puppets. He wanted to create something that he loved and be loved in return. He wanted us to choose to love him. That’s all many of us really want. We want to be voluntarily loved—that’s why we can choose. We also get to suffer.
So, back to our original question… what do we do in response to the suffering we see in the world? Act. Take action. Small, big, medium. Act.
Pray. Never underestimate the power of prayer. We often think “all I can do is pray.” It feels like not enough. It feels insignificant. But friend, our prayers move God’s heart to intercede and he will act on our behalf. He moves into action to fight a battle against the evil in the world for us. In prayer, we have victory over evil.
Our small actions can add up to a significant result when combined with a small act of another.
Give a bottle of water to a homeless person. Give $20 to a food bank. Do a walk to support a cause. Volunteer. Give school supplies to a church or other charity for kids in need. Foster children. Adopt children. Be a mentor. Feed people, clothe them, love them. Listen to them when they talk. All of it is love. The list is endless…give and do.
When we give some small thing in response to the suffering of others and it is combined with the small gift of others, the world is changed. Lives are changed. Not just the life of the person receiving either, the life of the giver is forever changed too.
You may think whatever you do isn’t enough to fix the problem. That is likely true. But if everyone does something, it may just be enough. If everyone does nothing, it’s not even possible.
See, pray, do. That’s the solution to all the world’s problems, friend. Be kind, pray for the person, and act in love.
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Life, Love, & Recovery 
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