The first Chapter of Pauls second epistle (letter) to the church in Corinth talks about God as Comforter. It would be harder to take this advice from Paul if he had not proven by his actions that he depended on God through all his suffering. Paul suffered greatly. In Chapter 11: 23 he boasts "I have worked much harder, been in prison ore frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again." Instead of lamenting how unfair this was and how poorly God treated him, he realizes that this happened so that he might learn not to rely on himself, but on God.
Being as self-dependent as I am, sometimes I feel like the clock is just ticking...waiting for God to send some sort of suffering my way so that I will learn to rely on him and not on myself. I think he's doing this in some small ways already by taking away my control over certain situations, but sometimes I wonder if it is only a matter of time before "the big one" hits and my reliance (or lack of) on God will be tested. I'm not sure I could pass the test.
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I'm just now catching up! I can totally relate to this feeling. I had the same thing when it seemed like everything was going "too well" in life and I wasn't even trying in my spiritual walk. That's when my miscarriages happened. I took them as a big wake-up call. I haven't fully come back around yet by any means, but it certainly got me thinking (and trusting!) again.
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