Weighed down by Glory!

Please forgive my outburst the other day. I'm still in the hospital and still not happy to be here, but my doctor has reiterated over and over that I'm not in good shape and need to be here right now and that this would not have gotten better if I'd stayed at home. So I guess I'm resigned to the need to be here....and counting the days until I leave! I am very grateful for all the people with whom I'm in touch online via chat and email. You are God's gift to me while I'm here!
I just completed a study on 2 Cor. 4:16-17 about which I could speak.

Maybe I should just let the Word speak for itself:

16 This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for
decay, our inner self is being renwed daily. 17 For our light and transient
troubles are achieving for us an everlasting glory whose weight is beyond
description.
Complete Jewish Bible

The Geneva Bible puts the end of verse sixteen in a pleasing way:"Though we are being broken in pieces with miseries and calamities; yet we do not yield."
I like that. Endurance is a choice. Clinging to Jesus is a choice.

I also like this: When you look at the Greek, one word is used for "light" meaning of little amount; and the word for "troubles" means "a weight or a pressure; an oppression"....and the word for weight (of everlasting glory) signifies a HEAVY weight. In other words what we suffer now cannot ever tip the scales compared to the things God will heap on us in Heaven... We do not perceive this now because we have fleshly eyes; we are not focused on eternity. All we can see is our present situation and to be promised something glorious later, sometimes does little to appease our cries of "but it hurts NOW!!"
Yet God's Word tells us to fix our eyes on eternity; to have our focus there; to set our sights there. When we do, we will live with joy and anticipation, regardless of the curves life throws at us. ... And our threshold for pain will be greatly raised. Allow your mind to wander there...frequently...and read books on Heaven like those by Joni Earekson Tada and by Randi Alcorn. All of this will begin to transform us from the inside out and to renew our hearts and minds so that we will be able to face the next day or even to complete this one with a different mindset. One that rejoices in what is to come rather than is giving up because of what is!