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"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. YOU WILL BE SORROWFUL, but your SORROW WILL TURN INTO JOY. WHEN A WOMAN IS giving birth, SHE HAS SORROW because her hour has come. BUT WHEN SHE HAS DELIVERED THE BABY, she NO LONGER REMEMBERS the anguish, for JOY that a HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN BORN into the world. SO ALSO YOU HAVE SORROW NOW, but I will see you again and your hearts will REJOICE, and NO ONE WILL TAKE YOUR JOY FROM YOU." (John 16:20-22)
The world has a way of taking over our
hearts and our minds. When we're missing those we love, it’s difficult to love
anyone else. When our bones are aching, our stomachs are
churning, and our heads are throbbing, it’s difficult to focus on
anything else. When we can't pay our bills, it's hard to think about anything else. When we turn on the news and all we hear is hatred, violence, sin, and sadness, it’s difficult to notice anything else. Our bodies are killing us day by day, wasting away before our eyes, our
hearts are breaking in new ways we never dreamed possible, and the
sin of the world just seems to be getting worse and worse and worse.
If in the midst of such gloomy depths,
we look forward to heaven, we do well. We know God’s promise to, "wipe away
every tear from our eyes," to invite us to a place where, "pain
is no more." We know what paradise awaits us, what joy, and yet we
ache in the here and now. Where is God now while you and I are in
turmoil? While the bank takes our houses away? While you and I fight for breath, for strength to get out of
bed? While we stand over our husband’s or wife’s grave, the
graves of our parents, our children? Where is that promise?
Where is that
salvation now??
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Eventually we have to leave that
fleeting piece of heaven on earth and walk out those church doors, close that
Bible, end our prayer and face the world that hates us in
these bodies we’d rather shuffle off, hopefully with a new view of
our lives in the here and now.
We do not suffer only to learn
lessons and to appreciate heaven more. We suffer for the sake of Christ who
suffered for the sake of us. Our suffering is a taste of His. And at
the height of His suffering, His Father turned away from Him because
Jesus, though sinless, became the most despised of sinners for you
because you were worth it. Seek those heavenly gifts of temporary moments of
sanctuary where death is no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor
pain anymore, where the former things pass away for a little while
and take that strength with you to get you by in the meantime as you
endure "a little while" longer before your sorrow turns
permanently to joy.
Suggested verse to repeat if it's a difficult day is from John 16:22
Pain Rehab buddies, remember to breathe!
"Your hearts will rejoice -------> 5 count inhale
and no one will take your joy from you." -------> 5 count exhale
Click here to find a church near you.
Click here to find a church near you.
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