John 16:21-22
A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy”
My pregnancy was tough and very traumatic because of how I was treated at work, by my in-laws, and by my own family. In my mind, I was tormented by the “should and could have’s” because my baby coming soon yet there I was, either screaming in anger or bursting into tears.
There were moments of bliss from time to time, but I always end up questioning why I had to go through that season and why I was so undeserving of joy. It was a vicious cycle that went on for months until my great surrender to the Lord during labor and the second life I had after an emergency C-section.
His Word indeed is everlasting because I only read this verse 3 years after! True enough, seeing my baby for the first time miraculously made me forget all the anguish and pain I went through months prior, and the arduous 28 hours of labor!
My heart was filled with incandescent joy when I held him, kissed him, and nursed him for the first time.
Oh, I cannot fathom the kind of joy that will fill us when He comes! There is a greater joy that’s coming, and this is the promise of hope given to us by the Gospel – that there will come a time when our grief turns into joy that’s eternal when we see Him.
This is the same hope that brings light in today’s world that’s filled with darkness, uncertainty, fear, anxiety, grief, and pain.
Dear one, this world is not all there is. We are only here for a short time, and the time we have is best used to be models of His love, while sharing the Gospel.
The pandemic has taken away so much already – jobs were lost, stores have closed, legacy and new businesses filed for bankruptcy, loved ones have gone ahead while others are still suffering.
We know that things might never be the same again. But when we know the Lord, when have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we’ve surrendered our lives to Him and constantly seek Him through His word, surely things won’t stay the same. We won’t be the same.
Wherever you are now, whatever season you are in, I pray you continue to persevere in faith. This is not your final destination, this is not your resting place! We may not know when this period of birth pains will end, but we do know that we are called to be hopeful, faithful, and holy.
All the why’s we’ve asked will all make sense, and some won’t even matter. Because what truly does, is how we prepare ourselves in pursuing holiness and Christlikeness, how we preserve our hearts with blamelessness, and how we position ourselves with watchfulness… in anticipating His coming.
Revelation 21:4 seals this promise of joy with this : ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
