God in His ever gracious timing has the trial of labor before me at the same moment that a loved one faces a fearful trial of her own. I wrote the following letter and meditation in hopes to comfort and encourage us both.

1 Cor. 1:3-5, 9-10

We often resist and wish it were not so, but this life is a trial and test, a training camp for glory. In this season of life, child labor has become for me the picture of life as a whole. We are called to persevere and endure that ultimately life might be brought forth in beauty and wonder. All of creation is laboring in the fight with sin. Our hope and joy is in the future life we are promised.

My strength to endure comes from knowing that the victory has been won and is promised. Because of what Christ accomplished on the cross, I know that the new life will come and be truly wonderful.

In having children I still sometimes fear that the baby won’t be healthy, that something will go wrong, that life will not triumph. But in the labor of life, we know that all will be well. We must only endure to the end, but we know that the end is so joyful that it can’t be compared to the trial and labor. It is far too much more glorious. It is true with having children. I would always choose again to have another baby rather than not just because of the labor!

Moreover, with labor, the contractions come and go. The pain and struggle are not constant. Although this life is a trial and race, yet God gives us meany seasons of reprieve and even many seasons of joy; celebrations and small tastes of heaven and His sweet pressence. Though life has been harder, God has always been much kinder than I expected Him to be. The Lord has provided sure seasons of rest and does not call us to endure more than He gives the strength and grace to survive. Several times in child labor, God clearly met me in my cry and prayer to give relief just when I needed it most.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength, ~ Isaiah 30:15

We endure the painful moments through quiet and stillness. Strength comes by trust in the One who sustains our very breath and every thought. When the hurt overwhelms me, I release and rest, holding still on the promise the God is soverign over all things. If He can raise from the dead, than He can sustain my mind and life through this moment and the next, and the next. We are only able to live in this one moment, in “today.” What will come, will come, but I know I will endure to see the promised joy on the other side. That is the source of our trust and hope.

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10″Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. ~ from Psalm 46

False Christianity says, if you do all the right things - read the Bible, pray, have enough faith, go to church activities . . . - then you can have perfect victory and happiness now. By this lie, the enemy puts God’s children back into slavery, beneath a burden of trying to achieve a good by personal action. By this lie, we are yoked to failure, for we have not been promised heaven on earth but the grace to endure and even grow while we journey home. We live by quiet faith in the promise of Christ, the promise of that He will indeed bring us home.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful ~ Hebrews 10:22-23

So I am praying for you as I pray for myself these next two weeks; that your mind and heart will rest in God’s love and promise. Though this life is a great battle with sin, we are His children. You have been baptized into His family. His victory is sure. He is the one who accomplishes it. Let your mind rest as the waves of worry and doubt break over you. They will pass. They are nothing, but He is everything. He will keep us sane and alive through every moment, giving us hope, until He decides to take us home.