After The Labor Pains…

BREAKTHROUGH.

Isn’t that what happens, Lord, when The Baby finally comes?  When New Life bursts onto the scene, to be received with JOY?

Just after the Labor Pains are at their worst?

By Your amazing grace, Lord, I “got it” this morning.  The Breakthrough I so desperately needed.  The Realization.  The Understanding.

I have been in the throes of the Labor Pains for some time now.  Some people call them The Dog Days of August.  Maybe I should call them The Dreaded Days.  Or The Dangerous Days.

Days of… Difficulty.  Defeat.  Demoralization.  Depression.  Darkness… just before The Dawn.

Not the Dreaded and Dangerous Days of long ago, when the only way forward seemed to be getting out of the struggle altogether.  No… These have been the days when Questions have assailed me:  The kind of Questions that are dreaded by my self-esteem and dangerous to my dreams.

“Who are you kidding?”  “What were you thinking?”  “Why can’t you…?”  “Why don’t you…?”  “Who do you think you are?”

This morning, it hit me.  It’s September.  The ninth month in the year.  Nine months — the time it takes for a baby to develop in the womb.  To be ready for Birth.

Just after the Labor Pains are at their worst.

I had cried out to You even this morning, Lord… in the midst of those Labor Pains.  You knew my needs better than I knew them myself.  And that’s how You got through to me.

Today of all days — September 1st.  Through a passage in Your Word that I have read a thousand times before.  Punctuated by a song I had never heard before.

First came Your Word…

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”  (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

Then came The Song — “Made New,” by Lincoln Brewster

“You’re calling me over.  You’re pulling me close.  With love You surround me.  You give me Hope.  You’re taking me deeper.  You’re making me whole.  With grace You redeem me.  You restore my soul.  Now I’m made new… because of You!  You hold my head up!  You remind me who I am!  You hold my head up!  I’m alive in You again!  I’m made new!  I’m made new!”

Oh, Abba… How You pierce me with Your Love and Your Truth and Your Healing Grace!  And how You exort me and encourage me and enable me… to keep going!  Because this New Life must be nurtured.

You are the Only One who can help me, Lord.  And here You are, holding me… as we both hold this New Baby, born Today.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  (2 Corinthians 4:18) 

Hopeless without You…

Hope-FULL, because You are always with me

Abba’s Girl

 

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