Good Out of the Hard

Watching my grandmother wince with pain whenever she has the slightest cough is hard.

Seeing my family reconcile her mortality is heavy.

Facing the loss of someone very much loved just plain hurts.

There are seasons of life that are just plain hard, heavy and hurtful.

I don't know how people without Christ make it through.

Again, in my quiet time last weekend, God spoke to me through a writer for Desiring God on Instagram: "One day all the things that have caused you tears will seem as light and momentary afflictions" - Calley Sivils

The tears were still fresh on my face. The uncertainty of the past 24 hours was still stinging. I was still struggling with the load of all that could happen and will eventually happen -knowing that I needed to lay it at His feet. . . Nothing about what I was experiencing or feeling at that moment seemed "light" or "momentary."

Yet I was drawn to the Scripture passage referenced by her quote:

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." 2 Corinthians 4:17

The image of a set of scales filled my mind with my current situation on one side and my future reality on the other. This side feels eternal and weighty now, but the passage says that it is light and momentary because it cannot be compared to the glory that is to come.

Besides, the affliction of today has a purpose. What we are facing today prepares FOR us the weight of glory that we are waiting for. I don't quite understand how all of that works, but I know it does.

How do I know that this verse is true? As I read this promise from 2 Corinthians and pictured the scales in my mind, the Holy Spirit comforted me with a wave of hope. It washed over me. The scales break under the weight of God's glory. I was reminded that the hope my grandmother has, and my family embraces cannot be measured against our current turmoil.

No matter how heavy or dark our current situation is, no matter how far away that light at the end of the tunnel may seem, no matter the bleakness of the diagnosis of the circumstances  - none of it can compare to what is come. Our faith will be made sight.

As I returned to Tennessee and my husband and daughters on Sunday, I sang through part of my collection of old Steven Curtis Chapman CDs. I remembered the circumstances surrounding the times of my life that those tunes were the soundtrack of my days. The truths of his lyrics still hold true today.

And I worshiped. When I called my mom to let her know I was back in the Volunteer State, my voice was even a little raspy.

The weekend was hard. It was draining and difficult. But . . . as I pressed into my God, as I turned my focus onto Him - He upheld me. He answered my prayers and I felt His presence.

Someone might say that I can only type these things because my grandmother lives and God answered my prayers the way I wanted.

Those things are true, but God also showed me that next time He may not, and that's okay.

He is with me when things are hard, heavy and hurtful.

He will not leave me alone. He keeps His promises.

He showed me that these things are also true.

I can trust that the suffocating things of today are light and momentary and incomparable to the eternity that is coming . . . .

Yes, my weekend changed with a phone call. It was not what I had planned or expected. It was hard.

But because my God is good. . .  It was too.

Good doesn't mean easy. Sometimes there is only a good that can be realized in the hard.