Seeing Beyondour Pain

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Corinthians 4:17 nlt

Pause

My husband and I were in Poland when our son phoned from Canada at 6:30 a.m. He shared sad news: my father-in-law had died suddenly a few hours prior. Only sixteen months had passed since my dad’s death while I was overseas. Now this.

I was sad about losing my father-in-law, but not being present with my kids to help them process another grandparent’s death was even worse. I felt helpless and cheated. As I wrestled, God reminded me that he knew this would happen, and he would care for our kids. He would, in fact, use this to teach them to find their strength in him alone. He’d teach me to trust him with my loved ones’ well-being. He would bring good by growing our faith.

God sees beyond what we see and knows infinitely more. He can use our pain to accomplish eternal good that far outweighs our temporal ache. Do we trust him?

Ponder

What are three things about your circumstances that God knew would happen?

Pray

Lord, my heart aches right now. Help me remember that you feel my ache, too, and you’ll redeem it for something of eternal value.