Grow through labor…

There is a comforting place that can sprout out of discomfort when you know that you are in God’s hands. Things won’t always seem right, feel right, or feel comfortable. Comfort is actually a stagnant place. Comfort is where the dust settles and you’re ok. That is NOT a good thing. That means you aren’t growing, you are being tested – therefore you don’t know your strengths. Am I advocating a tumultuous life? Absolutely not! I do know that the life happens to us all, but God orders the steps of a righteous (wo)man.

Carved into every lesson, every new-ness, is labor pains. Thanks to some pesky fruit eating human beings (satirical truth), there is pain associated with birth. I have not given birth to children yet (as a wife, it would be on my “to do” list, lol), but I have heard many say that mothers forget or forgive the pain the first time they see their child. I have experienced this when something I’m assigned to do is difficult. You don’t enjoy the pain that is associated with carrying out a task, but once it’s done it’s an amazing feeling. I have planned events, worked projects with my hands, created new meals, set personal goals, worked with people (JESUS!), and worked with myself. Most all of these required a special measure of endurance which can only be accomplished by finishing until the end. In that, I find a place of comfort in the following words: God has all power. If God assigns me to do something, He has empowered me to complete that work.

If it’s beginning to look a lot like a storm in your life, put on your rain gear and gird yourself with a WHOLE HEAP of JESUS, and grow through it. That very storm maybe the deliverance testimony that someone on their way to your life will need. God is also awesome enough to send you not only the Holy Spirit to comfort you, but great friends. Friends who pray with you, stretch with you, and sometimes just hug you when words are too heavy to speak.

Daddy is good like that 😉

Ivy Out