God’s Presence

I just finished writing the final chapter (chapter 36) of Prayer Faith and 12 Kids. It is called This Leg of Your Journey. As I wrapped it up, the Lord showed me something from that event in my life that I had not fully realized before, God’s presence during pain. Once I put it onto the page, I became so blessed that I had a good happy cry time with the Lord. What a blessing knowing Him!

God’s comfort

I went through months of pain with a frozen shoulder. God did not have it in his plan to heal me instantly. I cried out to Him in desperation one evening, but His response was not to heal me. He held me tight and comforted me. He was silent, but He was there. My pain absorbed me. It was hard to feel the whole impact of God’s presence until I thought about it later. I cried at the time, but I cried tears of joy later when writing about it too.

Long-suffering / Building Perseverance

God comforted me through the pain. When I had no patience left, He gave me more. When my long-suffering lacked, He gave me shining examples to follow. It was one thing to have the patience to raise my twelve kids, but quite another to have the patience to deal with my own body not functioning.

Aiming for the Promise

I now understand what it means in Romans 5:3. It talks of glorying in suffering because we end up persevering. Then as it says in Hebrews 10:36, if we persevere, we receive what God has promised. This promise is explained further in Romans 2:7 as receiving eternal life. I look forward to the part of eternal life that comes after my life here on earth, but I also get thrilled with the part of eternal life that I am already living in now. It’s wonderful to know God now and forever.