What If The Struggle Is The Blessing?
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”
Romans 5:3-4
Years ago I was in my bed crying out to God…”Lord, I shouldn’t have to struggle like this!”
We had bills to pay and a car that broke down, insurance that had just randomly and without our knowledge been canceled, medical issues we had to deal with, and not to mention… maintaining our strict budget each month. I had a hard time understanding what God was doing in my life.
Why the struggle just seemed to never end.
It was in that moment of prayer I heard a loud CRASH on my bedroom window!
I opened the curtain to see my middle child (of course, isn’t it always the middle child?) fearfully peering through a shattered window at me with a soccer ball in his hands.
“Are you serious God? Didn’t you JUST hear what I was saying to you??? I can’t take any more.“
I am reminded of a story I heard of a man who came upon a cocoon whose dweller was struggling to emerge. He felt sorry for the butterfly and carefully cut a slit in a cocoon to help the beautiful creature inside exit more easily. But upon coming out, the butterfly’s wings were shriveled. The butterfly did not flutter off into the sunset as he had expected. What the man didn’t realize was the narrow opening was actually God’s natural way to force the fluid from the butterfly’s body into its wings, giving strength for his days of flying ahead. The “merciful” snip was, in reality, cruel.
How many times do we beg God to stop the struggle?
Paul reminds us that…
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”
Paul, of all people, knew the struggle but saw the invaluable exchange that would be traded when ALL the suffering produced a greater FAITH and HOPE!
As moms who already have enough on our plate…dealing with struggles is no fun.
But, flying after the struggle…that, my friends, is a whole lot of FUN!
May we look at what we may be going through today as God’s way of just preparing us to FLY.
