A Story I Love To Tell
Saturday night was a hard one but it brought to memory a story I love to tell.
Saturday night into Sunday morning, I had some very intense Braxton Hicks. They came and went, and for about an hour or two they felt like the real deal. But that could have been the exhaustion. Every word I read to help me discern if it was true labor, or just Braxton Hicks, made the pain intensify, and made my sleep deprived mind feel like it was coming. But my husband and I prayed that we would know and have peace either way. Around 4, my heartburn became so intense that it made me sick, so I sat in the tub and tried to relax. After that, our 3-year-old woke up and she wanted to hang out with us. So we hung out. We had carrots and fruit leather and water. I was finally falling asleep. So my husband took our daughter to make pancakes, so I could sleep and rest. So here is one of my favorite stories to tell.
When I woke up the next morning, Seth had made the most amazing Ricotta Pancakes (check out the Magnolia Cookbook volume 1 for the recipe). We ate and then Seth said we needed to spend some time in prayer.
This same thing happened the Sunday before our three-year-old was born. Our very smart, beautiful, kind, witty, and strong-willed daughter came at 38 weeks and 6 days. But that Sunday before, the same thing happened. I couldn’t sleep. I was in pain. I was nervous and worried, but prepared to jump in the car and go. The pain I felt I could swear to this day were true labor pains, but they were just a great practice round. Finally, after a night of pain (and constantly waking Seth up) I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, Seth had made the most amazing Ricotta Pancakes (check out the Magnolia Cookbook volume 1 for the recipe). We ate and then Seth said we needed to spend some time in prayer. So we did! During that prayer Seth and I gave EVERY worry, concern, fear, hope, praise, sin we could think of to God, and asked God for discernment, and to fill us with truth, with wisdom, and with peace. It felt like we prayed for an hour. But it was so freeing. You talk about the freedom we have because of Christ’s death on a cross! Man, I felt renewed! I felt ready for our little girl to come right then and there. I felt like I could conquer the world.
But that is what The work of the Lord does in your life! There are moments when it’s small things, but when those moments are big, man it’s amazing. And you see this beautiful picture of love and grace and mercy all laid out in front of you. In those moments, you remember verses like:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” -Matthew 6:33
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”-2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.” - Psalm 118:5
“For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” -2 Corinthians 1:5
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28
Each of these verses brings comfort to the reader. It brings us back to God who is a comforter. They remind us that our Creator loves us with an everlasting love, one that doesn’t come and go as my Braxton hicks. His love is not fleeting like the pain of the current season we each may find ourselves in. No, Christian, His love is steadfast, unmoving, unchanging. We have a God who fights every battle with us and for us. He does not leave us nor forsake us, so that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. (1 Kings 8:57-58) Everything we experience in this life is to bring glory and honor to our Lord and God Jesus Christ. Paul also talks about our weaknesses in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’
So Christian, what does that say about you? What does a story about a woman and a hard night say about you? Well nothing! Because that was my battle that night. Like scripture, my testimony is not about you, but an example to you of the work of Christ in my life. God used that night to showed me that I didn’t have to cry about my struggles (though there were tears), but that I had to give them to God, and he would see me through. He would comfort me! Those Braxton Hicks are preparing my body to go through true labor. They are preparing me for the pains in my child bearing, and what a blessing that is. Yes, I have gone through labor before, but so much about this pregnancy is different, so the preparation is different. So how do I continue to give glory and honor to God through this? The answer: I pray and seek to honor him through how I talk with my daughter and husband, looking at every pain as a way to trust that this is for my good. I strive to recognize the blessing in bearing children. I stop looking at this as woe-is-me, and instead thank him for each pain. I use it as a way to share HIS WORK in my life.
Maybe your pain isn’t child bearing. Maybe its child rearing. Maybe it’s a health difficulty. Maybe you are grieving the loss of a loved one. In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Whatever you are going through, friends, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has overcome the world. And, Christian, that’s great news! It’s great news because through the work of our Great God and Savior we also can overcome. The same God who was with the Israelites in the desert changed the heart of Saul on the road to Damascus, and the very God who overcame death on the cross, has equipped every person who has been made new through the Holy Spirit to endure this life.
Christian, there is truth waiting to be read, waiting to be shared, waiting to give you a peace that only Christ can give. Are you willing to receive it, or are you still hoping this world will give you something more? Though the other night was hard, it’s through God’s love for his child that he brought me through. It’s because of his grace, that nights that seem so long become such a small part of the testimony of God’s work in my life. My hope is that you may be encouraged to seek out the goodness of God even in the hard season. That you may continuously remember that (unlike our God) this season is fleeting and passing. I pray that you seek out the scriptures for the peace and hope that it gives us through Christ. My hope is that you won’t quiver against the hard, but press into it, praise God through it, give him glory in it, ask him to teach you through it. Don’t be like the Israelites who experienced firsthand the great power and might of our Heavenly father when he deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and promised to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and yet still grumbled against him because they had to eat manna a few nights in a row. No, Christian, seek first the Kingdom of God, give praise to God for all circumstances, give all praise, honor, and glory to God. So that you, Christian, can joyfully endure the trials that we all share in this life, to the glory of God, by the grace of God.
-The Hospitable Bride