Celebrating in the Darkest Hour

Source: 1213online.org

There was a time, many years ago, that I felt like the bottom had been pulled out from under me.  My husband was suddenly called up to be deployed to Afghanistan for one year, and he was to leave in four weeks' time.

At that time, I had a six-month-old infant and a toddler, and my mind was reeling at the thought of raising them alone as a single parent for a year.  The only thing I could do was pray and trust God.  I remember sending out emails, asking friends to pray for help, wisdom, and deliverance on our behalf.  I gathered encouraging Bible verses in my journal, and wrote out lists of friends and family members whom I could call upon for help.  I recorded the ways God had never left my side before; how He had always been with me through all our moves, through the heartache of my mother's diagnosis and death from cancer, through the pain of being dropped off at college (13 hours away from home, 1 month after Mom died, and not knowing anyone!), through my husband's first deployment to Iraq.  I listed my gratitudes--all the things I was thankful for in that season.  I wrote down what God was teaching me each day:

God's will is not a crisis.

God will take away things we put our confidence in that aren't Him (my husband, homelife)

God has a plan.  This is not a surprise to Him.

And then I recalled a lesson that God had shown me, through the birth of my son.  This is what I'd like to take the time to share with you in today's post.

Perhaps you, like me, have been the recipient of some hard news lately.  Maybe life is feeling difficult...perhaps even impossible for you right now.  Maybe you are in the crucible of suffering in a mighty way.

I'd love to encourage you today, dear one.

There is a "signpost" that occurs during natural childbirth, when you hit a psychological wall and think you can no longer do this.  This happens during the stage of transition (when the cervix dilates those last few centimeters).  This occurance is well documented in natural childbirth books (such as the Bradley Method).

This signpost serves as an exciting signal to the birthing coach or dula.  It means that the baby is coming soon!  When a laboring woman gets to this stage and announces, "I cannot do it," the dula knows to stay very alert because something wonderful is about to be birthed.

Source: healthline.com

I distinctly recall hitting this point with my son.  I looked up at the clock and saw that it was about 3 o'clock in the morning.  I can't do this, I thought, but then I recalled what I had read in my birthing books, and I felt the Lord impress upon me that I would be holding my precious child by 4 am. How exciting!  Sure enough, Turbo arrived at 3:48 am.

Amazing.

I believe we experience this same phenomenon in our spiritual lives.  When we reach a point when we say, "I can't do it," then we can rejoice that God is working to birth and bring something truly from Him into fruition.

I've heard it said that the darkest hour of the night occurs just before the dawn.

Friend, as you experience suffering, pain, heartbreak, disappointment, disillusionment, or loss, I'd love for you to reminded of this remarkable truth:

When life is at its hardest, and you think you can't do it anymore, THAT is the time to celebrate, and eagerly anticipate something amazing in your life.

Amazingly enough, my husband's orders were cancelled, just a week before he was to leave for Afghanistan.  Inexplicably, the position was no longer needed, and his orders were dissolved.  Even years later, I still get chills thinking about this season in our lives, and I can only praise God for delivering us from that trial.

However, I realize that many (perhaps most!) trials are not like that--we must walk through them, and we are not delivered from them until much time passes.  But God has a purpose in them all.  May He use these trials to birth amazing things in your life, and in mine, dear friend.  And may we trust Him in the process.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."  James 1:2-4