Wrote this piece for Deeper Waters Ministry. I hope it blesses you.
Earlier this week my daughters and I were watching a sitcom
and the tv mom was having a dream about having another baby. She was doing the
stereotypical heavy breathing and moaning associated with dramatic (and
comedic) television births. My
daughters, I’m sure had seen this portrayal several times before. But, I guess
the harvest was ripe for discussion because they began to question me about the
validity of pain and childbirth.
They were horrified when I confirmed that yes, women do
indeed typically have a great deal of pain associated with childbirth. And I may have mentioned Eve and “the
curse”…
I also mentioned that thanks to medical interventions, women
could “opt out” of the natural pain of childbirth with an epidural. And they were totally onboard for that
idea, until they pressed further about the details of epidural; “HOW long is
the needle? It goes in my
SPINE???” Then they weren’t so
sure.
I assured them
that they had PLENTY of time to worry about natural versus pain managed birth
plans in the next (at least) FIFTEEN years it would take them to finish their
education, marry, and have children.
And more importantly, I assured them that the pain of childbirth is not
even comparable with the joy that comes with the birth of a child.
And this segued into another lesson about how God gives us
glimpses of His glory and reassures us with hope during the pain in our lives…
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
I also mentioned that a lot of women (myself included)
report that, while, “Yes, childbirth was painful…Perhaps the most painful thing
I’ve ever experienced…” I don’t really
remember the specifics of that
pain. “Why else would people have
subsequent children”, I joked?
So, it’s not that you completely FORGET the pain, but,
perhaps the newfound joy overshadows the pain. The pain, in fact, is “worth it” when it’s all said and
done. Which I think is a beautiful
metaphor for the trials of life.
Even our Omnipotent God, thankfully chooses to forget some
things…“…For I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:34 –
Hallelujah, right?!
Instead, He makes sure to remind us that He remembers his
promises to us, “He remembers his
covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” (Psalm
105:8)
And, He commands that WE remember:
Matthew 15: 32-39 records the miracle of Jesus feeding the
four thousand…and then in the next chapter, Jesus is exasperated with the
disciples because AGAIN, they are asking him, “what are we gonna do about all
these hungry people?!” Jesus is like,
“Um, hello? Remember the miracle I JUST performed? (my paraphrase of
Matt 16:9).
Jesus calls us to remember who He is. He calls us to remember His promises to
us and our children. He calls us,
particularly in our trials and pain to REMEMBER how He has brought us through
past trials and encourages us that He will bring us through again and again,
until finally, He brings us HOME.
Importantly, He instructs us to teach our children to
remember what He has done in our lives so that they can learn to trust Him in
theirs.
He commanded the Isrealites to collect stones from the
Jordon as a remembrance of their deliverance from 40 years wandering in the
wilderness and the provision of the Promised Land. He did so, not just as a
tribute to Himself for what He’d done for them, but specifically as a testimony
to the next generations, so they would know too. - Joshua 4:6&7 – “And
when your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you? Then
you shall tell them…So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial
forever.”
How are you REMEMBERING Jesus? What kind of STONES are you sharing as a testimony of what
He has done in your life that others may know and trust Him in theirs?
I love that there is hope beyond the pain and His name is
Jesus. I love that the same Jesus
who promised to “never leave me, nor forsake me”, makes that same promise to my
daughters. And, it is my constant prayer that they will REMEMBER and rely on
those promises too.
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