Dear flower, there is wilting
in the watering
In the morning
you will revive and rise with the sun
Rain can stagger but its weight
is brief
collapsing us
to bow
prostrate before our Creator
Here
we remember that we would die without water and to that end how much better
is it to thank Him
for the drink?
Affliction brands the name of the Lord onto the hearts of his disciples. It's okay, that it hurts. Embrace it. He's setting you apart -- as His.
Suffering authenticates faith. As my friend reminded me one day, suffering is not your enemy.
Jesus learned obedience by suffering. (Hebrews 5:8) And the student is not above his teacher. (Luke 6:40)
Trusting that my own suffering is a blessed curriculum from a loving Father (with more insight and foresight than I have), has given me joy to endure things that I didn't think I would even survive.
There's no birth without agony. No new life without labor pains. No blessed expansion without an equally blessed contraction. God has come to give life and give it abundantly.
Jesus broke the curse of sin at the cross. With Jesus, you are blessed. It's all blessed when you walk with Christ. Even when it sucks. He's using that, too.
Trust in the long game of the cross of Jesus in your life. The pain that is taking your breath away will give way to God's glory in you. As that happens, may his beauty take your breath away all over again.
⠀ 1 Peter 5:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Revelation 22:1
And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.