Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping,bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6

What a beautiful promise!  We are so loved by God that even our sorrow is counted as precious.  I think it important to note here that this promise, of reaping joy from our sorrows, would require something important from us – the right attitude.  We must have an attitude of trusting God and we must have teachable hearts.  We must enter into trials with the same attitude of as Christ, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death  even death on a cross! (Phil 2:6-8).  Because, if we enter into trials grudgingly or dragging our heels, we cannot benefit from the lesson God has for us and we can’t bring glory to Him.  My mother says, “Don’t waste the pain.”  

My mother has always been such an encouragement to me.  She always has a scripture to give me for any situation that troubles me.  She taught me that God’s Word is to be the structure upon which my life is built – connecting all of the disparate parts together (life events, feelings, lessons learned), connecting me to others, and connecting me to God.  She is a humble person who just wants to be used by God in His kingdom – and she is!  Today she is having the port placed for her chemo and we prayed together over the phone right before the procedure.   I shared with her some scriptures that God was using to minister to me and the kids today and realized that He had shown them to me this morning so I could share them with her – amazing!

• The first scripture I shared with Momma came from today’s reading in our daily devotional, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism, this is based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which help us to explore what we believe and why.  It has been a wonderful platform for talking about the role of God in the life of our family.  This bible passage is known very well to Mom and I knew that it would be a warm and comforting reminder of God’s provision for her during this time:

 For you formed my inward parts;
   you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
   my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,
   the days that were formed for me,
   when as yet there was none of them  (Ps 139:13-16).

This scripture reminds us that God’s plan for us is very detailed and that He is always working in our lives.

• Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  Mom is well-acquainted with this scripture too.  God gave this to me during my devotional time to tell me not to be dissuaded from serving Him with gladness and singleness of heart…that sometimes the devil creeps into my life with worry, fear, anger, slothfulness or gluttony and distracts me from my primary purpose: to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.  The Lord has encouraged Mom from the beginning that He would use her journey through cancer to further His Kingdom and this is her greatest desire: that she would be able to honor Him in all of this.  I reminded her that the devil wants to steal the glory from God by overcoming her faith with worry and doubt and weariness.

• Then I shared with her the scripture that I started with in this post: Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him (Ps 126:5-6).  This reminds us that we are able to sow seed for His kingdom even during difficult times.  God will use us and, if we are faithful, and we will reap a harvest of joy!

God is the first and best conservationist – He does not waste anything.  He uses everything to grow and enrich us and He only requires that we trust Him and have teachable hearts.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).

JustaGirl…just like you!