Joy and Pain Mingle

Today is my granddaughter Annabel’s birthday. I was honored to be there during the hours of labor before her birth. All of the pain turned to joy as Erika and Trent greeted their first daughter. I even heard the new mama say to the delivery nurse, “I’d do this again!” I marveled over the beautiful baby with her peaches-and-cream complexion, dark hair framing her perfect head. She could have been a model for a Renoir painting.

Many things in life come with pain. Fighting a disease can be painful. Watching a loved one fighting a disease is painful. Keeping in good physical shape can be painful. A sleepless night is painful. Even the seed struggles when pushing up through the earth to become a plant bearing fruit, vegetable, or flower.

Today I read what God promises us in pain:

I will never leave you or forsake you, (Hebrews 13:6) Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8: 35, 37-38). And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Pain doesn’t last forever. Joy will follow. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5).

I’m not sure where you are today. Whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one. Enduring the pain of disease. Disappointment in someone you love. Even the pain of lost sleep. Joy does come. Sometimes it is when the disease is cured. The baby is born. Relationship restored. Or when morning finally comes.

And sometimes it is death. But when we put our trust in Christ, and believe in him, he is with us here on earth or we are in his presence in heaven. That’s a promise.

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).