God will use the pain – in time.

In some trials it is difficult to think any of the pain will be worth it. The last thing you need is a friend saying it is all for the glory of God when you can’t see a way through!

There is a time for everything: There were three sisters—ages 92, 94, and 96—who lived together. One night, the 96-year-old ran a bath. She put one foot in, then paused. “Was I getting in the tub or out?” she yelled. The 94-year-old hollered back, “I don’t know, I’ll come and see.” She started up the stairs, but stopped on the first step. She shouted, “Was I going up or coming down?” The 92-year-old was sitting in the kitchen having tea, listening to her sisters with a smirk on her face. She shook her head and said, “I sure hope I never get that forgetful,” and knocked on the wooden table for good measure. Then she yelled, “I’ll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who’s at the door.”

Maybe you simply do not know whether you are coming or going. Life can be that confusing!

Every experience has had a start and it will have an end. This season will come to an end!

“They (our parents) disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12 v 10-11)

The pain and the difficulty is for a season. There is a God in the centre of it all: He has made everything beautiful in its time. A harvest of righteousness and peace are coming.

Keep believing, hold on to the truth that you will get through this. You will see the other side. This season will change. The storm will subside.

I’ve always loved those few words in the KJV of Old Testament which appear many times over, ‘And it came to pass’.

You may not be able to see your way through. But this is for a little while. There is a later on for you. You will be able to say, ‘And it came to pass’.

To the patient waking with their terminal diagnosis and another day of pain …. It’s just for a little while.

To the lover whose heart is broken and you wonder if you will love again … it’s just for a little while.

To the employee who has to go to work in a toxic atmosphere … it’s just for a little while.

Everywhere in the world people wake to a day of grief, a day of difficulty and all kinds of trials. Some just have to suffer but it’s momentary, it’s not for long, it’s just for a little while.

You may just have to go through the struggle.

This life may throw rocks at you and no matter how much you pray they just may not stop.

You may just have to keep going when all you want to do is give up.

Even if the world puts you on a cross it doesn’t mean you are the one who is defeated.

It’s just for a little while. It’s the heart of Christianity. We are people of the ‘little while’ and the ‘later on’. God will use the pain – in time.