“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10

MOST WOMEN WHO have given birth know that the worst part of labor is what is referred to as “transition”…

This is the point in the delivery process where women feel the most excruciating pain they’ve ever experienced in their life. This is the point in the delivery process when most women scream out, demand drugs, yell at their husbands, and swear they can’t take it anymore. This is also the last critical stage before the baby is born. When the baby is born and laid gently in the mother’s arms, her tears of anguish turn into tears of joy.

Sometimes, the best and highest purpose of our life cannot be realized until we’ve gone through a very difficult time. But this is life’s way of molding us into what we need to be in order to go into the next phase of our life. We must be molded and shaped into what we are to become. If clay had feelings, how do you think it would feel while it was being slammed down on the table, beaten, pulled in all directions, spun round and round as it was being shaped into a pot, and put into the oven where it would harden? If the clay could speak, would it yell? Would it blame others? Would it try to throw itself off the table? How would you feel if you were the clay? Would you be angry at the potter? The transition process is often very painful, frustrating, and confusing. We yell. We blame others. We just want to quit. But there’s victory on the other side of every transition — if you choose to focus on it. Daniel R. Castro, “Heros Focus on the Purpose on the Other Side of Pain,” Critical Choices, 92-93

“Therefore we do no lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16; cf. Revelation 2:10

Mike Benson