Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy
Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy
When you are in the middle of the tears, you have no idea that as they drip on the ground they are watering new seeds.
As you struggle with the sledgehammer of bad news to the mind, a descending fog and a wondering if God is bigger than the overwhelming Tsunami coming over you, you have no idea that He is already carrying you on His shoulder out of the storm, but it is a long way before the damage is out of sight.
As the foundations of your soul shake and tremor and rooms that you thought were so cosy and beautiful come crashing down and you stand in the middle, totally unable to understand what is going on right now, you would smack in the face anyone who told you that these days will pass, and that they can actually be the beginning of something beautiful. You might not believe it but He is offering you a gift - you only have to hold out your hands to receive it. The gift? Seeds to plant, which He will grow, (don’t worry yourself about making them grow!) and you will participate by watering them with your tears.
My Father’s redemption is so complete, so whole, so beautiful and so wrapped in His love, that I look back on those nights of darkness in my life - death, rejection, broken relationships, sad situations and I find it hard to believe that He didn’t give them to me as a gift. The life that He has brought out of the mess the enemy throws at me, is so awesome that I sometimes find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that He didn’t initiate the death, the sin, the brokenness and the sickness.
My God is victorious! My God is full of hope! My God is good!
And as I stand with others in the midst of sadness and brokenness, and situations beyond my comprehension even now, I have to believe that God will also work beautifully in their lives too. My God is not a God of favourites. I have to believe that the days of mourning and tears and hard questions in the early hours of the morning are necessary and important because they water the soil where God is planting new life. And with faith, I believe that God is bringing forth something beautiful which we will see come harvest time.
And as these 21 days are drawing to an end, I give you these blogposts, an offering of faith and love as a harvest that God has brought forth out of sadness and grief. And I am a living testimony that God is faithful - that death is not only an end, but also a beginning and that He is My Redeemer.
“Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.”
Let's put on joy together:
Take a moment to receive any seeds of hope that God is offering you right now. Or pray for someone you know who needs those seeds of hope right now too.
Join me tomorrow for our last day of the 21 day joy challenge! This is is Day 20 of a 21 Day challenge to put on joy in practical ways. You can receive these posts by email by clicking to sign up here.
