Into Joy

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." -Romans 5:1-5


I've always read these verses with a kind of flippancy. Truly, I don't think I've ever taken the time to understand them fully, and maybe I wouldn't have been able to even if I had tried to wrap my mind around the whole process of suffering to hope.

As it turns out, this series of results isn't as neat and clean as that one nicely punctuated sentence led me to believe. You see, Dear Reader, I feel as though I've been living in this particular verse for this last season (semester) of life.

My life as a whole, is abundantly blessed. I don't want you to imagine that a long list of horrible 'suffering' has taken place (Grandma, that was for you). I have more than I need. I have a roof over my head, and a nice one at that! I have friends and family who love me well. I am a member of the privileged group of the world's population that gets the opportunity to go to college. I have an awesome church family. But, this semester has contained a tension that others have not. In my own little way, there has been a measure of suffering in that tension.

Though I can't quite define this tension, these are a few of the many pieces: tears; the preparations of leaving a place and people I have grown to love; loneliness; the muddle of trying to figure out what I am to be about in the in between times; the pain and joy of sending a dear one home; stress; the rush of finishing college with the largest credit load yet; trying, harder than ever to see the breakthrough of truth into someone else's darkness; the waiting, the wrestling in prayer; the feeling of being inadequate.

This semester has been like a winter. Not the sort with snowflakes and hot cocoa, but the kind that tests you, forces you to the point of desperation. And God has allowed this winter. By His grace, He has given it to me. It has been a long winter-- a long winter of hope and prayer and putting one foot in front of the other.

And tonight, God spoke sweet words to my soul, "Spring will come."

You see, Dear Reader, our God is the God of the Springtimes. He is the Maker-of-All-Things-New.

After the prayer in the garden, the cross, and the tomb comes the risen, restored, triumphant Jesus.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
-Romans 5:6-8

Here is the miracle of this life we live with Him. He asks us to die. He asks us to lay down our selves, our rights. He walks us to the desperation, to the dependence. He walks us to the cross so He can raise us to new life.

And because of that, we can glory, rejoice, even in our sufferings. He walked through the mess of suffering so we could follow Him, through the sufferings, and into Him, into the joy.