This past week was rough.
I’m not sure if you use that expression too, but in the islands it’s our way of saying that it was a difficult, challenging, maybe even painful week. My week was all of that and then some.
Remember that bold thing I was called to do by God? Well, I did it. At least I made the first step and then the second.
And you know what? Instead of feeling good and honoured and blessed, I got none of that.
It just hurt.
It was painful. And if I had to be really honest, I felt like God was torturing me. Yes, I said it.
‘Why God? Why are you making me do this?’
Now, let’s make one thing clear. God is not MAKING me do anything. Yet, in a complete (I use that term very loosely) act of surrender, I have chosen to do the hard thing.
When Obedience Begets Pain
As we approach Easter we will be reminded of the story of Jesus on the cross. Even if you’re not a Christian, I’m almost certain that you’ve heard this story at least once.
Jesus, the all perfect, never sinning, son of God, was beaten, pinned to a cross and died there for the sins of the world. Three days later God miraculously rose Him from the dead and Jesus went up to heaven to be reunited with His Father. In a nutshell.
It’s a lovely story.
But that’s the nice, neat, air-brushed, Disney version.
The real story, however, is way, way messier.
There’s blood and gore, betrayal and angst, devastating pain and downright torture – the kind of movie I won’t allow my children to watch.
Yet the real, painful story is where hope blossoms.
Tweet This
Beauty from Ashes
Yes, Jesus’ messy, bloody, gory story gives me hope.
You see when Jesus CHOSE to obey, it resulted in pain. Lots of pain.
His story reminds me that obedience does not necessarily go hand in hand with an easy life. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Without knowing it, I think I silently expected that my obedience would result in blessings. A pat on the back. That’s not too much to ask for doing a hard thing, is it?
I guess I never expected the blessing to hurt.
I know that God is working to make my story beautiful, as He did with Jesus’ story. But, oh how I wish He could just skip to the good part. The part where there’s rejoicing instead of pain. Hope instead of loss.
But the power of Jesus’ story lies not in the end alone, but in the complete story.
It is a story of obedience, of overcoming, and of beauty being revealed from the ashes.
To be continued
My story is not over; it is just being told. And the beauty won’t be revealed until the right time.
In the meantime, I need to go through the pain to experience the joy. I need to experience the loss so that I can find the hope. It’s painful and messy but necessary.
So as I embrace this bold thing, I remember the Cross of Christ: beautiful and messy, painful and bright.
I have a feeling your story is like that too.
That’s why I encourage you to surrender your story to Christ.
Your story doesn’t finish at the pain. I believe that God is weaving beauty in your story even as you read this.
I pray today that you will find hope in the Cross — in that place where beauty and pain live happily ever after.
And may you find the strength to do that hard thing today.
The blessing might not look like you expect, but it’s all a part of God’s beautiful story for your life. Trust Him to weave it all together perfectly.
What about you?
Have you been called on to do a hard thing lately and expected a blessing for your obedience? What was the result?
Please share the lessons you learned so that we can find some encouragement from your story.
Wishing you blessings,
Please spread the shine and share this with your friends using the share buttons below. There’s someone out there who needs this spark of hope.
And if you’re looking for more encouraging and inspiring content, check out these amazing sites where I link up my weekly posts.
Ready to lighten your load, share laughter and a happy tear or two?
Join my sisters and me for the Sparkle Circle, right here every last Tuesday of the month.
Because doing life together makes it so much sweeter!
Wow! Just saw the date of these posts, but so timely to me tonight.
I was asked to speak at Wednesday night service at church. I felt led of God to share about redemptive vulnerability and in so doing share how being vulnerable at certain times has brought freedom from shame, from strongholds….from the enemy. In doing so, God asked me to be vulnerable and share intimate, painful things from my life. I did. Some people cried. When I finished speaking, for several moments no one moved. No one spoke. Except for the tears, I didn’t know if they were too stunned to speak, too moved or just uncertain what to do. It’s not easy to hear someone speak so openly about their greatest shame, deepest pain. Yet, I felt this was what God wanted me to share.
One of the church elders finally spoke and said, “Good word.” Several others concurred. However, Tonight I’m feeling like I sure would like to run off to some dark cave and hide. I’m battling all kinds of emotions! Not nice ones. Ugh! It doesn’t feel good exposing my heart and allowing people I fellowship with to really see me!
I am expecting God to use His word and my testimony to break bondages, bring healing to the hurting and set captives free. But tonight…..tonight I just feel yucky!!
Dearest Becky,
It’s not easy feeling vulnerable and exposed, I know. But I’m believing with you that God can use your pain to bring healing. We may not know how or when, but He is faithful and wastes nothing.
I’m praying for you, that God may give you fresh hope even as you read this now.
Thanks for sharing your heart.
Blessings in Christ.
No Lesson Yet.
I ended a relationship because he was not a Christian. He was the first man in my life who did not abuse me, and loved me unconditionally. I was his first priority always.
All I feel right now is the cruelty of God for asking me to give him up. No relief from the pain. Wish He would just let me die.
I am so sorry for your pain and can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you. I don’t pretend to understand God’s plans and as I shared, there are times that they are downright painful. I can only pray that God will send some encouragement your way, ease your pain and remind you how very dearly loved you are. It is for those tears He died so that you don’t have to.
I hope you will find support through a church community and mentors to help you through this difficult time. Please find someone you trust who can help you get the support you need.
I’m praying for you today!
I trust God for you that he will give you a man which your soul will delight in with love,joy unspeakable, you see sometimes its not about now God knows the future and honestly it may not make sense to you now but as time goes on you will get to understand.
I am greatful unto God for giving you the grace to take this step and I trust God for you will see the gain or benefit for obeying God Shadrach Meshach and Abednego obeyed God and for the first time in their life they saw the son of God who came to dwell with them, honestly you will rejoice and share great testimonies soon.
Sweet Marva…I remember this time I knew God was asking me to apologize to a family member. I thought that my apology would lead to reconciliation. So, I mustered up my courage and I obeyed God. It did not turn out well. In fact, it was much worse. The person treated me horribly and with such cruelty – my heart was broken. I thought maybe I had heard God wrong. While the deterioration of the relationship was not my fault to begin with, there had been something I had to apologize for regardless. In the end, I realized that my apology was for me to have a clean slate before God – nothing else. And just because that person refused to accept my apology didn’t mean I didn’t hear from God correctly. I read a passage in Acts about Paul and how his obedience to God brought him near death – he may have even died – beaten to a pulp. Not quite what he expected. But he was obeying God.
I’ve decided to feature your post on Grace and Truth this week. Be sure to stop by and get the “I was featured” button.
BTW – I think I’ve dropped the ball on Uplift…I haven’t been writing it down in my planner! I’ll be back to it next week.
Take care of your precious heart. We can’t let you lose your Sparkle & Shine!
lots of love…
Beautiful post, Marva. It is true, isn’t it, sometimes there is a great cost for our obedience. That’s why it’s so important to keep an eternal perspective. Pinning and sharing!
Marva, you are such a ray of sunshine, even when talking of the tough and the turmoil… thank you for your sweet honesty and encouragement! You are a blessing 🙂
Marva, obedience isn’t easy for sure. What came to mind was the verses on the talents about being faithful in little and then He sets you over much. Our “much” comes when we continue to be a faithful steward of our assignments.
This is a beautiful post, Marva. We often DO expect/hope obedience will be easy and make us feel happy and fulfilled, but it’s not always that way, is it? I’ve had an experience recently where the steps God called me to take didn’t end up in the results I hoped for. In fact they were somewhat painful, like you’re saying here, but I know He called me, so I leave the results with Him.
This is an awesome post. A reminder that everything we encounter in this Christian walk is not always going to be easy. Right now I’m going through a test to learn how to forgive and it’s a struggle but I’m still praying and waiting for the time when I truly forgive! Be blessed!
Danielle, I’m so glad you stopped by and shared a piece of your heart with us. One of my biggest tests ever was being able to forgive someone for a deep hurt. One day I realised that forgiveness was a decision, not a feeling and I took the bold step to forgive in that moment, not worrying about the past or about the future. Each and every day I needed to decide to forgive, whether I felt like it or not. As time passed, the pain hurt less but the sting comes back up ever so often. Nearly 30 yrs later I still have to decide to forgive, but I can tell you that the first step — deciding to forgive — was the single best decision I ever made because it opened the door to my own forgiveness.
With God’s help you can do this! I’m praying for you.
amazing post so glad i discovered this post, thank you!!, I needed it, he is an on time God and i have proved that over and over again, if you do check out my site you will see my about me story and understnd more of what i’m saying, he is marvelous and wonderful and more of us need to praise and believe in him
http://www.mssparkleandglow.com
Welcome, my fellow Caribbean sister. 🙂
Kerona, you’re right, your story is amazing and a true testament to God’s faithfulness. I pray He continues to bless you with health and strength and that you may continue to declares His praises. Keep sparkling, Ms. Sparkle and Glow!
Oh Marva, that is so tough when our obedience hurts. And so agree that your story is still not finished yet It makes me think of the moment when Jesus uttered, “It is finished,” and all that led up to those words. Yes, sometimes I think the closer we get to Christ the more challenging as He grows and stretches us. Thank you for being an obedient, beloved daughter of the Father and sister of Christ !
Thank you for your encouraging words, Lynn. I think you’re on to something when you say the closer we get to Christ, the more He stretches us. I guess that’s all a part of growing up in our faith.
Thanks for sharing your sparkle; I appreciate you so much!
Hey Marva,
Your positivity and faith are so encouraging. I too sometimes expect a pat on the back for obedience forgetting that my obedience should come from faith and be a result of gratitude to God for the Cross. As you said our stories aren’t over and though life is no fairy tale, we know that our ending truly will be “…happily ever after” with God.
Janelle, it’s so lovely to connect with you here today.
A pat on the back sure would be nice, right? 🙂 Clearly God’s plans are better than ours and we have to keep trusting Him to get us to that ‘happily ever after’ ending.
I’m so glad we’re on the journey together. Hugs to you, dear friend!
Thank you for these words, Marva! So beautiful and timely 🙂
Thank you, Misty. I love connecting with you and I’m so glad you found a little inspiration here today! I always enjoy seeing your pictures and lovely quotes. You are such a blessing!
Hi Marva! Thanks for the reminder that our stories are by no means easy, but God’s sacrifice of his son on a cross was messy and hard- but for our good!!
That’s right, Amy, there was good that came out of Jesus’ sacrifice and I’m sure there will be good in mine too. And to think, my little struggles are nothing compared to what He went through for me.
Wonderful words that have power to make change in people’s lives. Obedience doesn’t necessarily lead to wonderful outcomes as we would define them! Thanks for the encouraging and challenging post!
I’m glad you were encouraged, Kathy. There is some good to come out of my struggles and sharing them is one of the blessings.
Your words have lifted me up!
I’m so glad the story didn’t end there. We have resurrection power to hold on to. And remember He endure the pain for the joy that came after. It’s nice to read that our story isn’t over.
So true, Rebecca, there is joy to come after — not in my time, but His. Thanks for that reminder and for taking the time to visit and leave such an encouraging note.
Thank you for your honest thoughts and feelings. Too often I have forgotten my prayer ‘to know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings’ and then get blindsided that life, even in obedience to Christ, isn’t always a smooth trail but as you described a ‘rough’ road. I pray for you as your story unfolds, to be strengthened in your obedience, that your life continues to be a blessing to others and to the glory of God!
Thank you for that sweet prayer, Debby. I appreciate it more than you know!
God never promised life would be easy, did He?
Wishing you blessings and sparkles 🙂
Oh, Girl! I needed this today! Thank you for allowing us to walk this with you. Surrender is hard and you’re right . . . when we do, we want an “atta baby.” Then remembering all that Jesus has done for me, obedience is not some grand gesture on my part it’s gratitude, trust, and hope and love. Wow, I loved this!
Deb, I’m so glad my woes can encourage someone else. And yes, I guess I do have this sense of entitlement sometimes but in light of the Cross, I see that I really don’t deserve any kudos at all. I have to ask myself, am I obeying to get a reward or because of gratitude, trust, hope and love as you rightly pointed out.
Wow, what a journey this is! Not easy but necessary.
Thanks for your encouragement, dear friend.