Sorrow and Pain to Joy

 Jn 16:20-23

 ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

"I never promised you a Rose Garden" , goes an old country western hymn. Each day carries its challenges, mostly unexpected and unpredicted. When ever does the day go as we planned or envisioned it? It took an hour to connect to the internet this morning.  Was that in my plan book?  Everything is now late and the day's plan totally revised. A small thing compared to sorrows stemming from random shootings, or bombings in Gaza or the Ukraine. Jesus promises deliverance from all of this, sometimes in this world, but surely in the next. He promises joy as our pains disappear.  Let us remember his promises and rejoice when things don't seem to be going our way.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, your ways are not my ways.  Help me to trust the plan YOU have laid out for me. Amen.