Monday, January 1, 2018
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It was the countdown week to the birth of our first grandchild. And, as you might expect, there were some of those mother/daughter conversations about what this experience was going to be like. You know, birthing this child that you've carried for nine months. I didn't think I had a lot to contribute, so I kind of bailed on this conversation. And while our daughter was still at home with some of those first contractions, I overheard her mother giving her some insight-the words of the veteran who's been there and knows what's ahead. She said, "Now, you're going to reach a point where you'll feel like you just can't take it anymore. Well, that's when you've got to hang on, honey, because that's when the baby comes."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Breaking Point and The Breakthrough."
That experience of reaching the breaking point and then experiencing the breakthrough pretty much described our little guy's birth, and millions of other births, and millions of other breakthroughs in peoples' lives. Just when the pain has become almost unbearable-just when you think you can't do this anymore-that's when something wonderful is born.
So many of life's breakthroughs are like that. That's why God gives us this wonderful challenge and wonderful promise in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9. He says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
That message is for someone today who may be on the edge of giving up--maybe you. You've prayed, you've worked, you've waited, you've sacrificed and nothing has happened. You're tired, you're hurting, and you're wondering if the breakthrough or the victory will ever come. And God is saying to you today, "Hang on! Don't quit now! It's going to happen-if you don't give up."
Maybe you're tempted to give up on a dream God gave you, or your ministry , or your marriage, on that goal, or give up on trying to live for Christ, or trying to beat that old sin, or trying to reach someone for Christ. Like a woman experiencing the protracted pain and effort of labor, it hurts to keep going. But God has given us this exciting promise that if we keep going, the very thing we have prayed and worked so hard for will come.
A wise old saint once said, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." There was a time when you thought what you'd been pursuing was the right thing...that God was going to do something only He could do...that this was worth the wait, it was worth the struggle, it was worth the sacrifice. But it was light then-now it's dark. But God hasn't changed His mind. His plan is still on course, still on schedule, even if His schedule runs a little slower or a lot slower than your schedule. So many people have bailed out just before the awesome thing God was about to do.
No, it's not over. And, yes, there may be some more pain before your answer comes, before you see any results-before the breakthrough. And God may take you all the way to the edge, even to the breaking point-because that's where we totally surrender it to Him. And that's where we can experience His amazing power. So hang in there.
Just like our beautiful grandson, something precious and something priceless is about to be born. If you're at the point where you feel like you just can't take it anymore, don't let go. Just as our daughter experienced in the arrival of our grandson, just beyond the worst of the pain, something precious, something priceless is about to be born.