I was talking to a dear friend the other day about his youngest daughter, Harper. He was telling me about how for the longest time, she would never stay in class at church and always needed to be picked up early… until recently. She had started staying a little longer each week, and then this past Sunday, she stayed in class the entire time. Victory!

After speaking with the teacher in her classroom on Sunday morning to find out what was working or what seemed to be different, the teacher shared that she had the help of a young junior high girl who had taken special interest in Harper. She had spent time playing with her and helping Harper as she made it through her class. After some further investigating, my friend was also able to trace that junior high student back to my oldest daughter, Johanna.As I heard this, I smiled, full of joy, as I thought of my oldest daughter offering encouragement and comfort to a little girl who needed it.

And in that same moment, I felt the Lord remind me that my sweet junior high girl, who was able to help Harper in her time of need, was the same little girl who, too, always needed to be picked up early.

I was reminded of how hard it felt, how much I cried, how often I felt embarrassed… Frustrated that I couldn’t even sit in church service for an hour without her needing me and her number being called.And yet, here He is now, using my daughter to care for another little girl and for the very same thing she went through when she was younger.

If you would have asked me in the early years of mothering, I wouldn’t have been able to make sense of it. As week after week we left another church service early or sat in the foyer trying to catch the message with Johanna upon my lap playing, it would take time before I understand the pain we both carried or how God would use her tears and mine.And yet God, in His wisdom, creativity and kindness, could see THIS moment all along. Only He could weave the tears, frustration and pain, and turn them into a beautiful story that would matter almost a decade later. Only He could use what I felt was a limp in my daughter – in how she couldn’t stay apart from me – and turn it into a compassionate and caring heart. She would become someone that would look to be a comforter and a carrier for the girls just like her and to those who need a friend to sit by their side.

I don’t know what limp you are walking with… or hide away… as it may feel too shameful, embarrassing, heavy or a waste to still carry. However, it may just be the very thing God will use one day as your greatest gift or to show you He was there with you in every step! It may just be the very thing in your life, woven together through tears and pain, that will be used for the glory of God and the good of His people.Stand up and walk on warrior. Your pain is not forgotten or wasted – He is not done yet.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

 

By: Tina Rivera

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