Take me to the end of the story!

     by Rebecca Vickery
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      There's a part of me that always wanted to skip to the end of a stressful book. Things aren't
looking good, so I want to get to the end where there's hopefully resolution. Better that than
feeling the tension. Take me to the end where the wrongs have been righted, and
reconciliation has occurred. There are times when life gets hard that I want to do the same.
Can we skip to the redemption arc?
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      I know God can make a way even when there seems to be no way, but walking in the midst of
it, that's how I become conformed to the likeness of His Son. If I am walking in my own
strength, then when I come against someone who is making life hard, then I might be inclined
like the disciples to ask, shall we call down fire on them? God, can you smite my enemies?
The living, breathing ones that surround me. Not the unseen enemy that makes those people
seem like the enemy. But if I'm walking in the Spirit, and being conformed to the likeness of His
Son, then I am interceding for those who, by their words and their lifestyle do actual harm to
the ones I love. I am asking God to bless my enemies, to bless and not to curse them, to forgive
them, for they don't know what they're doing. I'm following the examples of Jesus. If I skip to
the end, I would bypass my own redemption arc and miss the Lord using my circumstances to
draw me closer to himself.

      None of us desires suffering. But if we are suffering, it is not for nothing. Our suffering is not in vain. Jesus Himself pleaded with the father that if it was possible for Him to not have to face
the suffering on the cross, that God would do it another way. If there was another way, Jesus
would not have had to endure the cross. Likewise, if there was another way for this story to
happen apart from my suffering, I would not be suffering. In 2 Corinthians, the Bible offers us
encouragement with regards to suffering.

      Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is
unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I don’t need to skip the end. I know that in the end, God will make all things right. I will never
share another uncomfortable conversation with a loved one that ends in confusion, heartache
and frustration. I will never feel the brokenness of my body and the weight of this world on my
heart. I will hunger no more, I will thirst no more, and He will wipe away every tear from my
eyes. But in the meantime, my “light and momentary troubles” (that neither feel light nor
momentary) are accomplishing for myself (and my family members) an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all.

      What comfort and peace I find in those words. Not only are my troubles momentary, but they
are achieving something eternal for me. I cannot fully understand from this side of glory what 
it means, but I know from Romans 8:18 that I can consider that our present sufferings are not
worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. That which is yet to come will be far
more glorious than anything I have had to endure on this side of things.
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      Someday, we will witness the restoration of all things. In the meantime, we are called to be
ministers of reconciliation making peace wherever peace is possible. What a charge we have
been given. BUT, He who called us is faithful. We do not have to rest in our own strength to
get us to the end of the story. We can fix our eyes on the author and finisher of our faith,
knowing that HE is the one who will get us to the end. 1 Corinthians 1:8 says, “He will also keep
you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Jude
it says that He will keep us from stumbling and present us without wrinkle or blemish to the
Lord in the end. So as challenging as it seems to be a minister of reconciliation in a broken
world, Jesus has my back and is interceding for me that my faith may not fail me. I don’t have
to skip to the end of the story, I can trust in the savior who will give me the strength to endure.
Hallelujah. To Him be the glory, both now and forevermore.