The Sufferings of A While.

"After that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." (1 Peter 5:10)

This excerpt below was CH Spurgeon's morning devotion for July 11, the day my Mom was re-admitted to hospital. The cup of suffering has been on our menu these last few weeks... the debilitating physical pain to which my mother has been subjected, and the emotional sadness that is silently enveloping us all.

``You have seen the rainbow of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. Beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? 

The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished and grounded. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. Let not your character be a writing on the sand, but an inscription on the Rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so established, that all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you.

But notice how this blessing of being stablished in the faith is gained... by suffering. It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree. Those strange twistings of the branches. All tell of the many storms that have swept over it. They are indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way.

So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling His will in you.``

This verse from 1 Peter 5 has given me renewed comfort again today. For a little while. Although the while is unknown, we do know that the trials and sufferings are temporary. And they contrast with the eternal promise of the God of all grace, to perfect, stablish and strengthen us.

And ultimately to call us unto His eternal glory.

Our heavenly home. With Him. Forever.