A Lesson Learned At Awanita Valley
When I was a summer youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Sumter, South Carolina in 1991, I led a youth retreat to Awanita Valley. We had a great time of studying God’s Word and enjoying each other’s company for several days in a fantastic little corner of the world. During one of the Bible studies I was leading, a young teenage girl started to emotionally unload on the rest of the group. She yelled and cried about how painful her life was and how unsympathetic our youth group seemed to be. Being a college student that really had no experience with this type of outburst, I decided to give the group a 10 minute break so things could settle down.
After the break, we got back together and I said something like this: “I know it got a little bit awkward in here a few minutes ago, and I hope all of you are ok now.” One of the teenage guys smiled and said, “It’ll be alright in the morning.” Others nodded, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. Later that day, he told me what his phrase meant. It was based on Psalm 30:5, which states “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Then, it all made sense.
Are you in pain right now? Does hope seem to be vanishing? Are clouds of darkness causing you to live in a gloomy shadow? If so, remember this: it’s only temporary. You will come through this. You will smile again. You will be freed, restored, and healed. The best thing that will happen is this: your night of weeping will be replaced with a morning of rejoicing! Maybe it will happen this week. Maybe it will happen next month. Maybe it will happen when you go home to be with the Lord. I may not know when your morning is coming, but I do know this: it is coming.
Keep calling out to God. Keep claiming His soothing promises. Finally, keep reminding yourself of this: it’ll be alright in the morning! Your best and brightest days are ahead.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:10 PM
WOW. What perfect timing, David.
I have a friend who has a chronic pain condition and struggles daily. BUT … she has great faith, even when she is felled by torturous pain.
I am going to send her this message … I think it will uplift her.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Hi Cathy! I hope this brings her some comfort. As always, it’s great to hear from you.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:18 PM
When you go through these trials you wonder just what is really happening and why. When my brother in law passed away I had my sister put this Psalm on his obit .Because, Joy does come if you just hold tight to his word. We are blessed with Gods words if we would just listen. Thanks for such encouragement.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Shirley – Always enjoy your feedback. See you Sunday. David
October 30th, 2009 at 9:40 AM
David:
God is good! These were two responses I got from my friend Patti (a four doors down neighbor who ironically, I have never met in person!). I thought you would want to see how it touched her.
Thank you Cathy. That is just what I needed to hear. Rejoicing does come in the morning, regardless when the morning is.
(Then later in the day)
I read this again and I just wanted to thank you. I think you are the only person in my life right now who understands. Harry supports me and loves me, but I don’t think that he or the children understand what I go through. I have been on anti-depressants for over 20 years. Sometimes, I have been bad enough to be committed. But for the Grace of God.
Thank you for the timely and perfect messages.
Love you my friend!
October 30th, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Cathy – Reading this makes my day. So glad that God used the blog! David