encouragement...

Encouragement...
I've received some this week...
some actually en-couraged...
some... simply increased pressure...

The sister and I currently teaching... and simultaneously writing... Sister Talk: Resuscitate Your Faith... refer to the process as birthing...

I shared the metaphor with the 22 year old son... who happened to be trapped in a car with me for a half-hour after the birth of the first teaching...

The son received it from his mom... full-blown...
how the writing process equated to labor...
the teaching a birth...
the six weeks study... means SEXTUPLETS...!
no sooner do you birth one...
the labor begins anew...

If you can imagine... he didn't appreciate the metaphor...
That may work for you... but not for me...
I can't see myself birthing anything...

I spared him any further details...
but we talked this week... and he shared an encouragement...
after I voiced doubt about filling blank pages...

Reading Scripture... he thought about me and the birthing of the study...

For you formed my inward parts; knitted me together in my mother's womb. ... 

My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance...

Psalm 139:13, 15-16 ESV

God is knitting the Bible study in you...

He sees it and knows it... you can't right now...

but He's doing it...

The idea of Him forming the inward parts of Sister Talk in me... did bring encouragement... understanding mom's don't get to see... or know the babes fully... till they are born...

The picture took me just enough outside the process... to trust God in His forming...

But a subsequent encouragement... did not do the same...

the sister in cahoots tells me... a woman came in the shop and asked about the study...

When are you going to publish the study...?

Are you selling it from the shop...?

I want one when you do...

This one just stirred panic...

like the mom in the midst of hard labor...

receiving encouragement from her husband...

You're doing great honey...

and she lets out a string of expletives...

The labor is in the middle...

it's not done...

you're unsure you can complete...

I don't want to hear that now...

Then an unexpected encouragement... 

from a sister attending The Journey...

another study being birthed...

blessed me with a gift... an encouragement journal...

a day planner to set goals and encourage...

I got one for me too... so we could walk through it together...

This one made me feel special...

and reminded me... all this encouragement...

comes from Him...

Encouragement...

it's what we are called to do...

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging

one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

Who is He calling you to encourage today...? 

birth pangs... do you feel them...?

Only Mary experienced labor pains... the first time He came...

And very few prepared for His coming...
Mary and Joseph... of course...
Zechariah and Elizabeth... they knew...
Simeon and Anna... prophet and prophetess in the temple... they lived in a state of expectancy...
Then there were the Magi... they gathered gifts... and journeyed far...

But other than that... none knew of... prepared for... the imminent arrival of Jesus...

Currently... we're in the midst of our own Advent... waiting for... His second coming... His return...

The time He will come to fix the world... make it new... and fix everything in its place... the time for conversion... will be up...

Today's reading through... brings me to Matthew's record... of Jesus's words... regarding His return...

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars;

see that you are not frightened or troubled,

for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, 

and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;

All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the birth pangs

[of the intolerable anguish].

Matthew 24:6-8 Amp

When He comes again... the whole world... will experience  the birth pangs... the labor pains...

The question is... Will you recognize them... for what they are...?

Wars...

Rumors of wars...

Earthquakes...

Famines...

We have a few of those going on in the world today...

But... by faith... are we living with expectancy...? preparing for His return...?

Jesus says... He will return like a thunderstorm...

For just as the lighting flashes from the east and shines and

is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

...and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven

with power and great glory [in brilliance and splendor].

Matthew 24:27, 30 Amp

As in the days of Noah...

No one had seen a storm before... and only Noah prepared...

Eight survived that storm...

How many will survive the next...?

And I wonder... Do I live in expectancy of His return...? in a state of preparation...?

Am I seeking Him...? wholeheartedly...? so I might be... light... in the coming storm...? bring comfort to others... in the midst of pain...?

Will others see...? and understand...? because of my preparation...? my faith...?

The signs are clear... His Word is true... He is coming...

Are you prepared...? for the One who says...?

Sky and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away.

But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows,

not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Matthew 24:35-36 Amp

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a desire... for more faith...