One day, your suffering will have an end. Your worst earthly pains will seem like a mere nuisance once you step through the pearly gates of heaven. There’s so much to look forward to when you finally come home!
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a hope-filled story I want to share.
I think I told you that after my two battles against pneumonia last year, my pulmonologist put me on a regular routine of using a nebulizer and a chest percussion therapy vest. Don’t let those terms confuse you; it’s exactly as it says. Ken tightly fastens a Velcro vest around my chest, it vibrates violently. The vibrations work with the nebulizer to open up the passages in my lungs. It’s like being pummeled by a jack hammer. And for 15 minutes while I inhale an expectorant, this vest shakes me fiercely. Plus it’s loud. Ken can be standing next to me and saying something and there’s no way I can hear him, it’s so noisy. The whole routine takes about 15 minutes and when the timer on the machine is [bing!] up, bang. Instantly, everything stops. The sudden quiet is almost shocking. I sit there for a few seconds, a little dazed. And then I say, “And just like that, it’s over.”
And you know what? I wonder if I’ll say the same thing when I step into the peace and the quiet and the relief of heaven after dealing with so much suffering for so long. When God calls me home, I like to picture stepping through those gates of pearl and then, glancing behind me at the hardships and the noise and the dust and the violence of earth and saying, “And just like that, it’s over.” And at that point? I think I’ll finally understand that my afflictions on earth really were light and momentary just like 2 Corinthians 4:17 describes them. It’ll all be behind us. We will look back on what will feel like a half-forgotten dream and just like that, it'll be over. And you’ll be home. Finally, you are home. And it is a far richer home than you ever dreamed.
Because the Scripture says that our light and momentary affliction is accruing for us. It’s making us richer. With an eternal gain that far outweighs the black and blue jackhammering of earth’s hardships. And when God says our troubles “far” outweigh, he means really far. Compared to heaven—our worst earthly pains will seem like a mere nuisance. Just thinking about that – it encourages me in my suffering. When we stand amazed at the mountain ranges of joy and pleasures that our response to suffering will have won for us, we will be astounded. On that bright eternal day when we are finally home and heaven’s gains are showered on us, God is going to do something so grand, so extravagant, that it will completely atone for every heartache and hardship.
So, let’s not waste our suffering. Like that twice-a-day-routine I have got to go through with the nebulizer and the chest percussion vest? All that rumbling and shaking? I use that time to memorize Scripture. I don’t want even that routine to go to waste. I guess I’m thinking of Saint Sebastian here, an early Christian martyr, who said that “When it is all over, you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little and suffered that little so badly.” So today, whatever afflictions you are going through, they will not last forever. God has set on them a limit. Suffering will have an end. And at that point? You will step through the gates of pearl, look over your shoulder at the dust of earth with all its hardships, and you’ll smile and say to yourself as you move forward, “And just like that, it’s all over.” Remember, earth’s trials really are light and momentary compared to the far, far gains of heaven. And I’m going to join you up there that day, when I walk through those gates of pearl. The chest percussion vest will be off, the nebulizer will be removed, and I will say, “And just like that, it’s over. And the new world has just begun!”
© Joni and Friends