From the desk of Steve Shultz:
If you need great encouragement in this hour, this latest word is for you! Trials can bring times of deep sorrow and pain...but JOY awaits for us and you'll read much more about this in Victoria Boyson's latest article.
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Victoria Boyson:
Sorrow Turned Into Joy - Don't Stop Now!
Giving birth to your destiny is a messy and exhausting process, but inevitably your misery will turn into joy and you will produce the product of grace that you have always dreamed of. You are much too close to the end to give up now.
Misery Turned to Joy
O Lord, the king rejoices in Your strength. How great is his joy in the victories You give! You have granted him the desire of his heart, and have not withheld the request of his lips... For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. Psalm 21:1-2, 7
As I read the above verses, the joy and praise David gave to our Lord touched me. He thanked God for the great blessings He had given him. God has answered his prayers and given him the desires of his heart.
The thankful praise that burst forth from David's heart seems a million miles away from the psalms he wrote in the midst of his trial. In the middle of his tribulation, he wrote psalms that expressed his misery and pain. He questioned if God was even with him (see Psalm 22:1). He groaned because he did not see the Lord answering his prayers (see Psalm 22:2). His misery was great, like that of a pregnant woman in the midst of labor.
In the midst of her labor she feels as though she cannot last; as though her pain is too great to bear. She does not care what anyone else thinks. She is in misery. But moments after it is all over and she has that beautiful baby in her hands, she begins to lose sight of her pain. She feels much like David did in Psalm 21:1 when he said, "The king rejoices in Your strength. How great is his joy in the victories You give!" Her joy overshadows her hours of grief, and the great pain she felt pales in comparison to the exuberant joy and peace she now feels.
Cailie-Ellen Is Born
When my fourth child was born, I went through a terrible ordeal. I had delivered three other children before her and none of them were easy deliveries. But they failed to compare to the extraordinary pain I had when giving birth to her. For hours they induced my labor mercilessly until all I could do was cry. I did not care who saw me, nor did I care what they thought. I was in agonizing pain and, indeed, she was finally taken by caesarian section. I remember very little of being taken into surgery, but I do remember there were people all around me. I am not one who likes to let others see me cry, but at that moment I did not care. I bawled.
However, even with all the pain I had, I can say that it did not compare to the joy I had when the doctor announced, "It's a girl!" I had been given the desire of my heart and, at that moment, my trial had been rendered powerless. I felt as David felt when he said, "You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips" (Psalm 21:2).
None of the pain I had endured mattered because God had answered my prayer. Cailie-Ellen Shirley was born. She was beautiful, healthy and perfect. She was the one bright spot during a very dark time in my life. God was faithful to me and I could say as David did, "Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty" (Psalm 21:5).
Turn Your Misery Into Praise
As the Lord fulfills our destiny in Him and the promises He has made to us, the pain we felt during the trials we have faced will fade away into glorious praises. As a woman in labor knows her pain will produce a baby, we have the knowledge that our pain will produce the promise of the Lord. We will give birth to our destiny.
David sings a song of mourning and grief in Psalm 22, yet in the midst of his trial and pain he praises God: "Yet, You are enthroned as the Holy One; You are the praise of Israel. In You our fathers put their trust; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried to You and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed" (vv 3-5).
David reminded himself that his forefathers had trusted in God and were not disappointed. He praised God for His faithfulness, even in the midst of his misery. There is a certain misery in trusting God even when the waves of doubt flood through your soul. However, we "must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:6). We must not doubt and let go of the promise of our destiny in Him. We must stay on course and not be turned to the right or left. The trying of our faith in Him will produce endurance – strength that we will need later on in life. With every battle we endure, we grow stronger in Him.
There are times when we, like David, cannot hear the voice of our God (Psalm 22:2). He seems to be silent and we wonder if He still intends to fulfill the promise He has made to us. These are critical moments when our trust in Him is indeed tested – when doubts begin to pelt us like hailstones. Should we retreat like the double-minded man in James 1:8 and change course, or should we proceed, trusting in our God? We must stay on course! We must trust in Him! We must not change our direction from the last instructions we have received from Him. We know that trials will come, but "blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test he will receive" (James 1:12) the promise.
Beloved, keep on believing...keep on trusting! Stay on course and, surely, as an expectant mother, your pain will produce the promise. Keep trusting...keep praising Him, whether you feel like it or not. The richest gift you can give to your heavenly Father is to praise Him in the midst of your pain. Trust Him when you cannot see an answer, because "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change" (James 1:17).
The pain you now feel will be transformed into the sweetest of praises to our God. Your sorrow will be turned into joy. "Through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken" (Psalm 21:7). He will turn your mourning into dancing, and the rejection you have experienced into strength, through trusting in God. David experienced this, and you will too!
Pray this with me: Dear Father, open my eyes and my heart to receive vision and passion from this book, so that I may receive grace from Heaven to press on through this journey and find my destiny in You.
Victoria Boyson
Speaking Life Ministries
Email: victoria@boyson.org
Victoria Boyson met Jesus at the age of seven. At thirteen, she started ministering using music as a platform to tell others about Jesus. She and her husband, Steve, ministered as pastors in the mid-west, but in 1999, the Lord told them to move to work for Francis Frangipane, who was extremely influential in their development as Christians and as ministers.
Victoria is a powerful prophetic voice to this generation and co-founder of Speaking Life Ministries. Based out of the Houston, Texas area, she is called to awaken and prepare the Bride of Christ for the end-time harvest and compel His Church to embrace a passionate relationship with their heavenly Father. She is the author of The Birth of Your Destiny and His Passionate Pursuit.
