Groaning comes before glory

Do you groan a lot? I do...especially when I get sick. A few years back we took our Schnauzer, Sonny, to get his ears clipped. The vet taped them upright and gave him medicine...but Sonny was in bad shape. That same day I came home with the flu. I wasn’t feeling so great myself. As I lay in bed, sick at my stomach, feverish, groaning, I heard Jo Beth talking sweetly to Sonny. “Oh, you’re a sweet boy,” she said. Jo Beth had put a little bell by my bed in case I needed something, so I began to ring it. “Joby, I need aspirin,” I wheezed. “Can you bring it?” Then, “Joby, I need some water. I’m thirsty.” For two days straight as Jo Beth nursed Sonny, I rang my bell. The next day some friends came over—to check on Sonny. My fever was up, I was having chills, and the whole neighborhood was worried about Sonny’s ears! So I decided to give him a run for his money. I took some tissues from the nightstand and carefully wrapped my ears in them, ringing my bell for all it was worth. When Jo Beth came in I told her I thought my ears were beginning to hurt, too, and she shook her head (and laughed a little) as she said, “Oh, Edwin.”

In this life, we groan. Things are not as they should be...not as they will be. But Paul said he considered the sufferings of this present world “not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed.” Did you get the order? Groaning before glory. But glory is a promise from God Himself!