Bless our God, O peoples!
Give him a thunderous welcome!
Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,
pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
to this well-watered place……He stayed with me, loyal in his love.
Psalm 66:8-12, 20 The Message
I don’t want to be dramatic, but this paraphrase by Eugene Peterson makes me think of these current, trying days of mothering multiple, young children as an extreme introvert. It’s physically, emotionally, and spiritually challenging—not to mention the wonkiness of my hormones. But God has set me on this “road to life.”
I write a lot about mothering because that’s where I live. I am a homeschooling mom, which means many of my trials are centered on family life and the home. It’s my call, my work, my passion, my dream come true—but it’s also a trial. A great testing.
As Paul puts it, God started a good work in me that he will complete it. He uses everything to complete it. The good and the bad. What tests you these days? Praise God if everything is “easy peasy lemon squeasy!” God is good to provide us with times like that, but often we will eventually run into a challenge or obstacle that tests us at our core. Yes, the completion of the good work he’s started in us—in me—even to get to my answered prayers for motherhood and home—comes by way of testing.
In other words, God ordained the hardness of this season.