Through the Valley: Five-Day Bible Plan With Pamela JohnsonSample

Day Three: The Fruit of Joy

I wiped the sweat dripping from my face. It was another sweltering day in Africa; the kind that makes it hard to breathe. I dreaded the thought of what I was about to do.

The church women in our African village of Dondo were headed to a baby dedication. Most of them lived in extreme poverty. They had no choice but to walk many kilometers for the simple needs of survival. Whether it was to obtain life-giving water, grow rice for their families, or hurry to the hospital, long walks were a daily necessity. Not only was it exhausting, it was time-consuming. So, when I was available, my old Toyota Surf became a taxi service. 

But that day, in the midst of the extreme heat, the squashed crowd of sisters packing like sardines into my car made me wince. If it wasn’t hot enough, the back windows weren’t working, eliminating the possibility of a breeze. It just added to the growing greenhouse effect. I gingerly shut the rear door after the last woman entered, praying no one would be injured by the push.

As we drove to our destination, I imagined them fainting along the way. But instead of groans, I heard a choir of music fill my ears! Their sweet voices had shifted their focus from their suffering to singing praises. It was tears I now wiped from my face as relief swept over me at their response.

How much that reminded me of Paul singing while in prison. He was obedient to God’s calling to share the gospel and was rewarded with an arrest, flogging and imprisonment. He knew his life wasn’t about the moment but what Jesus himself had demonstrated.

Though he was God’s only Son, the Creator of life, Jesus unbelievably went to the cross and suffered beyond human imagination. As in Hebrews 12:2, his fruit of joy found no roots in the temporary, but in what was coming – the eternal salvation of those who would believe! 

The dear women made it safely that day to their destination. The sultry ride was quickly forgotten as they danced and sang with the young mother, rejoicing in new life.

Prayer: Dear Father, I am awestruck by the sacrifice of your Son which gives me a hope and a future. Help me in my earthly trials and sufferings to change my focus towards you, where there is real joy.