By Raly Ewemie

Transition is a process of internal adjustments to external changes. It is always a process and it takes time, recalculation and adjustment. Being a missionary for some years now, i have found myself moving, going through several transitions.

Change in locations, food, friendship, cultures, community, languages and the list goes on. Transitions are never easy and it takes perseverance, be honest about where you are now. I will share more in another blog but below is a message on transition written by a good friend of mine.

“In anticipation of the little one arriving this spring, my Beloved and I are taking a natural childbirth course. Transition is something the teachers particularly want to prepare you for. It is the point where a woman, resolute on a natural birth may give up. She will beg and plead for all the drugs known to modern man, a C-section, an epidural – anything.

One women even got out of the birthing tub, threw on her coat and tried to walk out on her own birth. But what she needs to be reminded of is that this agonizing stretch signifies the beginning of the end. Or, better put, the beginning. After hours of travail, her body will tell her to push, and she will receive the baby she has has eagerly awaited.

Tonight I resonate deeply with this picture of the inner man’s journey, walked out in the physical sphere of life, sweat, pain and blessing.

A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. (John 16:21)

It seems fitting to dwell on new birth as a new year opens before us, full of promise, uncertainty, and renewed hope. No birth is easy, whether the birth of a child, a ministry, a dream, a calling, a labour of love or service. Silent construction in obscurity is followed by the travail of giving birth to what God has planted within us, but before overcoming, there is often a transition period. When our weary mind and discouraged soul tell us we are getting nowhere, it is too hard, and we cannot complete what we have been called to. We enter transition where the rubber of faith meets the road of tribulation.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Revelation tells us those who persevere until the end are blessed and rewarded. The Bible’s pages are full of stories of those who gave birth to the greatness of God’s calling on their life. Those who stretched out their tent lines during difficulty.

But it is also filled with stories of those who gave birth to the wind. Who succumbed to the transition period and fell back, an example of why we should not give up when in transition.

As 2017 brings new callings, challenges and transitions of new birth, my prayer for you and me is that we surround ourselves with those who tell us the push is nearly over, and we can do it with the strength Jesus gives. I pray we look ahead to the joy of a birth fulfilled, and the reward that comes when labour is over.

What is Jesus calling to life in you this year? Are you in a transition period, waiting for pain to give way to joy, or have you given birth to something Jesus planted long ago that you can celebrate and give thanks for?”

Raly Ewemie is a devoted Missionary - with over a decade work experience in different countries across the globe. She’s the brain behind www.reflectinghisbeauty.org, a website that enriches people with Godly values and supports Missionaries in their work for God. She’s based in Abbotsford BC, Canada. E-mail: raly@reflectinghisbeauty.org