We Know the End

It's a new movie and my sensitive viewers begin to struggle with the scenes filled with tension, threatening situations, and the seemingly unknown.

"Mom! I'm scared!"

"What's going to happen?!"

"Oh no!!"

And then I hear myself saying it: "Guys! We know the ending, we know they are going to be ok! So let's watch how they do it. Let's watch how they become ok..."

I have to repeat it several times to get their attention and help them hear what I am saying -- "We know the ending... We know the ending... Let's watch how they do this... We know the ending, so we don't have to be afraid, we can watch how they become ok..."

The more I repeat this idea, the more the atmosphere in the room shifts. With those words there is a shift from fear to hope, anxiety to joyful expectation, from tears to literal cheers -- shouts of encouragement when things are hard and ecstatic celebration when the happy ending we knew would come, CAME.

And suddenly I am crying. The words intended to calm the anxiety of my little sensitive viewers are now speaking to truth my soul: "Rachel, we know the ending..."

We know the ending. It's going to be ok. So we can watch without fear and watch how it becomes ok.

We know the promises -- plans for a hope and a future, all things working together for the good of the those who love him, an eternity with our precious Lord and Savior, redemption and restoration of all that the locusts have eaten, and more. THAT is our end. THAT is what is coming.

And we are in the messy scary middle, the already and not yet. In the parts with the twists and the turns, with the unknowns and the surprises, and all of the things that do not seem to point to the promise.

But we know the end.

Can we turn our eyes? Can we remind our souls?

We do not have to be afraid. We can watch with joyful expectation because God is doing a work. He will come through. He will fulfill ALL of His promises. So, can we watch Him? Can we watch Him do it? Can our tears turn to cheers as we watch Him make it all ok?

We know the end.