Purpose From Pain
What an appropriate title for this wonderful book: Expect God! One cannot help but be inspired to believe while reading Rachel Shafer’s moving story. Life has thrown numerous knockout punches her way but she has withstood them all, stayed in the ring, and overcome. Throughout the pages, I was continually reminded of God’s great grace, and of the absolute truth that He always has a plan hidden somewhere in the pain. God doesn’t cause our pain, of course—Rachel makes this clear—but He is certainly there in the midst of it, working His all-wise plan that He promises will make it work for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).
Rachel’s story reminded me of a wonderful truth seen in the life of Moses. Nowhere is God’s ability to reverse life’s setbacks seen more vividly than in the life of this great leader—forty years of shame, banishment, and loss of destiny transformed into unparalleled leadership skills and nation-leading! During Moses’ banishment, however, he found himself tending sheep on a mountain named Horeb. The cruel irony of this can be seen in the fact that Horeb means “desolation; destruction; a waste place or ruins; a desert.” Moses’ place of employment for much of his 40-year exile from Egypt pictured his life! Perfect, he must have thought, my life is in ruins; I may as well live there!
Moses tended his father-in-law’s sheep on this mountain for four decades. His ornate scepter of Egypt was replaced by a humble shepherd’s staff, shaped on the “mountain of desolation.”Little did Moses know, however, that this humble staff would eventually be referred to as “the staff of God” (Exodus 4:20), and be used to work miracles, bring water from a rock, part the Red Sea, and deliver a nation. Amazing. The weapon and tool Moses would use to accomplish God’s purpose for his life was fashioned in the place of his pain.
God wants to make our Horebs serve us!
You will see this powerful truth clearly demonstrated in Rachel’s story. Through their four beautiful children, she and her husband, Mark now witness the fruit of God’s supernatural transformation of their “Horeb” every day. Not only will you be blessed as you read of this, but faith that God can transform your situation will be ignited.