Read: 2 Corinthians 4:8-18 

Heaven’s delights will far outweigh earth’s difficulties.  

天上的喜乐远超过世上的艰困。

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33 

在世上你们有苦难，但你们可以放心，我已经胜了世界。-约翰福音16章33节

I like to watch birds at play, so years ago I built a small sanctuary in our backyard to attract them. For several months I enjoyed the sight of my feathered friends feeding and flitting about—until a Cooper’s Hawk made my bird refuge his private hunting reserve.

我喜欢观赏群鸟嬉戏，所以几年前，我在后院里建了一个小小的鸟类保护区，吸引它们前来。接着好几个月，我可以欣赏鸟儿归来觅食，翩翩起舞的情景。可惜，后来一只库柏鹰将此处当作它的狩猎场，群鸟嬉戏的画面就不复存在了。

Such is life: Just about the time we settle down to take our ease, something or someone comes along to unsettle our nests.Why, we ask, must so much of life be a vale of tears? loving, in control, and eternal. We trust You and love You. ?

这岂不就是人生的写照？当我们刚安顿好，准备轻松享福时，却出现某些事或某些人，搅乱了我们的安乐窝。我们会问：为什么？为何人生常逢流泪谷？

I’ve heard many answers to that old question,but lately I’m satisfied with just one: “All the discipline of the world is to make [us] children, that God may be revealed to [us]” (George MacDonald, Life Essential). When we become like children, we begin trusting, resting solely in the love of our Father in heaven, seeking to know Him and to be like Him.

对于这个老问题，我听过许多解释，但最近听到了一个让我信服的答案：「世上所有的苦难和磨练，是要让我们变得像小孩一般，然后上帝就会向我们显明祂自己。」因我们像小孩时，才会单纯地信靠天父的慈爱、寻求认识祂，并且渴望更像祂。

Cares and sorrow may follow us all the days of our lives, but “we do not lose heart. . . . For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

我们或许一辈子都摆脱不了忧愁与悲伤，但是「我们不丧胆……我们这至暂至轻的苦楚，要为我们成就极重无比、永远的荣耀。原来我们不是顾念所见的，乃是顾念所不见的；因为所见的是暂时的，所不见的是永远的」（哥林多后书4章16-18节）。

Can we not rejoice, then, with such an end inview?

当我们看见未来的美景，岂能不欢欣快乐？

Prayer 祷告：

Lord,we do rejoice even in our struggles because we are rejoicing in who You are and Your good purposes for us. You are powerful, loving, in control, and eternal.We trust You and love You.

主啊！即使身处逆境，我们仍能靠主喜乐，因为祢已为我们设定美好的计划。祢满有能力、充满慈爱、掌管万有、亘古常存。我们信靠祢，我们爱祢。

整理：于姊妹