MOTHER OF JABEZ
by Joyce Carr Stedelbauer
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MOTHER OF JABEZ
Did you plan to name your baby, still unborn,
Joy or Courage or Strength?
Yet after exhausting hours on the birthing stool
and still no joy
and caught in the black claws of the night
when courage was lost
and the final bloody ripping of your womb
and all strength consumed
like being ravaged by a hungry lion.
you named the baby boy, Jabez, meaning pain.
the son of your pain.
In the long columns of genealogy
like the growing years, we see
Jabez the man, matured, honorable,
seeking God for blessing, protection and release.
God favored his request.
Your son’s prayer has become the cry
of my friend, from his personal pain,
and God is granting
Strength for the battle,
Courage to meet the challenge and
Joy for the journey.
Reference: II Chronicles 4
Used with permission by Joyce Carr Stedelbauer from her book “Have You Met Eve?”
TATE PUBLISHING, LLC
127 East Trade Center Terrace
Mustang, Oklahoma 73064
TODAY's Thought: Daily Devotional 
