I've been reading through Zechariah and Revelations recently.
This verse in Zechariah 9:12 really jumped out at me when I dove tail it into all the verses in the new testament that admonish us to keep on pressing on, to run the race, to endure hardship....
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.
Each of us are prisoners of hope. As I trust my Heavenly Dad, resting in His leading and watchcare, even when the path makes no sense; I know I am His; He holds me. He never leaves me, and He knows my name.
I love reading about other women who've suffered so much; Corrie Ten Boom, Gracia Burnham, Lilias Trotter.....
truly, our trials here on earth really are just "light and momentary" compared to the joy of seeing my Saviour face to face!
And as Corrie says, "no pit is so deep that God is not deeper still"
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the
things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things
that are unseen are eternal.