Many of you are probably familiar with the classic poem "The Hound of Heaven" by a man named Francis Thompson. His lifetime bridged the turning of the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, and he wrote this beautiful and stirring verse out of a desperate life experience. Mr. Thompson suffered an illness or injury at some point in his life, which lead to a terrible addiction to opiates, and the resultant life of agony and destitution on the streets. But finally he realized that God never once gave up on him. If you have never read the poem, I encourage you to do so. Innumerable people have had their lives enriched by Thompson's words, and many who have never actually read the entire poem have heard this term--Hound of Heaven—used to describe our incredibly faithful Father, Who pursues each of us with a relentlessness we struggle to comprehend. 

I think of this name for God so often, and let me show you why...

This is Maggie, also known as Maggie-Waggie, Pipa, Maggles, and many other affectionate nicknames. She is a nine year-old girl who had a rough start to life, and has struggled to feel safe and loved ever since. We adopted her when she was about eighteen months old, and her origin story involved a lot of time in a crate with little contact or socialization of any kind. She is so sweet, and she loves people more than anything in the world. The only problem is that she is a little bit beserk, and has zero social awareness. And in her puppy years, she developed the habit of licking the air compulsively, all day long. She is much better now, but still slips into this habit when she is nervous, or, let's be honest, when she wakes up every single day until she remembers that she's okay now. When it is just us at home, she is pretty well-behaved and obedient, but when someone new walks in, all bets are off. Her joyful exuberance can hardly be contained. 

All of this might make you wonder how on earth this little dysfunctional pup can remind me of the great Hound of Heaven so often, but that she does. Allow me to explain. 

Maggie is a breed that has some bulldog in there somewhere, and though she is small, she has a mighty dose of stubbornly knowing What Ought to Happen. Life is very simple to her: on a perfect day, we will all get up, do our business, eat a little breakfast, go for a nice prayer walk and greet all the passersby, have a rousing bark to greet the other dog across the lake (which, to my daily delight, is actually her own echo!), come in and sit together while we get some things done, have a little snack just because, take a nice nap, check on all of the birds in the trees and smells in the yard, eat a little dinner, snuggle in to read something on the couch, and then go to bed, so we can get up and repeat the perfect day again tomorrow. This is deeply ingrained into her mind, and unchangeably programmed into her spirit. 

The only problem with this, of course, is that her idea of What Ought to Happen, almost never happens. But this pesky fact does not deter our girl. She is faithfully on hand to remind us of What Ought to Happen at all times. She loves exercise and sits by my walking shoes every morning with that look in her eyes. Every person we pass on our walk is the most wonderful person she's ever met, deserving of our attention. She is very concerned with proper nutrition, and has a stomach clock that goes off to the minute when her mealtime comes. She has great appreciation for everything happening around her—no bird flies by or squirrel hops past unnoticed. She lives to be an integral part of our little pack, and loves our pack leader with all of her heart. She stands upright to put her paws on my leg when I have sat at my desk and ignored her for too long (as in the picture above). She makes a nightly beeline for the couch, always so joyfully hopeful that we can all sit together. She is always on hand to remind us that life is simpler and more lovely than we often make it. 

Isn't this just how the Lord continuously recaptures our attention? Francis Thompson was right: the Hound of Heaven is relentlessly faithful, determined to lavish His greatest gifts and blessings upon each of us, no matter how stubbornly we try to refuse. 

God is everywhere, and His messengers are innumerable. Our little ambassador of the Hound of Heaven happens to be canine, but God's reminders come in all forms. He gets our attention through nature—pets and wild creatures, the weather, the view. Sometimes it is through art—a beautiful painting, or a haunting melody, or a captivating poem. So often, it is through people—our children and families, the neighbors, a coworker, a sales associate at the grocery store, the troubled person on the corner. It is impossible to escape His desire to help us become everything He created us to be, and to be mindful of what is real and true

I can think of so many times I've been driving down the road, worrying about who-knows-what, when my eye is caught by the rays of a magnificent sunset lighting up the sky—reminding me that the One Who faithfully paints the amazingly varied, daily masterpiece in the sky is absolutely able to help me with my problems.  I recall so often walking on through life, my mind crowded with concerns, when the vivid shading of some fantastic flora catches my eye—the intricacies of each petal reminding me that life is filled with beauty and hope amidst the trouble. The delighted wonder and laughter of a grandchild, the tenderness and love I hear in my husband's voice, the taste of dark chocolate, the smell of fresh-brewed coffee...the list of daily reminders of our loving Father and His endless goodness is long and varied. The Hound of Heaven relentlessly pursues each of us with so much more than we often allow into our lives. Let's slow down, and let Him catch us a little more often. 

The prophet Jeremiah reminded us that God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." The Lord is faithful and true, and He is for you! This is also true of your neighbor; even the one who thinks differently than you do, which is so important to remember at this time of year. Be encouraged today, and I pray that your senses will be open to perceive the many ways the Hound of Heaven is on your trail.

​Now, please excuse me while I take this girl for our walk!

​As I write this post, it is my birthday in Christ, and this marks 34 years that I have been a follower of Jesus! I am so thankful to God for His faithful pursuit and for His relentless reminders of what life is truly about. Thank you Mom and Dad, for showing me such a beautiful faith and commitment to God, and for giving me such an incredible foundation and support. Thank you Melanie, for being willing to share the Good News with me when I was finally ready to truly hear it. And thank you to so many of you reading this, who have been such a beautiful part of my own journey of faith in Christ! 

This morning, I am sitting outside with a nice cup of coffee, enjoying the cooler air and softer light of a late September morning. The birds are singing happily, and a soft breeze stirs the leaves. The day is perfectly mild, and full of promise. 

Those words were actually difficult to write, knowing full well that so many people in the southeast are surely having a dreadful morning, even if their weather is now pleasant and mild, as they face the aftermath of a devastating hurricane. It is so heartbreaking to see the photos of the damage the storm left in its wake—entire towns flooded with rivers of water and mud and debris, roads washed away leaving towns cut off, homes and livelihoods absolutely obliterated.

A storm like this is shocking and life-changing for the people directly involved. Life as it was known has stopped, a lot like a death, and many decisions must be made on how to proceed, not just for one day, but for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, those of us on the outside, watching, feel an odd mixture of sadness, helplessness, guilt, and even a sort of relief that it wasn't our town that was impacted this time. We aren't sure what to do or how we can possibly help.

I had already written part of my next planned post, interestingly enough on the subject of storms. I've gone back and forth for a couple of days as to whether or not I wanted to tackle the subject, out of respect for those who are literally knee-deep in mud and destruction this morning. But the Lord gave me an entirely new direction to pursue, and I'd love to go ahead with it, trusting that it will be a help and encouragement to all of us.

​First, here is what I had planned to go with...

Earlier this spring, our part of Texas very nearly washed away. In a five month span, we had more than seventy inches of rain, and 30 of those inches fell in less than a week. It was wet, and it was soupy! The last two summers were quite dry and hot, meaning that the trees were stressed in that direction and therefore weakened. All of those dead or severely weakened trees couldn’t handle our seventy inches, and were primed to fall when a hurricane blew through mid-summer. This has been a year of storms for our area, and so many people have had to deal with some major issues as a result.

Many homes were flooded, certainly by rising lakes and rivers, but also just by so much groundwater that had nowhere to go. The ground was completely saturated, and more rain falling just flowed into whatever stood in its path. Homes that had never taken on any water at all were flooded, some two or three times throughout the course of the spring. Any window or ceiling or roofline that had a little leak that had need repairing or resealing, leaked. Any gutters or rain spouts that had needed cleaning overflowed. Creeks and ditches that had needed clearing out from accumulated silt and debris, overflowed their banks. Trees that had needed trimming or removing fell and did a lot of damage. Truly, matters were made worse for many people by the little maintenance matters they ignored for too long. No matter if it is a modest home or a mansion, the storms affected each one. Things might have looked pretty terrific on the surface when the skies were sunny, but the storms found out every single weak point and flooded them. 

This is so similar to what happens in our lives when the storms of life come. It may be beautiful and sunny and dry for years on end, but one day, real storms will blow through each of our lives. It might be a natural disaster, a terrible accident, the death of a loved one, or a frightening diagnosis. It might be a difficult conflict, getting fired, being publicly humiliated, or financial hardship. The storms of life take all kinds of different forms, but they all have a similar effect—they reveal what is really there. Going through a storm is when we get to find out what we are really made of, how strong we truly are, and what kind of character truly exists beneath the surface.

When they finally do come, what will the storms reveal? Unfortunately, just as many homes had their weak places revealed in the rains, our weaknesses are often reveled when we encounter a difficult season...

​-Fear
-Lack of trust in God
-A misplaced faith in our own strength or possessions
-Anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness in our hearts

These are just a few weaknesses that can be revealed by a life storm. But there is hope and good news: once we realize those weaknesses are there, we can overcome them with God's help. In His kindness, the Lord is so careful to take the evil things that happen in this world and turn them for good. This is what He does! He knows that we will live forever, and those things that lurk in our hearts will, too, unless we have the courage to face them and surrender them. We might never know the extent and danger of our weaknesses without a storm to reveal them. 

That is what I was planning to dig into. All of it is so true, and those of us who have endured any sort of life storm in the recent past can take stock of what the storm revealed, and make a concerted effort to shore things up in our hearts, minds, and relationships. We can commit to trusting God. We can ask for and offer forgiveness to one another. We can get rid of debris that clogs up our lives. We can gratefully accept the help and care offered by the people who love us.

But what about today—what about the people standing in mud and ruin today?  These folks do not have the time or emotional space to reflect on spiritual lessons from the storm they are facing right now. They need to figure out basic things like what they are going to eat and where they are going to sleep. 

That's where the rest of us come in. Storms offer an incredible opportunity to open our eyes to the need around us, and to do something for someone else.

We are all pretty good at caring about ourselves and our own stuff, and even caring for the people we love, but we're much too good at building barriers in our hearts towards everyone else. It has become too easy to be against other people, both online and in person. It has become too convenient to drive into our garages and shut the doors behind, without ever knowing our neighbors. Life is becoming both too material and too virtual, and so often does not touch on the relational—which is all that matters in the end. In God's Kingdom, people are what matters most. Not just the idea of people, in general, but actual individuals that He created in His own image, with names and with dreams and gifts and talents He gave to them. Even the ones who think really differently than I do; even the ones on the other team. 

So when way too much rain falls too fast, and rivers rise out of their banks, and when trees fall on houses, and entire towns are flooded with mud and debris, and people and pets are stranded and cut off and in danger of all kinds of life-threatening things...well, suddenly things get very real. In those moments, no one cares about all of the silly things we prattle on about and get angry with one another about, day after day. At those times, no one cares about all of the things that divide us. In the storm, we can see clearly that we're all in this together and that we need one another. 

Even in this, God turns the frightening results of a natural disaster into something lovely. People of all kinds and with many differing viewpoints often come together to help one another. It is amazing to see neighbor helping neighbor, risking their own lives to help someone else. It is beautiful to see relief crews come in from surrounding areas to help with rescue and clean up—I read this morning about a team of folks on mules crossing over the mountains to bring water and aid to a devastated area. It is so encouraging to see others give generously of their time, money, and possessions to help others who just lost everything. 

Storms are terrible, no doubt, but they allow an opportunity for us to share the selfless love of God with our neighbors near and far. They remind us that there is so much more to life than we often care to notice, and that we all have so much in common than we have differences. They remind us to be full of compassion, concern, and help for one another. 

This week, we can all do something to help those who have just endured an awful storm. We can give our money through a trusted relief agency. If we are near enough, we can give our time in the cleaning and rebuilding efforts. We can call or send messages of encouragement to those we know who have been impacted, and ask them how we could help or what we could send. And most of all, we can pray for them, not just once, but often. Please especially pray for the people of Buncombe County, North Carolina, where it has been reported that over 1000 people are still missing. 

Father, please be with the people who are suffering through the impact of this terrible storm. Comfort those who are mourning, heal those who are broken, and restore generously to those who have lost so much. Help us all work together to help our neighbors, and please keep our hearts tender towards those who are hurting, both from this hurricane and from every other kind of life storm, even as our own lives move on quickly. Amen. 
​

​If you do not already have a preferred relief agency, here is a link to the one I trust most. God bless you! 

Happy end-of-summer to you! School has begun, the days are getting a little bit shorter, and the fall decorations are out in stores, meaning that the most wonderful time of the year is finally coming. I hope that you had a wonderful summertime with your family and friends, and were able to make lots of great memories. 

​Did you get catch any of the Olympics this summer? This year there was MUCH to comment upon throughout the games. But I mean did you get to watch the athletes compete? Those people have been working tirelessly since they were small children, and it is a sight to behold - so many of them are incredible at their sport.

There’s one particular swimming event that you may not have taken the time to watch - the 1500 meter freestyle. It is one of the longest and in some ways least-thrilling races to watch, at least compared to a sprint or a relay, and is affectionately known in swimming circles as “the mile“.  Even if you didn’t watch it, you might have heard of a woman who truly is the G.O.A.T. in this race, Katie Ledecky - she is amazing! Most races at that level are won by hundredths of a second, but the next- best people in the world can’t even come close to her. Watching her reminds me of that wonderful movie Chariots of Fire and the line given to Eric Liddell,  "I believe God made me for a purpose - but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." 

Let me give you a little bit of perspective about this race, as I was intimately acquainted with it in my younger years. I am not sure that there is any young swimmer anywhere on the face of the earth in any generation that dreams of being a miler. To be good at it means that you don't have the fast-twitch muscles for the sprint races that are so exhilarating, and over-with so quickly. I distinctly remember when I realized that was all the college coaches were really looking at me for, and let’s just say it was a season of tears! It is a very long race, and everyone who attempts it has to be sure their head is firmly in the game before they dare to put their body into it. It is long, it is tedious, it is painful, some would even say it is boring, but it is so good.

I never realized just how often that race was going to help me in life after competitive swimming. But the race of life for most of us is long and often difficult, sometimes tedious, and sometimes quite painful. It turns out we are all going to face the mile, in one way or another. So let me share with you a few of the things I learned from my swimming race that have been such a help to me. 


1. Lots of practice gets you ready for the race 
I have a somewhat regularly recurring dream. I, in all of my middle-aged glory, show up at college swim practice, where my coach Jim gives me the rundown of what practice will entail. It is funny to me how my dreaming brain can still vividly remember some of the most grueling sets that used to be an every day part of life for me and my fellow distance lane friends. But in my dream, I am fully aware that I am now in my 50s, and have had children, and my hips…! Not to mention that I just have not been working out like that, and not in a long time! In my dream, I am caught out, and am shown to be unprepared for the practice, let alone for the race.

But, if the mile taught me anything, it taught me that lots of practice does get you ready for the race. The first time I swam the mile in early high school, I thought I was going to die before the end, and was actually surprised when I survived. When I was older, I moved into the distance lane, where we trained all year for those long distance races. Even though the race itself never got any shorter, my preparation helped me be well-prepared to meet it. This is true in life: when we keep ourselves healthy and ready - spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, socially - we are better suited to meet the difficulties of life with grace and margin. 


2. You can do hard things 
Swimming the mile taught me that I can get up on a starting block, take a deep breath, and eagerly dive in when the gun goes off to give my all in a race that I know is going to make me throw up. And do you know what else? I know that I can finish it, and go on to get up on the block that evening and do it again.

Difficult things happen. Hard things are sure to come. But God made us strong, and the scripture clearly tells us that He absolutely never gives us more than we can bear. Sure, some things are harder than you can even imagine - much harder than a long swimming race. But you can do hard things. You can go through the ugliest, unprovoked, undeserved, unimaginable things. In fact, going through difficult things make us able to minister to others in a way that we never have before. God is so brilliant, and uses all of the difficult things we encounter in life in this broken world to refine us like pure gold, and to make us into the men and women He created us to be.

​3. Other people are also in this race 
Swimming is so nice because everyone gets their own lane, with thick dividing ropes in between to keep things orderly. Most of the time I am actually racing myself and my own best times even more than I am racing others. In fact, until the relays roll around, many swimmers often forget that it is actually a team sport. At any given swim meet, I might be fighting that mile with all I've got, but there are 7 other women in the pool doing the same thing. And there were a few other heats of racers. And the men's events are soon following. I am not the only one struggling through this tough race. 

This is true in life, as well. We get so busy racing in our own lane that we too-often forget to look around and see that others are toiling, too. Others are struggling, just trying to make it, and maybe going through something hellish right beside us. When I've been through hard things, I can encourage others through their tough time. When I'm going through tough things, I can remember to have grace with others around me, knowing I'm surely not the only one. Lots of grace and forgiveness can be one of the most beautiful parts of family and community, if we will let it be. 

4. You need some help to get through 
Milers often joke that you have to pay your own coach and your own mom to stay and watch you race. The swim meet planners know how long and boring that particular event is for spectators, so they always put the preliminaries right at lunchtime. This means that anyone swimming the mile really does have to ask someone to please eat quickly so they can count for you. Yes, someone has to be your helper and run a counter for you so you don't forget what lap you're on! In a 5o meter pool, the mile is 30 times back and forth, in a 25 yard pool, it is 66 times back and forth. Without help, the swimmer is likely to lose his or her place! 

I am grateful to have learned early that we just can't do life alone - we need one another. We can watch out for our family, friends, and neighbors, and lend (or receive!) a helping hand when it's needed. Jesus reminded us that any time we do something for others, especially for "the lease of these", it is just like we're doing it for Him. Life is healthiest when we don't all wait around for someone else to help. 

5. The middle of the race is actually where the race is lost or won
​My college coach taught me this profound way of approaching the grueling mile. Before I swam for him, my method was just to try make it to the end. That is not a very helpful method at all. This great coach helped me understand that the race can be approached by dividing it into thirds - beginning, middle, and end. This made it seem much more approachable, as I could do three 500s all day long! Further, he helped me understand that anyone can start well, and many can rally and really try as the end gets very near; but very few can be focused enough also to make the middle 500 count. 

I have found this principle to transfer in so many areas - faith, relationships, health, exercise, work, learning, ministry, projects, and on and on. Too often we lose heart or lose focus, and don't realize it until it is too late. The end seems just too far away, and we quit trying. We might still finish the race, but we left behind the opportunity for real excellence all the way through. I think this is what the writer of Hebrews was encouraging in chapter 12, "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."


Be encouraged today!  The Lord of heaven and earth loves you and is cheering you on, and has sent His Holy Spirit to help you. May His presence and nearness be so real to you today in all you do. 

This weekend marks a very special occasion in Jesus' beautiful Church. It's time to celebrate for all of us around the world who follow Jesus, whether it be those who worship in a mighty, ancient cathedral, those who worship simple clapboard building, those who gather in an old storefront, or those who worship together in a living room. We all love Jesus, and together comprise His glorious body - and it's our birthday! This weekend is Pentecost Sunday, commemorating the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon a gathering of Jesus' believers, and we can read about this very special occasion in the book of Acts. 

But Acts chapter 1 is by no means the first time we hear anything about the Holy Spirit. He is everywhere, all throughout the scripture, both Old and New Testaments. But so many of us, even as followers of Christ, know so little about this third person of the Godhead. One of our friends was known to preach a sermon entitled "The Father, the Son, and What's His Name" because there is too little understanding of the Holy Spirit among Christ-followers. He is not generally on our radar, but should be. 

Once we clue into this, it is amazing to notice how much is said about the Spirit in the Bible. Jesus talked about Him all the time! Look what He said to His disciples the night of their last supper together before His arrest and crucifixion...
​

Hours after Jesus said this, He was arrested. His disciples must have been so worried and afraid as the events of Easter weekend began to unfold, but try to imagine how full of joy and amazement they were after the resurrection. As time progressed, they began to remember more and more of what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. 

After His resurrection, Jesus instructed all his followers to wait in Jerusalem for something incredibly special to happen - something He called a gift from the Father! I don't know about you, but I love gifts, and think that a gift from God Himself is incredibly special...
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Even in those days after the resurrection, Jesus' disciples weren't exactly clear on what was going on. They kept trying to make what Jesus was doing into the setup of some kind of great earthly kingdom, but God had (and has!) so much more in mind than that. So even though they weren't sure what it was about, 120 of them did wait for the promised gift, and I encourage you to read the rest of Acts 1 and 2 to find out what happened on that Pentecost - a tremendous birthday that launched a movement of people who turned the broken world right-side up with the love and hope of Christ. 

If you haven't before thought the world was needing some help, the news lately gives us all a clue. People are desperately hurting and hopeless, and that is precisely why Jesus came - to bring hope, healing, and salvation for anyone who calls on His name. He came and conquered sin and death, and then went back to Heaven so the Spirit could come to continue the work Jesus began. (That's why the book of Acts, written by Luke, begins, "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.") Jesus is still working, doing, and teaching, only now by His Spirit through His followers! 

​We can begin to see why the Holy Spirit is so important when we look at His impact in Jesus' own life. When Jesus was here, He was fully God but also fully man. Look at what the Apostle Peter had to say about what he witnessed after Jesus' baptism...

Even Jesus needed the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in His life to impact others. Once the Holy Spirit anointed Him, His ministry began. And the same is true for you and for me. We can know in our minds all there is to know about God and about Jesus yet remain unchanged and unhelpful to the world around us. We need the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in order for Jesus' help and healing to flow in and through our lives. 

Look at just some of the wonderful work the Holy Spirit does in our hearts...
​

-Convicting – to place the truth of the gospel in a clear light before the unsaved so that it is acknowledged as truth, whether or not Christ is received as Savior - John 16:8-11


-Regenerating – The act of begetting by God, which imparts eternal life; He makes us new!  – Titus 3:5


-Indwelling – All true believers are indwelt…a. sinning Christians 1 Cor. 6:19, b. the Spirit is a gift Romans 5:5 and c. The absence of the Spirit is proof of being unsaved Romans 8:9


-Sealing – The HS is the Father’s seal, like a signet ring – the certainty of being God’s and preserved until the day of redemption (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13, 4:30). 


-Baptizing – making us witnesses, a promise available to all believers Joel 2, Acts 1:8
​

There is so much more! The Spirit is our advocate, our comforter, our inspirer, and the One who continually, faithfully points us back to Jesus. As we celebrate the coming of the Spirit this Pentecost, I am so mindful of the fact that it was the Holy Spirit who hovered over chaos in the beginning of all things, and brought such beautiful order into creation. He is still able to bring lovely order out of even the worst chaos in our lives.

May the Spirit of the living God fall afresh in your life and home this Pentecost! May you be filled with God's hope and love, and spill out of your own upper room to bring  the Good News of Jesus to everyone around. 

​PS - I used my Ryrie Study Bible to make that list of works of the Spirit and the accompanying scripture references. If you don't have a good study Bible, I encourage you to get one and begin using it - I think you might find it so helpful. 

​Recently, I had the great joy of watching our three oldest grandchildren for almost the entire day while their parents and baby sister were out of town. We had lots of fun, and I’m not sure who was more worn out at the end of the day, me or them, since we played and read and sang and danced and colored all day with little break. All of you reading this who are more experienced in this grandparent stage of life were right - it is wonderful! And to those of you coming behind, I can say that watching your grandchildren learn and grow is one of the most wondrous gifts in all of life. 

Late in the evening when the other three returned home, I enjoyed watching our newest granddaughter, who is just a few months old, curling up in her mom’s arms, trying to scrunch up into her little pre-born ball shape again. She snuggled in tight, her nose pressed against her mama’s shoulder, and tucked herself in. After a day out and about in the bright sunshine and noisy crowds, she was more than ready to turn in for the night. Everything about the way she was moving let us know she was longing for her old hangout again - that safe, quiet womb, where for a lovely season she had everything she needed and nothing that she didn’t. 

It was sweet to watch, but it set me thinking. Very few people in the world really love moving on to the next, new thing. Most of us like it right here, right now, with this just like I like it and that right where it ought to be. Letting go of something old and familiar is so difficult. 

Many years ago, our younger daughter was downright dismayed when, on her third birthday, her dad and I presented her and her sister with a brand new, handmade bunk bed. She’d been watching the construction for a couple of days, excitedly chatting with her dad and the friend who was helping him, enjoying watching the custom bunk bed complete with a ladder and a slide, take shape. But all the while she had no idea that this fabulous new bed meant that we were getting rid of her beloved crib! She mourned the loss of her crib for weeks. 

Though it was decades ago now, I still remember the last day of tenth grade, finishing up my final exam, and dreading the walk out of the building. I had planned to meet my best friend in the high school’s foyer, to say our final goodbye. My parents and our dog were in the parking lot waiting for me, the car loaded to the top, ready to begin the cross-country trip to our new home. I cried as I hugged my closest friend one last time, unable to imagine how turtleneck-wearing, New England me was going to fare amongst the California natives; unable to fathom how I would ever have friends, or a swim team, or a youth group as wonderful as the ones there and then. It felt like the end of the line, with the road ahead so foggy and dark - not navigable at all. 

There are so many junctures like this in life: from the expected and welcome things like a graduation, moving away to college or leaving home for the military, starting a new job, or getting married and starting a family; to the unexpected things like suddenly losing someone you love, a divorce, a miscarriage, losing a job, or receiving a terrible diagnosis. 

All of us know people who can’t quite move past the change, and it is often sad to see. From the middle-aged person who cries despondently over the glory days of high school, to the divorcé who can’t seem to move past the loss, to the person who still spews bitterness at a past lost job or opportunity, it is actually difficult to watch someone get stuck. But it isn’t at all hard to imagine ending up there. Change and loss can be quite painful and even traumatic for all of us. Each new crossroad in life is certainly a stretch, and often a grueling exercise in learning to not just survive the change, but to find a way to thrive in it. 

 ​Henri Nouwen, in his excellent book Turn My Mourning into Dancing, offers great insight: 

These changes, expected and unexpected, “usher into our lives ‘small deaths.’ They remind us that fear and love are born at the same time. Both are never entirely separated in our existence. But as we come into contact with these little deaths, we meet life. They allow us to learn to let go. They prepare us to discover a life different from what we have known before.”

I have found this to be true, haven’t you? My daughter long ago stopped wishing for her crib, or even that great bunk bed, and now she and her husband have a wonderful king-sized bed in their home. Though I still treasure my childhood friends and memories, I’ve learned to thank God for that painful cross-country move, which eventually put me in the right place at the right time to meet both my Savior and my husband in college. Experiences like this help us to know that change, even if terribly painful at the time, can lead to something more than could have been imagined, be it a relationship, or experience, or purpose, or insight. These life changes all serve to further God’s work in our hearts and lives, shaping us to be the men and women He created us to be. They teach us and refine us, help us to trust God and to follow Him, and ultimately can serve to conform us into the image of Jesus. 

A friend of ours is trudging through another round of chemotherapy this week. He is handling the pain and weariness so admirably, and encourages us with his heart of gratitude to God for a long, full life. We pray for his healing, and for many more years of life! Still, he is coming nearer to the door that we all wonder about, the greatest and most unknown change of all. Letting go of this life is both a certainty and a mystery for each of us. And, whether we are conscious of it or not, most of us spend a lot of time and energy in avoiding this door, even fearing it. 

In our youth-obsessed culture, in which too many are trying to hold back aging and seeking to perpetually defy death in so many ways, it is wise for every follower of Christ to remember what our faith has to say about this last, great change of death. God calls us to a relationship with Him that will last forever; the here-and-now is not all there is to life at all! The Apostle Paul reminded us that to live is Christ and to die is gain, as departing and actually being with Christ is by far better than anything any of us have yet known. The psalmist declared, "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God...better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." Jesus told Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."
​

So many voices from the great Cloud of Witnesses challenge us in learning to let go, and in taking courage as we move towards the ultimate change...
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From Elisabeth Elliot - 

“There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul. It is easy to make a mistake here, “If God gave it to me,” we say, “its mine. I can do what I want with it.” No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of – if we want to find our true selves, if we want real life, if our hearts are set on glory.” 

To Dietrich Bonhoeffer -

"No one has yet believed in God and in the kingdom of God...no one has yet heard about the realm of the resurrected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existence...Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death."


To ​Nouwen again - 

“Because of such convictions we can can face dying with more than dread or avoidance. We can learn to live well all the more because we do not insist on ignoring what we cannot predict. Learning how to die has something to do with living each day in full awareness that we are children of God, whose love is stronger than death. And as we learn to do so, we find ourselves, in small ways at first, beginning not to cling to what we have, not in panic trying to reserve the safe place we can clamp on to in the here and now. We admit we don’t know what the next day will hold, what our loved ones will say or do next, what God may be about in the year ahead. But this does not dispirit us because we also remind ourselves that we never will find out if we do not open our choices to the risk.”



What changes are you facing in life? What cherished and precious people or things or seasons are you leaving behind? Be encouraged today - God won't leave or forsake you, and He will bring depth and wisdom to your life through this season of letting go, as you trust Him. Fix your eyes afresh on the author and perfecter of your faith, and let Him do a deep work in your heart and life.

​May the Lord bless and keep you, and make His face shine upon you, and may He give you great courage this week to face every change that life brings your way. 

I have a fond memory of a conversation I had one morning years ago with two friends, one of whom was born and raised in India, and the other of whom was born and raised in Great Britain. We somehow got to discussing the seemingly innocuous, yet often painful question, "So, where are you from?" I understand why this can be so disconcerting for people who live, let’s say, elsewhere. I was born at a hospital near a Navy base, during one of many stops my parents made throughout their tenure in the military. I was born there, we lived there for a while, I even still have a few good friends from there, but am I from there? Alas, no.

That morning, the three of us discussed how strange it feels not to be from where you live. Everyone who lives where they are really from feels so confident, so comfortable, and so much a part of the fabric of that place and those people. When you are not really from there, you cannot help but feel the opposite of all of those things - not a part of the people, not a part of the fabric of the place. Your accent gives you away, your weird idioms give you away, even the way you dress can give you away. For example, there are entirely different words and names for things in different places; people in California and Texas do not call sub sandwiches grinders like they do in Connecticut - ask me how I know! It can be so strange to live in a place you aren’t really from.

I think the apostle Paul deeply understood this concept. This man, Saul as he was formerly known, had quite a pedigree: as he put it, "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless." On top of all of that, he was born and raised in Tarsus, which gave him highly coveted Roman citizenship. He was well-educated, and was a rising leader among his generation - he even had the honor to hold everyone's coats while the elders stoned that heretic Stephen to death for his ridiculous blasphemy. Saul was a man very comfortable in the time and place his birth and heritage afforded to him, and very sure of his place in the world.

​But one day as he was hot on the heels of some of those vile Christ-followers that he was committed to eradicate, Jesus came and knocked Saul to the ground, both literally and spiritually. With one perfect question (see Acts 9), Jesus revolutionized Saul's entire life, and immediately Saul realized that he wasn’t from around here at all. He had become Paul, the Lord's sent one to the gentiles, and spent the rest of his life explaining how this world and all of its rules and regulations and systems and structures are so other than the place we all really belong.


Sometimes people try to say that the Kingdom of God is upside down from this world, but I’m pretty sure it is the other way around. The world, as beautiful as it was created to be, has been corrupted by sin, which has wormed its way into everything -  every human heart, and every atom of this beautiful creation, which means it is full of corrupted relationships, systems, structures, institutions, and nations. 


The entire point of our faith is grateful recognition and acceptance that Jesus came to demolish sin and its curse, and to usher in His own perfect kingdom. We read all throughout scripture that the Lord had so much to say about what this new, beautiful, incorruptible, lasting kingdom is like. In His kingdom, to be last means to be first, to live means to die, and to love means to lay your life down for someone else. In Jesus' kingdom, the people reflect Him, and are full of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The people of his kingdom are meek and merciful and makers of peace.


In the upside-down world that we all live in right now, the locals are altogether different from those of Jesus' kingdom. They live only for today, and what they can get out of it. They do not believe in Jesus or His Kingdom, and instead believe that this is is all there is, so it makes perfect sense to take what you can get no matter what it might cost yourself or anyone else. You might as well eat more, and drink more, dull your pain more, get more pleasure, and grasp what you can, because when you die, that’s it. This world tells you that you had better look out for number one because nobody else will. They do not reflect Jesus, and instead become gradually more full of restlessness and fits of rage, anger and despair, and have no self-control at all. They are proud and boastful, stirring up strife and dissension wherever they go, and have no mercy; rather, they are ruthless. The Bible is clear that people who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5, 1 Cor 6)


People of Jesus' Kingdom know that this is not our home, and that here-and-now is not all there is to life. The longer we walk with Jesus, the more we stick out like a sore thumb and feel uncomfortable here; the more we realize like Paul did that we're not from around here, after all. Rather, what comes next is the most real and lasting part of life, where there will be no more death, and every tear will be wiped away. The only way to get there is through Jesus, and to be washed clean by His sacrifice. And that place is perfect, untouched by sin, which means that all of us from here must experience tremendous change between now and then, if we are to live there someday. This process is called sanctification, and the Holy Spirit works tirelessly at this in each of our lives. Even more, He invites us to participate in this work through our daily choices. 

All this means that between now and then, there is going to be a lot of culture clash in all of our hearts and lives. Just like my friends and I who had to learn to be Texan, we all have to learn to be fit citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven: we must learn to speak, act, and think like Jesus. We are going to have a lifetime of choices as to whether we are going to live for this world, or for the beautiful world to come. Once we realize that this life is a launching pad for forever, it helps make more sense of what we walk through every day… 

-Single or married, at home or at work or school, face-to-face or online, every one of our relationships involves at least two naturally sinful people, and therefore provides plenty of opportunity for learning to treat one another as we would like to be treated, to forgive as we hope to be forgiven, to choose to believe the best about one another, and to absorb offense, just as Jesus does.

-Every day we have plentiful opportunity to take what we can get, or to give generously so that other people can be blessed. 

-We have ample time to invest in what we think is the most important thing -  this place, or the one to come. It isn’t hard to see which place we count home, if we just look at our calendars and bank balances to see where the bulk of our time and money is spent.

-Every marriage is made up of one incredibly selfish husband, and one equally selfish wife. This is how so many of us can learn to squash that terrible thing within that says, "don’t tell me what to do" and "my way or the highway." Marriages thrive when we each actually stop to think how our spouse also has feelings, desires, needs and wants, and act to lay our own preferences for one another. 

-When we get a little used to this, along come children, who are born in such a helpless state that they literally can’t survive unless someone tends them. They cannot perfectly thrive unless both mother and father lay down their own ambitions and desires, and give preference to the child for a season. How often we sleep, what we eat, listen to, watch, and do is radically impacted by this tiny person, and we gladly lay our lives down for them. 

-Then, in the sunset of life, the roles are reversed, and we all have opportunity to lay our lives down for our parents when the time comes that they need us.

HE IS RISEN! A glorious and blessed Easter Sunday to you and yours, and may your celebration of the resurrection of our Lord be deeply meaningful to your spirit today. It is a beautiful day to feast and celebrate with family and loved ones, and a wonderful opportunity to pause and reflect on the most momentous event in history.

Those of us who follow Jesus and celebrate this day are making an absolutely audacious claim: we believe that in His death and resurrection, God the Son took our sin and shame upon Himself; defeated death, hell, and the grave; and made a way for us to be with God forever in eternity. Many of our friends and neighbors think we’re crazy for really believing such a thing. They humor us (at least for now) and think, “sure, it’s fine to call yourself a Christian, but don’t go overboard.” 

But, since Jesus' resurrection has truly, factually, historically happened, it cannot be ignored. It requires that every person answer this question found in Luke 9…
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Just a little over a week after Peter's magnificent revelation,  Jesus invited His closest friends to witness something marvelous - what we now call the transfiguration. Fully man and also fully God, Jesus met at the top of the mountain with the physical representation of the law and the prophets -  what an amazing gathering! The veil of time and space between here and Heaven was somehow lifted for a moment; the three old friends stood talking about Jesus' own great exodus that was coming shortly. Both Moses and Elijah and all that they represented had always pointed to the great Messiah, and now Jesus was here, preparing to cross the gap between death and life for all of us, forever breaking the curse of sin and death! 

Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus in all His glory, which much have been a tremendous sight to behold.  I can't say that I would have done anything different than Peter, who immediately started chatting and making unhelpful suggestions. When I get nervous, I get chatty, too! Peter thought, here is Moses the deliverer we've heard so much about, and Elijah the great prophet - now Jesus is here! Let's build all three important leaders a shelter and stay here forever. In other words, Peter might have understood that Jesus was Messiah, but didn't yet know exactly what that meant. 

This is where so many land today - mentally assenting, like Peter and the other disciples had, that Jesus is the Messiah; believing in Him, but needing to realize...

Jesus isn’t just a wonderful teacher and friend  we all love to be around because He makes us feel so good.

He isn’t just a great leader for His generation, another Moses or Elijah.

He isn’t just the perfect respresentation of all that humanity was created to be, someone we can aspire to emulate in action and morals.

​On this Resurrection Day, Who do you say that He is?  Let Christ the King take the sin and shame from your life, and bring peace and rest into your troubled soul. Let Him fill your heart with joy and hope through His Holy Spirit. Let Him carry your burdens, for they are not too heavy for His strong hands. This marvelous King has conquered sin and death, and has overcome this broken world! He encourages us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Spring is well on its way, at least here in southeast Texas. The first sign is our annual coating of pine pollen, which gives our world a yellow glow. But the flowers and trees are also beginning to bloom - Carolina jasmine, redbud and ornamental pear trees, and even the first bluebonnets are emerging, making good on their annual promise of new birth and new growth. What a miracle the burst of new life is after a long winter of bare branches and fruitlessness! 

I'd love to share with you something I wrote over 20 years ago, as a part of a little project I worked on about the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians chapter 5. It is always fun for me to look back and "hear" what almost-30 year old me was thinking about. I was in the thick of our young marriage, motherhood, and ministry years, and was writing from a just-post 9/11 perspective.

Looking back, that tragic event served as the cracked-open doorway for my own understanding that this world is broken. Before that event, I was like so many people who live their entire lives being surprised by one terrible thing happening after another, convinced that each one is an anomaly. The truth is that the terrible things are to be expected; rather, it is the lovely and beautiful things in life that are the real surprise, and each one should be treasured. 

So how beautiful are the characteristics of God, that He so freely shares with us through His Spirit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; all of these are the antithesis of our cruel and selfish ways. Not long ago, when the world was smaller and our culture was still influenced by a biblical worldview, it was easier to believe that all people were naturally gifted with these same lovely characteristics, but it’s not so easy to think that any more. The whole world is connected and our selfish human nature is on display for all to see like never before thanks to social media, which is like a mirror that shows what is really in the hearts of people. Life in the Spirit is truly countercultural, and the world is desperate for more of each of these lovely traits in action. Our lives can bless and encourage just like the spring blooms, when we keep in step with the Spirit. 

Today, let's go back to 2002, and revisit some thoughts about God's goodness...

Psalm 34:1-10 (NIV)
I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.  My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.  I sought the Lord, and He answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. The poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Each of the fruit of the Spirit is a representation of one of the qualities of God’s character.  Anyone who has met the Lord and has experienced salvation knows that the goodness of God is like nothing else in the world.  I will never forget the way my whole outlook was changed when Jesus became my Savior and Lord.  Not everyone actually feels despairing or suicidal outside of a relationship with Christ, but so many have at least felt the hopelessness and lack of purpose that exists outside of a relationship with Jesus, and that was my experience.
    
When Jesus comes into a heart, He rights all of the wrongs, and makes things come into order. When I gave my heart to Jesus, I felt complete for the first time.  Jesus brings satisfaction, wholeness, peace, and purpose:  He is good.  Nothing about me changed on the outside.  I still appeared to be the same person.  But on the inside, everything was changed, and I could feel it.  To quote a great old hymn, “My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but in whole, was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!”  Before salvation we are weighed down by the burden of our sinful nature.  After the cross we are free through the shed blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  He is good.

As we are made new creatures in Christ, we take on His righteousness and His character.  Our sinful nature is put to death and we begin to walk in step with the Spirit.  We experience and feel the goodness of God, and we are able to pass on His goodness to others. 

How can one describe goodness?  I think the psalmist understood what it meant as he wrote Psalm 34.  God, in His goodness, hears and answers our cries.  He delivers us from fears and anxiety.  He takes away our shame.  He saves us from our troubles.  He delivers us. In essence, He takes all of the ugliness from our fallen nature and replaces it with what is right, unbroken, and unblemished:  with goodness. 

The world is ugly and broken.  If you turn on the news tonight you will see dozens of images testifying to the sad state of this world.  Wars, terrorism, diseases, famine, domestic violence, murder, abandonment, addiction, abuse, hedonism – the list of woes is long and painful.  This world is broken. It is wrong and it is upside down.  Jesus alone can set us aright and bring light and goodness into our lives.  

As followers of Christ, as bearers of the fruit of His Spirit, it is our duty to bring His goodness – or one could also call it His wholeness and reality – to a broken world.  Before experiencing Christ, we all do things just because that is what everyone else is doing, without really thinking about it.  Young people drink alcohol, experiment with drugs, act rebellious, and become promiscuous because that is what the world says they should do.  Married couples fight, become adulterous, and divorce because that is what the world says they should do.  Children whine, fight, act rebellious and greedy because no one ever challenges them to anything different or better. The acts of the sinful nature are ugly.    

Since we have experienced the goodness of the Lord, it is our responsibility to share it with the people around us.  We have experienced the liberty and sweet freedom that comes from living within the restraints of Christianity.  The goodness of God is in His reality – in His holiness and purity.  It’s like tasting something delicious for the first time.  When my baby had her first taste of ice cream, her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth for more.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
    
I will never forget the actual relief that I felt when I became a Christian and realized that there really was a right and wrong, and that it really did matter how I lived my life.  The choices I had been making had been leaving me empty and despondent – my life was not going anywhere.  After I met Jesus and began doing things to please Him, I felt terrific!  It would be wrong for me to think that I am the only person in the world who would feel that way about the changes that Jesus brought to my behavior.  It would be wrong for me to believe that I shouldn’t share the goodness of God because people might find His commandments restrictive or outdated.  I had never felt more real or alive than I have since I met Jesus, and the same will be true for so many others.
    
Most people have such a misconception of Jesus and of Christianity in general.  It is not just a list of do’s and don’ts.  It is a living, growing relationship with our Creator and Savior.  It is finally becoming the person He created us to be.  In His goodness He brings freedom where we were in bondage.  He brings order where we lived in chaos.  He brings reality when we were trapped in deception.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can share this goodness with the people around us.  I will never stop being grateful for my parents for raising me in a Christian home, or for the woman who shared God’s goodness with me in college, and who challenged me to surrender my life to Him, And there are many people in your life today that would be ecstatic to hear of His goodness through you!

It is not difficult.  We just need to open up our lives and share the good news.  It is always true that people will be turned off by Christians who speak angrily, judgmentally, or condescendingly.  However, it is also true that people respond to kindness.  If we take the time to make an investment in someone’s life, we can earn the right to speak the truth to that person in love. In my own experience, my friend in college did not mock my very ungodly behavior choices or tell me that I was going to hell to burn forever.  She invited me into her home week after week and shared her life with me.  She listened to me, prayed for me, and cooked for me!  She was a friend to me, and I grew to love and trust her. I saw her life and could see the obvious difference between the two of us.  The peace and contentment she displayed were something that I wanted; I wanted to be like her.  Soon, when I was presented with the choice of salvation, I was ready.  I had seen the goodness of God displayed in her life, and wanted that in my own life.
    
​Since then, I have seen the same story unfold in countless lives!  The goodness of God is so attractive and powerful.  The Holy Spirit will develop this fruit in our lives when we ask Him, and many people will “taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Back to 2024…

With a couple more decades of life lived, I would just add that our wills must be exercised in allowing God’s goodness to grow in and flow through our lives. He has done all the heavy lifting to save us, and His Spirit is always at work in conforming us into the image of Christ. We must cooperate with this work, and be so mindful of each day’s choices. The world is screaming for us all to be angry and vengeful, but God is full of mercy and grace, and asks us to be His representatives to the people around us. How amazing it is to have the opportunity each day to choose to bring God’s goodness everywhere we go!

And with that, full disclosure - I edited out so many exclamation points, as twenty-something me used them a bit too liberally. But I pray that these thoughts will stay with you this week, and that the wonderful goodness of God will shine through you wherever you go and upon whomever the Lord leads you towards. May your life be an encouragement and blessing to many - 

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours! I confess that one of the great pleasures I find in life is reading old, and often quite romantic, novels by George MacDonald. He was a contemporary of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and other literary giants of the nineteenth century, and did not shy away from sharing his deep faith with his readers. Rather, his novels are always intentionally packed with godly characters and themes, which is so refreshing and encouraging.

Right now, I am reading Thomas Wingfold, Curate (aka The Curate’s Awakening*), which tells the story of a young preacher who, upon confrontation, finds his faith terribly lacking, and throughout the course of the narrative is truly born again. In the meantime, he helps a local sister and brother walk through a dark and devastating time in their lives. As he is coming awake spiritually, Thomas thinks deeply about the reality and importance of the hope found in Jesus Christ…

​This set me thinking about how often it is too easy to be flippant about others’ pain. We are alive in a generation that is absolutely deadened to deep feeling. We watch movies and TV shows all the time that depict violent, terrible things happening and we don’t even blink an eye, let alone lose any sleep over it. We hear news stories about atrocities, and we go right on to the next thing - just keep scrolling. We move from one “outrage” (which is an effective strategy known as, I believe, “clickbait”) to another, and our blood pressure barely even rises, if at all. Our senses have been overloaded and dulled to the point that just about nothing phases us. We have seen and heard at all.


This all sounds fine, and good, until we take stock of how well we are doing at caring for our neighbors. The sensory-dulling of our world does not serve us well in helping people. It is too easy to be and remain a spectator. I just can’t be bothered to care about pain and brokenness in the people around me when I have the mindset that it’s just another day, after all. Just keep scrolling through life.


Worse, we actually feel a strange sort of giddy relief when bad things happen to other people. Thank God they’re not happening to us! Sickness, legal trouble, drug addictions, marriage implosions, broken relationships, on and on the list goes and I can’t seem to muster up very much care or concern. It feels like the movies that I watch – not my problem. Until of course, it is my problem, and then everything is different.

Once you have experienced something difficult or tragic or unjust, and have had opportunity to see and understand how good, faithful, kind, and gracious God is in the middle of the darkness, it becomes much easier to have compassion, and to want to ease the load of grief for someone else who is going through the same thing. This is one amazing example of how our good Father in heaven makes beauty for ashes every day. People who have walked through difficult, hellacious things, and had their faith strengthened through it can offer God’s comfort and hope like nobody else can. Just a kind voice and sympathetic face uttering the words, “I understand” can be so meaningful to anyone going through a crisis. The weight and authority that is given to someone’s words after walking through their own bitter experiences can give vital hope and courage to others.

Once you have had the terrible experience, you are changed forever. The world tells us all to stay in our pain and never move past it. But God’s Kingdom is so different from this world. We might find ourselves deeply wounded in life, but subsequently uniquely fitted to help others in a powerful way. No one can have compassion for couples who lose a child to miscarriage or stillbirth, or any other way, like another couple who has experienced the same loss and grief. No one can understand what it feels like to get the frightening medical diagnosis like a person who has experienced that same thing. No one can understand what it feels like to hear a knock on the door and to be handed a legal paper that changes your life forever like someone who has heard that same knock. A pink slip at work, blue lights in the driveway, betrayal by a friend, divorce papers… the list of life’s devastations can be long. Until you go through something yourself, it is difficult to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Once you go through something difficult yourself, and experience firsthand the nearness and comfort of Jesus, it is important to share that comfort and hope with others.


Think about what you have walked through in your own life. What difficult circumstances, what unimaginable realities? We live in a broken world, and everywhere we go are surrounded by people who have endured terrible physical, sexual, and emotional pain or abuse. Or they have lost someone they loved very much in a tragic circumstance. Or they have made terrible choices that yielded bitter fruit. Last time I mentioned the verse in Lamentations that says, “because of God’s great love we are not consumed.” It is amazing that people all around us have lived through some of the difficult circumstances that life has brought their way, and it truly is an incredible miracle when someone makes it through singing the praises of God, with their faith intact and even strengthened.


It is this way that the hands and feet of Jesus are multiplied by the millions. Those of us who have gone through difficult things yet can testify to God‘s grace and nearness even in the darkest, deepest pits can help others who are currently going through a similar situation. Those of us who have experienced slander and betrayal of every kind, but who found comfort from Christ who was betrayed with a kiss from a friend, can encourage others who are currently facing the same abuse and disappointment. Those of us who have endured abuse to our bodies and minds, and were comforted by Jesus who was brutalized and crucified, can be there for people who are freshly suffering through similar things.


This world is cruel and is filled with broken people and broken systems. This is where people of the light can shine brightly. We too have endured difficult, unimaginable things, but in Christ have a peace that passes all understanding and a love that is higher, wider, and stronger than anything that would try to overcome it. 


As we celebrate this special season of love and kindness, be mindful of those who need your encouragement most. Pick up your phone and give them a call or send them a text. Don’t assume that you would be bothering them;  too many of us assume that, and too few of us reach out. Your words and encouragement will be a song in their souls, and will give them strength. Send that email, or flowers, or a card, or a gift – any token of care is so meaningful to someone who is going through the darkest time of their life. The last thing our family, friends, and neighbors need is one more person either adding fuel to the fire that is burning in their life, or totally ignoring them. Instead, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

​

- Mary ​

​*that title has all of the broad Scottish dialogue edited into standard English