Webster defines 'hope' as "desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment." What do people hope for? People hope for that which they believe will bring something better in their lives. When a person loses all hope he loses the desire to live. Can there be 'hope' in the midst of tragedy, even the tragedy of losing a child? God says emphatically, "Yes." For about 2 years after the loss of our son the Lord walked with me through "the valley of the shadow of death" where hope seemed far away at best. He walked me through the valley by walking me through His Word. In my search for comfort and peace in His Word He also brought me hope. In John 16:33 Jesus said, "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." What peace! What hope! Jesus had already walked the path of sorrow I was walking and He had overcome and had promised He would take me through as well and in Him I would overcome.
Psalm 42-43 sings the refrain, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? HOPE IN GOD; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God." Where do you turn for hope in a hopeless situation? I turn to my God, my salvation. He brought me through the dark valley once more into the light.
Ephesians 1:18 reminds us, "having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you...." What is the hope to which He has called us? For those who trust that Christ's death on the Cross alone paid for their sins once and for all, hope is every spiritual blessing that God has given us in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 1:3-14 the apostle Paul names all the blessings to which He has called us and the hope we have in them: He chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him, He adopted us through Jesus Christ into His family, He redeemed us (bought us back from sin and death) through Christ's shed blood on Calvary, He has forgiven our sins according to His grace through Christ's blood, He revealed His plan through Christ to reunite us with Him, He has given us an inheritance, heaven, to spend eternity with Him, and He even gave us a guarantee of all these promises by sending His Holy Spirit as the sign and seal of that guarantee.
What hope! I will see my son again because he had believed Christ died for his sins and Christ's blood even covers the sin of suicide. Hope in God, for I shall yet again praise Him!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
A Handful of Stars in a Dark Night
In the deepest, darkest nights God throws out a handful of stars and the moon to reveal His presence and His glory. In my darkest night God threw out His stars, His moon and His Son. He began a process of absorbing me into Himself and He in me. God's Word became my anchor that I clung to passionately. In that on going process that continues even today He brought me face to face with the fact that He Himself was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. In every way, but my sin, He knew what I was going through. It is a comfort, though sad, to walk through a trial with someone who has been there before you.
One of the first things God taught me in His Word is that it is ok to grieve. Jesus told His disciples, "you will weep and lament...," "You will be sorrowful....," "So also you have sorrow now..." But He also points out that that isn't the end. He goes on to finish His statements with "your sorrow will turn into joy...," "but I (Jesus) will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." Grief is an emotion that God gave us to take us through the darkest places. As in all emotions God gives us they are good---anger, grief, disappointment, love, hate, fear. As one dear friend said, we can have all the emotions we want as long as they don't have us! Sorrow and grief are good emotions; not ones we want, but they are good in God's hands. So how do we have sorrow and grief and not let them have us. I Peter 5:7 says, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
The way I found to not let sorrow and grief "have me," and consume me was to give them back to God! When the tidal waves of sorrow would wash over me and threaten to drown me I would read I Peter 5:7 and literally picture my sorrow being cast on Jesus' shoulders and Him walking away with it. I had someone who's shoulders were strong enough to bear any burden I gave Him. Then Philippians 4:7 became real to me--"And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." I had grief and sorrow beyond description, but I have Jesus to keep that grief and sorrow from destroying me. I could not walk away from grief and leave it, but I had Someone strong enough to walk through it with me
One of the first things God taught me in His Word is that it is ok to grieve. Jesus told His disciples, "you will weep and lament...," "You will be sorrowful....," "So also you have sorrow now..." But He also points out that that isn't the end. He goes on to finish His statements with "your sorrow will turn into joy...," "but I (Jesus) will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." Grief is an emotion that God gave us to take us through the darkest places. As in all emotions God gives us they are good---anger, grief, disappointment, love, hate, fear. As one dear friend said, we can have all the emotions we want as long as they don't have us! Sorrow and grief are good emotions; not ones we want, but they are good in God's hands. So how do we have sorrow and grief and not let them have us. I Peter 5:7 says, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
The way I found to not let sorrow and grief "have me," and consume me was to give them back to God! When the tidal waves of sorrow would wash over me and threaten to drown me I would read I Peter 5:7 and literally picture my sorrow being cast on Jesus' shoulders and Him walking away with it. I had someone who's shoulders were strong enough to bear any burden I gave Him. Then Philippians 4:7 became real to me--"And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." I had grief and sorrow beyond description, but I have Jesus to keep that grief and sorrow from destroying me. I could not walk away from grief and leave it, but I had Someone strong enough to walk through it with me
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Why black and white?
There is not a person who has lived, is living, or will live that will not go through a least one dark time in their lives. Dark times are a given. I have lived long enough to see it in others lives and my own. And Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation (trouble)." But Jesus doesn't leave us in the darkness of trouble. He continues by saying, "But, take heart, I have overcome the world." Praise God for the hope of Jesus and the Light He brings into the world to dispel the darkness.
Since we know the dark times and troubles are coming, what should we do to prepare for them. I was not always at the point of knowing the light of God's written Word. Although now I know that God chose me before the foundation of the world and I made a profession of faith at 5 years old at a small Bible Church where my folks sent me, from that point on the denomination in which I was raised fell away from God and His Word. My husband's church had also become very liberal. Being raised in that situation we actually were unaware of the lack of biblical teaching and preaching. Still, the Holy Spirit made us more and more restless to the fact that something was missing in our spiritual lives. To make a long story short, the Lord of all the earth moved us to Jackson, MS to care for my parents in their old age and one of their friends invited us to attend their church, Alta Woods PCA Church. Although not our "brand" of Presbyterian church we attended. There are just no human words to properly explain the joy I experienced that day to see Bibles in the peoples' hands as they followed along as the Pastor was reading it from the pulpit, to hear the Pastor preach about what he had read, to realize they believed what they were reading and hearing. That is when the light first penetrated my heart and I knew what was missing in my spiritual life--the written Word of God illumined by the Light of the World, Jesus.
Where did God take me from there? In my next posting I will share how God took me along the path of learning His Word and how it has become the source of my living and being.
Since we know the dark times and troubles are coming, what should we do to prepare for them. I was not always at the point of knowing the light of God's written Word. Although now I know that God chose me before the foundation of the world and I made a profession of faith at 5 years old at a small Bible Church where my folks sent me, from that point on the denomination in which I was raised fell away from God and His Word. My husband's church had also become very liberal. Being raised in that situation we actually were unaware of the lack of biblical teaching and preaching. Still, the Holy Spirit made us more and more restless to the fact that something was missing in our spiritual lives. To make a long story short, the Lord of all the earth moved us to Jackson, MS to care for my parents in their old age and one of their friends invited us to attend their church, Alta Woods PCA Church. Although not our "brand" of Presbyterian church we attended. There are just no human words to properly explain the joy I experienced that day to see Bibles in the peoples' hands as they followed along as the Pastor was reading it from the pulpit, to hear the Pastor preach about what he had read, to realize they believed what they were reading and hearing. That is when the light first penetrated my heart and I knew what was missing in my spiritual life--the written Word of God illumined by the Light of the World, Jesus.
Where did God take me from there? In my next posting I will share how God took me along the path of learning His Word and how it has become the source of my living and being.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Blogging in the 60's
There was no way I figured I could learn computers in my 50's. But with the help of a very dear friend named Robin I did! There was no way I ever figured I would do a blog in my 60's, but with the encouragement of a very dear friend named Andrea I did. Along with her daughter, Sonja, helping me here I am posting my first blog post. Who would have ever thought! :-) Thank you Robin, Andrea and Sonja for getting me into the 21st Century. I love you guys.
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