November 2011
Dear friends,
Today I am lying on my couch feeling horrible. I don’t really know what is wrong. My head hurts. I have no energy. Maybe it is just exhaustion. I have napped and read, but God keeps reminding me that I need to write you. So, in my complete fogginess, I will try. Praise be to God… for I am alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11
Last weekend we went to Jackson, MS, to celebrate a nephew’s four-year-old birthday. As I was talking with my sister-in-law, she shared something sweet the Lord had shown her. She had been looking out the kitchen window while washing dishes and she saw the leaves dying outside. Yet, in their death, they were so beautiful… perfect hues of red, orange and yellow. And God reminded her of a simple and profound truth. Sometimes death is full of beauty.
Over a year ago, I mentioned to you about my friend and her marriage and how it died, but God brought it back to life. Embedded in a long list of what Jesus came to do for each of us, Isaiah 61:3 says, “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.” God brings beauty from death. When we quit trying to breathe life into something and get out of the way, He gives life and life abundantly.
Which reminds me about the rose bush. About eight years ago, a well-meaning teenage kid was mowing our grass and he somehow did not notice the man-high rose bush. He plowed it with the lawn mower. He took it out. Nothing was left. I was sad. My husband says I cried for a week. I remember praying on and off for four years for God to give me back that rose bush. I knew a 17-year old kid did not have the last word. I figured after 4 years God must be answering “no.” A week before the tornadoes on April 27, 2011, that rose bush came back. It came back huge, the size of two big-screen TVs stacked on top of one another. My husband noticed it and sent me a picture. I cried. God was bringing life out of eight years of death. Why? He did not have to. I had quit asking. I had accepted the “no.” But it seems like He specializes in goodness and life.
Consider Jesus, God’s only son. He let Jesus be killed and be dead for three days. But then, He raised Him up, He breathed life into Him and what was dead, got up. What was dead came out of the tomb. What was dead walked on the road and talked to His disciples. Acts 2:22-24
What in your life is dead? What have you given up on? What seems impossible to have life because it is so stagnant, so dead? Is it your marriage? Is it your joy? Is it your child’s apathy? Is it your soul? Jesus came to give us life, and life to the full (Romans 6:4). We live, move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28).
God can give life to anything, anyone, any circumstances (Nehemiah 9:6). We shared dinner with some friends the other night. They used to rarely smile, but that night they laughed. They used to be discontent, but that night we sensed contentment. They used to only see the bad in one another, but that night they were for each other. They used to fret, but that night they were full of peace. They used to allow their baggage to weigh them down, but that night they were brainstorming how to use their experiences to glorify Christ. He has breathed life into what appeared dead. He has made all things new. Rev 21:5, Do you see, God is good!
As winter comes and all the leaves fall off the trees and the earth looks barren and desolate and dead, let us remember spring is coming. Death can beautiful. What looks dead may not be dead at all.
But maybe you are walking around dead. Dead in your sin. Dead in your regrets. Dead in your failures. Dead in your accomplishments, because they are never enough. And all you want is hope and peace and joy, to be alive.
If you do not know JESUS, please consider meeting Him today. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. He will be your Lord and Savior if you trust in Him. Romans 10:9-13 says He will breathe life into you, into the deepest crevices of your heart and soul where you feel dead. He will teach you how to trust Him and walk with Him every day. He has given us the Bible as His Word and as you read it, He will teach you. Start reading with James, 1 John, 1 Corinthians. The Word is living and active and will speak to you right where you are. Hebrew 4:12 says He longs to be your King and to heal the deepest inner wounds you have carried for years. Isaiah 30:18, He is Healer, Sustainer, Comforter, Friend. He is life. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
We had our team-building day at work on Friday. We did some hard team-building exercises and many felt like they were going to die. We ran, we carried ropes over our heads, we did push-ups and played tug of war. People tried to quit, people grumbled. I sprawled on the ground and did not want to get up. But we did not die. We all made it. Our breathing returned to normal. We drank cold water. We ate a big lunch. We laughed. We were better for it.
He has given us life. Not only every breath we breathe, but forgiveness from our hang-ups and bang-ups. He has accepted me for me and you for you. He created us so He knows us and understands us more than any human will. He is daily refining me and teaching me how to be more like Jesus. Malachi 3:3-5 He longs to do the same for you. He is standing at your heart knocking waiting for you to let Him in (Rev 3:20). He did the same to me. It is a thrilling journey, a life-filled journey. He is teaching me what true contentment is and He is allowing my life to be full and rich in Him. More and more, I am understanding that nothing gives life outside of Jesus (John 6:44). My work can be the same old same old; my kids will disobey me; my husband cannot meet all my needs; my friends won’t always be there; the money runs out; my house needs cleaning; my head hurts; the pipes leak; there is a tarp on the roof. But my God is faithful (Isaiah 45:5-6). His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness to me. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
If you know Him, follow Him. If not, meet Him. He breathes life into what is dead and makes us alive in Him. Now, that is beauty!
Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”