I Will Miss Her

My big sister died a couple of weeks ago. I am still in shock, processing the grief that fills my heart. I have been immersing myself in promises from God’s Word, in comforting hymns of the faith, and receiving counsel and prayer from trusted, wise friends and family. What a blessing to be part of the family of God, to be cared for by not only my Father, but by my brothers and sisters in Christ! I am most thankful.

I also have found help in my journey of grief through the writings of some of my favorite radio pastors. May I share one from Allistair Begg in his devotional, Truth for Life, that encouraged me? I think it will encourage you as well.

Gracious Gratitude

“Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”  Colossians 1:11-12

Almost everyone appreciates a good gift. Family, freedom, leisure, a warm bed, and a refreshing drink all make for a grateful heart, and we’re all naturally able to express at least some measure of gratitude for them. “Thank you” is a phrase we learn young.

The American revivalist Jonathan Edwards helpfully distinguished between what he referred to as “natural gratitude” and “gracious gratitude.” Natural gratitude starts with the things we’re given and the benefits which accompany them. Anybody is capable of natural gratitude. Gracious gratitude, though, is very different, and only God’s children can experience and express it. Gracious gratitude recognizes the character, goodness, love, power, and excellencies of God, regardless of any gifts or enjoyments He has given. It knows we have reason to be grateful to God whether it’s a good day or a bad day, whether we’re employed or unemployed, whether the daily news is upbeat or overwhelming, whether we’re completely healthy or facing a terminal diagnosis. Such gratitude is only discovered by grace, and it is a true mark of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Gracious gratitude enables us to face all things with the awareness that God is profoundly involved in our lives and circumstances for He has made us special objects of His love. 

When Jonathan Edwards died as a result of a smallpox vaccination, Sarah, his wife, wrote to their daughter, “What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud.” Notice the honesty in that. There’s no superficial triumphalism. But her husband was not taken out by chance: it was the overruling sovereignty of God that determined the right time to bring Jonathan home to his eternal reward. And so Sarah continued, “But my God lives and he has my heart…We are all given to God; and there I am, and love to be.”

Amid grief, we will never be able to speak words like these from natural gratitude, which cannot help us in loss. Such reflection can only flow from gracious gratitude. You may be facing difficult or even heartbreaking circumstances at the moment; and if you are not, then that day will come, for this is a fallen world. But in those moments, you can cling to God’s love and choose to trust God’s goodness, expressed most clearly at the cross. Then, even in the darkest hours, you will know the joy of His presence and always have cause to give thanks to Him. There is strength, dignity, and worship in being able to say, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

So, friends, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the disposition and intention of my heart is for gracious gratitude. I don’t grieve as one who has no hope. I am thankful, I am confident that my sister is with our merciful Savior, the very best place she could be. And I am choosing to cling to my Father’s love and trust His goodness, His timing, His wisdom, and His sovereignty as I unexpectedly walk through this valley of shadows and dark clouds.

He is with me. I know I am His. I am given to God.

There I, too, love to be.

Even in my grief.

Especially in my grief.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And it’s okay to miss her.

—Eileen Hill

Don’t Know Everything…it’s OK

Since being reclaimed and redeemed by Jesus when I was 16 years old, I have struggled with insecurities surrounding my Biblical knowledge. After beholding God in the face of Jesus, I realized that the words of the Bible, those which were once dead to me, were my new Father’s words. As my hunger to know His word grew, so did the shame of my lack of knowledge.

As I tried to learn more, every sermon preached or Bible study attended would begin with a request by the teacher for me to turn to a book, chapter, and verse that would take me forever to find. As I started to attend church, little children next to me would raise their hands to answer questions about biblical characters I had never heard of. Every Bible story was new to me, and I often did not have much context to interpret the main points accurately. These experiences were constant reminders of my ignorance. I was literally a 16-year-old babe in need of milk, and this led to hidden shame. I cried out to my new Father for mercy, patience, protection, and assistance as I tried to make up for so many lost years. 

Here is a quick story of how God answered my prayers in a big way in a simple verse. A few years after being born again in Christ, I attended a Bible study led by a resident assistant in my college dormitory. At the end of the study, the leader pulled out a bunch of pictures from his bag. Each picture was of a Bible verse surrounded by a uniquely decorated frame. As a member of the soccer team, I immediately reached for the soccer ball frame. It was here that I first read James 1:5.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

As I read this verse, God spoke deep into my heart.  He would generously give me wisdom without finding fault if I asked Him.

If you are wrestling with shame today because you feel you should know more than you do, ask the Lord for wisdom. He is able to redeem the past and can make up for lost time. If we have questions without answers, it is never too late for Him to make us wise. Do we believe He can and will do this?

In Christ,

—Roger Garrison

Maranatha

As a young teenage Christian, still glowing with romance toward Jesus, I was introduced to books like Lindsay's Late, Great, Planet Earth that filled me with hopeful wonder that these things would indeed happen in my lifetime. The age of Aquarius was turning out to be only a pipe dream, and although the Vietnam War was winding down, we never achieved what we said in songs and proclamations. Our Nation had recently experienced the Jesus revolution, the birth of the Catholic charismatic movement, and we were hearing reports of great spiritual outpourings worldwide. The belief in a miraculous God who still did signs and wonders was taking root among evangelicals, and there were revivals in South America, Indonesia, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific Rim. As conversion rates took off, it looked like we were in the end times.

I must admit that my faith in the teachings of many, however, could not withstand my disbelief at how things like the mark of the beast, world hatred against Jews, massive armies coming against Jerusalem, war materials melting, one world government, and blood flowing as deep as a horse's bridle could ever come to pass. I found it challenging to imagine governments controlling speech, who could buy and sell, or worldwide tepid response to terrorist attacks.

It's nearly 2024, and I can believe those things are both possible and probable. Covid showed how easy it might be for governments to enforce compliance among free people without military force. What once placed a platoon leader in prison for Mai Lai is now debated as what Israel deserves. Who would ever have thought there would be protests in our universities and streets where some would call for the death of Jews or that one could see the Juden star once again placed on homes and businesses in Germany or the cities of allies who gave their sons to end the terror of Hitler? Add the specter of digital currency around the corner, and I wonder if I should revisit Hal Lindsay and similar works.

I probably won't seek out Hal, but this I will give my heart to because they are the words of my beloved:

Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against Nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers[c] and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem

"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21: 10-28 ESV

 I can see the beginning of some handwriting on the wall of humanity. The historical and technological stage is shaping up in ways that point to the biblical narrative or might deliver us to it. However, I choose not to fear or get weird about what is coming down the pike. Most importantly, with all my might, I will determine to look up and raise my head because my redemption is drawing near. We used to say, "Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus." I'm bringing that out of my mental mothballs to help me see world happenings, not in the pattern of the world, with fear, but in the faith of the Son of God.

Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus.

—George Davis

Cries for Deliverance: Musings on those without light and carriers of the Light

Here, I dwell in the dirge of an entire generation. I look in the eyes of the young, carrying the caskets, foreshadows of the impending doom, on their backs – untapped by the joys and affirmations that life often brings – walking the exhausted path of those who have gone before them; a path trodden with broken hypodermic needles, stained with blood. Its moisture evaporates into the air in the form of poverty, miseducation, desperation, and feeble hope and is, in turn, inhaled by those marching. No one has told them they are still living. I stand in the midst of the procession wanting desperately to yell, scream, pull one of them aside and tell them that, if I could, I would hold Life and Love in my hands and tell them to taste it. But I cannot. My voice and the blatant message it carries are silenced by my own fear. I sit cross-legged in a pothole within a pit. Why can I not muster the energy to climb two inches out of this dent in the gray concrete? More importantly, why am I here? The answer to this question is obvious: deliverance. This is their unspoken prayer, the unuttered groan within their soul.  

All is gray, not just the slabs of concrete – their clothes, the sky, every brick – nothing blooms. They live their lives burdened with failure, despair, and death, swaying and bopping to a rhythmic death march. I am a green figure veiled in the shadow of my ditch; therefore, I seem just as drab.  

I am not the only one in this state. There are many of us. We are a dissociated rainbow. Most are comfortably disturbed in their covert existences — residing in caves, skulking in alleys, and passively observing through window panes. A baby pushes a stroller carrying the fruit of her womb. She stumbles over me, and the unforgiving ground breaks her fall. She cries, and I cry. The reasons for our tears are both numerous and confusing, yet very different. “Help me!  Help me!”, she yells. The rainbow emerges from the shadows, if just momentarily, and calls relentlessly for help, banging on windows, yelling around even darker corners, “Somebody, help her! Help her!” We are the help.

We are messengers of the Light, couriers of the promise of Love and Life, Peace and Deliverance. But who will deliver us, save the Deliverer?

Join me in offering prayers and praises to the only One who can save from deception and hopelessness – the Mighty God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Matchless King of Glory and Lord of Hosts –who rescues and delivers, shields, heals, and fights for us. We all need the light of His glorious presence where we are restored to and discover our original purpose in the fullness of joy. We were all created for the Creator. Let us wait expectantly to see and learn even more of our Lord and King as we participate in the lives of those we are assigned to in our communities.

—Anyah E. R. White

Don't Believe What you See; Trust What you Know

If I asked you to tell me what you see in the picture above you would probably say, “a dead flower and a live flower”. Wrong.

The truth is, they are both dead. The one on the right still looks alive, but its life source has been cut off. It’s just as dead as the one on the left. It's only a matter of time before this shows.

The same happens when we pray. The medical diagnosis doesn’t change. Your finances don’t get better. That child continues in the wrong course. The marriage gets closer to a divorce. You’ve prayed numerous times, but nothing changes - at least in plain sight. You see, once you pray, God begins working on your miracle. The challenge is that your miracle will happen, but not in your time. God works on His own time because His time is flawless. 

There was a time when Jesus tried to get fruit from a fig tree and found none. In discontent, Jesus cursed the tree. What is interesting about this story is that the tree didn’t automatically dry up. It is recorded that the disciples heard Him when He cursed the tree, but nothing happened to it at that moment. These same disciples had seen Him perform wondrous miracles in the past. Seeing the tree remain visibly alive after Jesus spoke must have stirred some questions in their hearts about Jesus’ power. They went on their way and the scripture tells that the next morning they passed by the same tree and this time found it had withered from the roots up. The disciples in amazement pointed out to Jesus the tree and how it was now dead. Jesus replied and reminded them of the importance of believing what we pray for regardless of what we see. The moment Jesus cursed it, the tree was cut from its life source. It was only a matter of time before the miracle was seen. It had to happen in God’s time. 

In another biblical story, the Israelites were trying to cross the Jordan. The Lord told Joshua to tell the priests bearing the ark of the covenant to stand in the water once they got to the river. Now the amazing part is that when their feet touched the water, the waters began to stop flowing a great distance away. They couldn’t see it, as it was a far distance. But the miracle was already in motion. It was just a matter of time and all of Israel ultimately completed the crossing on dry ground. Imagine if they got discouraged and turned back or, even worse, doubted God. They could have forfeited the miracle and never made it to the other side.

The same happens when we pray. It may look like things are  not changing. You’re still stuck at a dead-end job; that marital situation worsens by the day; the off-course child keeps making bad decisions; that addiction is still thriving; your health seems to continue in decline; the bills keep stacking up and your financial situation doesn’t change…keep your faith. It's only a matter of time before the miracle happens. God already heard your prayer. He has set the miracle in motion. Your job now is to believe and receive in your heart what you have prayed for. Don’t worry about how long it's taking. Don’t get tricked into thinking God did not hear you. Don’t lose your faith. The miracle is already in motion. Healing is on its way; the marriage is already saved; that child’s ways have already changed; you are already coming into financial freedom…like the Israelites, the waters may look like they are not parting, but have faith that the miracle is coming and you will ultimately complete the crossing on dry land.

Amen.

—R Bermudez

No creas lo que ves; Confía en lo que sabes...

Si te pidiera que me dijeras qué ves en la imagen de arriba probablemente dirías “una flor muerta y una flor viva". Equivocado.

La verdad es que ambas están muertas. La de la derecha todavía aparenta estar viva, pero su fuente de vida ha sido cortada. Está tan muerta como la de la izquierda. Es sólo cuestión de tiempo antes de que esto se demuestre.

Lo mismo sucede cuando oramos. El diagnóstico médico no cambia. Tus finanzas no mejoran. Ese niño continúa por el camino equivocado. El matrimonio está más cerca del divorcio... Has orado muchas veces, pero nada cambia, al menos a simple vista. Verás; una vez que oras, Dios comienza a trabajar en tu milagro. El desafío es que tu milagro sucederá, pero no en tu momento. Dios trabaja en su propio tiempo porque su tiempo es impecable.

Hubo un tiempo en que Jesús intentó sacar fruto de una higuera y no encontró ninguno. Descontento, Jesús maldijo el árbol. Lo interesante de esta historia es que el árbol no se secó automáticamente. Está registrado que los discípulos lo oyeron cuando maldijo el árbol, pero no pasó nada en ese momento. Estos mismos discípulos lo habían visto realizar milagros maravillosos en el pasado. Ver el árbol permanecer visiblemente vivo después de que Jesús habló debe haber despertado algunas preguntas en sus corazones sobre el poder de Jesús. Siguieron su camino y la Escritura cuenta que a la mañana siguiente pasaron junto al mismo árbol y esta vez encontraron que se había secado desde la raíz. Los discípulos, asombrados, le señalaron a Jesús el árbol y cómo ahora estaba muerto. Jesús respondió y les recordó la importancia de creer por lo que oramos sin importar lo que veamos. En el momento en que Jesús lo maldijo, el árbol fue cortado de su fuente de vida. Era sólo cuestión de tiempo que se viera el milagro. Tenía que suceder en el tiempo de Dios.

En otra historia bíblica, los israelitas intentaban cruzar el Jordán. El Señor le dijo a Josué que les dijera a los sacerdotes que llevaban el arca del pacto que se pararan en el agua una vez que llegaran al río. Ahora lo sorprendente es que cuando sus pies tocaron las aguas, estas comenzaron a dejar de fluir a gran distancia. No pudieron verlo, ya que estaba sucediendo a una distancia lejana. Pero el milagro ya estaba en marcha. Era sólo cuestión de tiempo y todo Israel finalmente completó el cruce en tierra seca. Imagínese si se hubieran desanimado y retrocedido, o peor aún, dudaran de Dios. Podrían haber perdido el milagro y nunca haber llegado al otro lado.

Lo mismo sucede cuando oramos. Puede parecer que las cosas no están cambiando. Todavía estás atrapado en un trabajo sin futuro; que la situación matrimonial empeora cada día; el niño desviado sigue tomando malos caminos; Esa adicción todavía prospera; Tu salud parece seguir decayendo; Las facturas siguen acumulándose y tu situación financiera no cambia... Mantén tu fe. Es sólo cuestión de tiempo que ocurra el milagro. Dios ya escuchó tu oración. Él ha puesto en marcha el milagro. Tu trabajo ahora es creer y recibir en tu corazón aquello por lo que has orado. No te preocupes por cuánto tiempo está tardando. No te dejes engañar pensando que Dios no te escuchó. No pierdas la fe. El milagro ya está en marcha. Curación está en camino; el matrimonio ya está restaurado; las costumbres de ese niño ya han cambiado; ya estás llegando a la libertad financiera... Al igual que los israelitas, puede parecer que las aguas no se están separando, pero ten fe en que el milagro se acerca y finalmente completarás el cruce en tierra firme

Amén.

R Bermúdez