This was beautiful Denise. So many of us are grieving these nonsensical losses!
When I was reading through Nehemiah and chapter 8, my eyes were opened to new thoughts on Joy! The goodness of the Lord to His people gives us great cause to have that inner peace we call joy. Deep seated in our hearts because we know the goodness of the Lord! That reading of the Word stirred the people up to remember the faithfulness of Yahweh through the generations.
We can't change the awful things that happen in this deteriorating world, but as we await the Messiah's second coming we do have great joy, deep in our hearts knowing that someday He will make all things right.
Thank you for your thoughts and blessings as you celebrate our Saviors birth ❤️
It is hard to feel joy. I watched the rolling coverage of the two barbarian immigrants shooting innocent seniors in the head, a child, shrapnel wounds in a baby, rabbis and wonder what the Lord is saying to us and to the Jewish people. I pray He is revealing Jesus to our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is all so sad but thankfully has woken up the churches In Sydney to pray for and support the Jewish people.
Joy is not a feeling. It’s like peace. These are the underpinnings of our faith that assures us of God’s presence and victory while the devil creates mayhem and destruction.
Oh, Jillian, what has happened in Australia is awful beyond words. I haven't seen videos, but I read The Wall Street Journal, and the reports are terrible. It is so grievous. My heart is breaking.
It is indeed. To see our gormless PM wring his uselessly and talk about peace and love is horrible. He has done nothing to stem the flow of Jew hatred and has indeed stoked it.
Denise, I have been thinking about wrestling with God for a while now, and your writing here puts it in ways I couldn't have. This idea that you carry a secret or undetected limp is really interesting and quite a spiritual metaphor for further thought. I have been wondering why this image from Jacob's night of wrestling with God doesn't get used more often in Christian writing and in sermons to represent us as the church more than the ongoing focus that we are just babes in Christ, just infants. It seems that we are not doing as called--in the way you suggest here, to continually talk with God, through pain and complaints.
The grief memoir I'm writing about the loss of my son is tentatively titled "Wrestling with the Angel." There's also a subtitle, but I'm trying to get at something similar. You have clarified things well. Thank you. Merry Christmas.
I didn't know that was the working title of your memoir! A book was recently released by the title of "Limping Heavenward: Living by Faith in Comprehensive and Chronic Suffering" by Karrie Hahn. I haven't read it yet, but the title draws me.
That is a good title. I think I will have to read it as well. Maybe have to rethink mine. I did really enjoy reading your post about wrestling with God. I read another post this morning about this and the writer, like you, tied it to Christian maturity.
Thanks for sharing…what came to mind is the verse about Jesus ensuring the cross for the joy set before Him…a reminder that just as a woman endures the pain of childbirth knowing the end result, with God’s help and strength, even though it can be very difficult and bring much pain and heartache, we can endure/bear our “crosses” with joy knowing we died, rose and are seated with Christ…that’s something to be joyful about…it is finished…He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west…they’re cast in the depths of the sea and remembered no more…this should give us joy! 💗
The pursuit of joy does indeed feel like a form of defiance in these times when the darkness is so often all but overwhelming. But, like you, I’m going to keep praying, keep lighting candles ( both literal and figurative), and keep looking to the horizon in anticipation. This was a timely encouragement!
Thank you so much for this piece. I, too, have many wounds. Yet I have many reasons for joy as well. There are days the wounds seem much larger than the joys, but then the Lord speaks to my heart and reorient my focus back to Himself. I have realized it truly is a matter of what I/we look at. Sometimes the immensity of the wounds, the evil, and the hurts can be overwhelming as you rightly point out. But as our Lord pointed out before His crucifixion, He has OVERCOME the world. Please Lord, help us to keep our eyes on You, the One Who has OVERCOME it all, and give us Your joy.
This was beautiful Denise. So many of us are grieving these nonsensical losses!
When I was reading through Nehemiah and chapter 8, my eyes were opened to new thoughts on Joy! The goodness of the Lord to His people gives us great cause to have that inner peace we call joy. Deep seated in our hearts because we know the goodness of the Lord! That reading of the Word stirred the people up to remember the faithfulness of Yahweh through the generations.
We can't change the awful things that happen in this deteriorating world, but as we await the Messiah's second coming we do have great joy, deep in our hearts knowing that someday He will make all things right.
Thank you for your thoughts and blessings as you celebrate our Saviors birth ❤️
Thank you, Kimberly, for your kind words. I love that passage in Nehemiah. Thank you for sharing it here in this space. :-)
It is hard to feel joy. I watched the rolling coverage of the two barbarian immigrants shooting innocent seniors in the head, a child, shrapnel wounds in a baby, rabbis and wonder what the Lord is saying to us and to the Jewish people. I pray He is revealing Jesus to our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is all so sad but thankfully has woken up the churches In Sydney to pray for and support the Jewish people.
Joy is not a feeling. It’s like peace. These are the underpinnings of our faith that assures us of God’s presence and victory while the devil creates mayhem and destruction.
Oh, Jillian, what has happened in Australia is awful beyond words. I haven't seen videos, but I read The Wall Street Journal, and the reports are terrible. It is so grievous. My heart is breaking.
It is indeed. To see our gormless PM wring his uselessly and talk about peace and love is horrible. He has done nothing to stem the flow of Jew hatred and has indeed stoked it.
Denise, I have been thinking about wrestling with God for a while now, and your writing here puts it in ways I couldn't have. This idea that you carry a secret or undetected limp is really interesting and quite a spiritual metaphor for further thought. I have been wondering why this image from Jacob's night of wrestling with God doesn't get used more often in Christian writing and in sermons to represent us as the church more than the ongoing focus that we are just babes in Christ, just infants. It seems that we are not doing as called--in the way you suggest here, to continually talk with God, through pain and complaints.
The grief memoir I'm writing about the loss of my son is tentatively titled "Wrestling with the Angel." There's also a subtitle, but I'm trying to get at something similar. You have clarified things well. Thank you. Merry Christmas.
I didn't know that was the working title of your memoir! A book was recently released by the title of "Limping Heavenward: Living by Faith in Comprehensive and Chronic Suffering" by Karrie Hahn. I haven't read it yet, but the title draws me.
That is a good title. I think I will have to read it as well. Maybe have to rethink mine. I did really enjoy reading your post about wrestling with God. I read another post this morning about this and the writer, like you, tied it to Christian maturity.
Thanks for sharing…what came to mind is the verse about Jesus ensuring the cross for the joy set before Him…a reminder that just as a woman endures the pain of childbirth knowing the end result, with God’s help and strength, even though it can be very difficult and bring much pain and heartache, we can endure/bear our “crosses” with joy knowing we died, rose and are seated with Christ…that’s something to be joyful about…it is finished…He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west…they’re cast in the depths of the sea and remembered no more…this should give us joy! 💗
The pursuit of joy does indeed feel like a form of defiance in these times when the darkness is so often all but overwhelming. But, like you, I’m going to keep praying, keep lighting candles ( both literal and figurative), and keep looking to the horizon in anticipation. This was a timely encouragement!
Thank you so much for this piece. I, too, have many wounds. Yet I have many reasons for joy as well. There are days the wounds seem much larger than the joys, but then the Lord speaks to my heart and reorient my focus back to Himself. I have realized it truly is a matter of what I/we look at. Sometimes the immensity of the wounds, the evil, and the hurts can be overwhelming as you rightly point out. But as our Lord pointed out before His crucifixion, He has OVERCOME the world. Please Lord, help us to keep our eyes on You, the One Who has OVERCOME it all, and give us Your joy.
Allison, I like how you phrased that: "reorient my focus back to Himself." Amen to that, sister!