Saturday, April 7, 2012

On this day


Today has been a tough day for me because of some big decisions and painful circumstances that have just come to light for our family. But it has been such an amazing day of experiencing God's love and grace through several friends that I am blessed to have in my life and their encouragement and prayers. Just a few years ago, I prayed for God to send some "kindred spirits" into my life--women who I could share my life with, minus the masks and pretensions that seem to accompany many friendships. After a season of change and the loss of some friends in my life for various reasons, I asked that He teach me how to be a true, faithful, good, and real friend to the women he brought into my life. And He has answered my prayer with several new and true "sister" friendships that have developed through those years since I prayed.  If I am being honest, I probably had as much to do with the demise and damage to the lost friendships of my past as my friends did. God has been so gracious to change my heart and He continues to give me strength to be more vulnerable and more consistent as a friend (things that are difficult for my protective, distraction-minded self), and it is only by His grace that I am learning to be a good friend. So, I am beyond grateful for these ladies and their friendship, and realize that they are just one more of His good gifts to me.

So, on this day that all creation waited in expectation for the Resurrection of Jesus,
the day that His friends and followers awoke to be reminded that He had been crucified and was with them no more,
the day that the enemy laughed and the religious leaders breathed a sigh of relief thinking they were rid of this rebel,
the day that God already knew would be the last day of grief before the dawning hope of Resurrection Day...
on this day, I have so few words to translate my heart. But I read an old post from the blog one of my favorite writers. It is written as the words being spoken by Mary, Jesus' mother, after she has witnessed him hanging on the cross. The words beautifully express a broken heart surrendering and grateful, which is what I pray that I will be. So, I will leave you with these words, quoted wholly from Ann Voskamp's blog.


"How you were slashed that our lives could be seamless — all holy.
That the veil in the temple rents in two because of You, and there is no longer a divide between the common and the hallowed and the whole earth is full of your glory and You are the continuous, unending, divine thread that weaves through all of the world, holding all together… even when you, Son, are rent apart.
And hanging naked and blood smeared and dirt defiled, You nodded slow and You said yes — You gave us your one-piece robe of seamless holiness and You clothed us, the filthy ones, in all your white righteousness.
That Your blood wasn’t enough.
That Your buying us back wasn’t enough.
That Your being our brother wasn’t enough.
Nothing short of dressing us beautifully and calling us Beloved would be enough.
O Son
I will take up this cloth that You give me and be who You name me.
I will wear a One-Piece life and I will see Your face in the poor and the oppressed and the forsaken. And the moon will shine round and the threads of my moments will shine with Your glory.
And this one-piece life will all be for the One and True God alone…"  --Ann Voskamp,  http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/04/living-a-one-piece-life-a-good-friday-reflection-his-mother-before-the-cross/

Loving and Learning,

1 comment:

  1. Hope everythingis okay

    Nikki
    www.madebynikki.blogspot.com - get your blog designed and support global education

    ReplyDelete

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I love Jesus Christ, am a seeker of beauty, and am a grateful child of God who would be lost and hopeless were it not for His grace. I am learning to walk in love, see interruptions as divine appointments, and value people and relationships above agendas and results. I pray my life is grace-filled, and brings joy and encouragement to everyone I know and meet. We are a family of 6, built by God through love, birth, and adoption, living in the beauty and the struggle that accompanies parenting kids from hard places. Got questions? Email me at loveandtots3@gmail.com.

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