by Christine Sine
We are currently living through a very challenging time where many of us are questioning our faith and our belief in a God who desires healing, so I thought that I would repost this article from a couple of years ago. As I was reading through it again I was particularly struck by the quote from Ecclesiasticus which I think has become much more personal and more relevant for us in this current crisis.
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Does God care about physical health or only about our spiritual wellbeing?” It is a good question to ask ourselves as we discuss shalom and wholeness this month. I often struggled with this as I worked in poor communities in Africa and Asia. I still struggle with it as I watch friends die of cancer and observe the devastating impact of environmental degradation on our health.
I love this interesting reference to health care workers that I found. It is not in the Protestant Bible but in the Appocrypha, those books between the Old and New Testament that are considered by some to be a part of the Biblical text.
God Does Care
From the time the children of Israel came out of Egypt God showed concern for their physical as well as their spiritual well being. However God’s prescription for health was always very different from that of the surrounding cultures. During Moses life, the Papyrus Ebers written about 1552 B.C. provided many of the standard treatments for disease. Drugs included “lizards’ blood, swines’ teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from pigs ears, goose grease, asses’ hoofs, excreta from animals, including human beings, donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats and even flies.”
Not quite our idea of good medicine and not God’s either.
However God’s prescription for good health doesn’t necessarily look like a physician’s prescription either. Pills and surgery are not at the top of the list. And as with so much of what God does, good health doesn’t usually come with the waving of a magic wand and miraculous healings.
God Believes in Preventative Measures.
Health and healing, the practice of medicine and the principles of hygiene in the Hebrew world, all fell under the Levitical mantle, part of the religious framework of life. Medicine and the care of the sick is part of the priestly calling a life set aside in service to God.
It was the Levites to whom God gave the principles for health and hygiene. They were responsible for both the physical and spiritual health of the community. Physical cleanliness was for the priests a symbol of spiritual cleanliness. One depended on the other and both were performed by those people whose lives were set aside to serve God. God gave them detailed instructions for basic cleanliness and sanitation that if followed today would greatly increase the level of hygiene in many a struggling nation. It would be hard for us to imagine our church workers as garbage disposal experts or as sanitation workers, yet for the Levites this all came under their jurisdiction.
God’s health laws encourage us to think responsibly about what we eat, how we act and how we treat the environment around us. Many of the laws of Leviticus are good preventative health directives that we still use today. These regulations include nutrition, environmental laws and behaviour – the three primary factors that influence the health of any individual or community. Others are guidelines for how the most vulnerable in society are to be cared for. We shouldn’t over eat, abuse our bodies with drugs and alcohol or pollute the environment and blame God for the consequences to our health.
God Made Us To Be Healthy
Nothing speaks more highly of God’s desire for healing than the incredible systems of protection and repair within our own bodies. The immune system cures most of the illnesses that attack us. Wounds heal, bones knit together and tissue repairs itself in miraculous ways we rarely think about unless something goes wrong. Fascinatingly this system is enhanced by bacteria in our gut and in our environments. In Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child From an Oversanitized World, Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta, document how microbes improve our health and that of our children. It is fascinating. At best doctors and nurses assist God’s healing work yet we rarely thank God for the miracle of how we are created.
Unfortunately in our imperfect world, corrupted by sin and disease, these systems don’t always work but God provided other elements to assist the healing process. Most modern medicines originate from medicinal plants and herbs that are a part of God’s wonderful creation.
Interestingly the Greek word most commonly translated save in the New Testament SOZO can also be translated heal. It means to heal, preserve, save, make whole. Central to God’s model of health and wholeness is reconciliation to God. Healing depended not only on the taking of medicine but primarily on obedience to God’s word and commandments. Healing from a Christian perspective is the process of moving towards wholeness in body, soul and spirit not just as individuals but as a worldwide community. The purpose of medicine is to support and encourage human wholeness in every respect but it should be used in conjunction with other health measures.
Physical and Spiritual Healing Linked.
For early followers of Christ, spiritual and physical health were linked as one ministry too. In the early Judeo – Christian church, healing was considered part of the religious function of the community. Monetary compensation was forbidden. In contrast the Graeco-Roman tradition professionalized medicine and saw it as a vocation to be monetarily compensated – the model that we now embrace.
The rapid growth of the early church was probably a result of its power to heal, to cast out demons and to create communities of mutual care. Interestingly, this was closely linked to an acceptance of suffering as an identification with the sufferings of Christ and an understanding of physical illness as part of a larger paradigm in which God’s grace works through human weakness. Throughout most of Christian history, the church provided centers for healing and cared for the sick and the suffering. In the Middle Ages the monasteries were centers of healing They were often famous for their herb gardens which provided a broad range of medicinal substances that were produced for the use both within the monastic community as well as in the outside secular community.
In this framework, the medical attendant was seen as a servant to the poor and the sick, someone who came to relieve their pain, to heal their hurts to comfort their concerns. Spiritual and physical health and healing walked hand in hand, separate parts of a whole person.
The Cross is probably the most powerful symbol of and power for healing in the world. Its redeeming and transforming power brings healing to body soul and spirit – and beyond that it brings healing to communities, and eventually will bring healing to our entire broken world.
The taking of communion is another powerful symbol of healing. In many churches healing services are Eucharistic, deliberately linking our need for healing to confession, repentance and forgiveness. (1 Cor 11:27-34) Baptism too, because it infuses a person with new life, the life of Christ, can drive out before it all the powers of sickness and death. (Rom 6: 1-14)
James 5:13-16 lists other important symbols of healing we need to pay attention to. Praying for the sick, often associated with laying on of hands, anointing with oil, singing psalms and hymns, confession and forgiveness are all practices that can encourage the healing process.
Observing the liturgical calendar is another way that God’s people can find God’s healing. “By connecting to the seasons of the church year we enter into a rhythm that focuses every day and every season very intentionally on the One who gives all of life meaning and purpose. By celebrating through the structures of the Church we actually are given the forms we need to become whole and we are given the formulas to make whole every human experience.”
What Is Your Response?
God does will healing not just for us but for all human kind. Incredibly we are asked to become active participants in the process and bring God’s healing and wholeness to others.
Prayerfully consider what God may ask of you to bring wholeness into a part of your life or that of others.
by Carol Dixon
photo of icon given to me by a friend
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be,
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be….
And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.[Lennon/McCartney]
Recently, this Beatles’ song has been rattling round in my head and it seems as if the words still have as much resonance for today as when it was released in 1970. Paul McCartney said that the Mary in the song referred to his mother (whose name was Mary) yet many people apply it to another Mary – the mother of Jesus. As non-conformists we didn’t often mention Jesus’ mother in church when I was growing up apart from her leading role in the Nativity narratives but as I got older I realised that there was a lot more to her than that.
My Roman Catholic friend has a wonderful robust relationship with Mary. One day, years ago, when our teenage children were driving us mad she said to me ‘Well, I’m off for a word with Mary’. Do you want to join me? Thinking she was going to church to pray I explained that in my tradition we didn’t pray to Mary. She laughed and said ‘No, I’m off for a bit of peace in the Convent garden where I sit beside her statue and say to her ‘My lad is driving me nuts as I’m sure yours did too on occasions’ and it’s wonderful to get it off your chest.’
The incident she was thinking of is recorded in Mark 3 :20-21 & 31-35 where Mary, along with Jesus’ brothers, went to try and dissuade him from antagonising the authorities but to no avail, as the crucifixion demonstrates. It is intriguing therefore to discover that after the resurrection we find Mary is mentioned on a number of occasions in the Gospels, and in Acts1 v14 she is described as being at prayer among Jesus’ followers in the Upper Room, with Jesus’ brothers.
At this limbo time between Easter and Pentecost it has been good to reflect on the different accounts of where Jesus’ mother is mentioned in the gospels – one of my favourite readings is from John’s gospel where Jesus on the Cross commends his mother into the care of one of his closest disciples.
25 Standing close to Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home. (John 19 v 25-27)
In our difficult times it is good to remember that Jesus shows the same loving compassion for each one of us even when we feel as if we are all on our own. Maybe it’s time to widen our horizons and allow our loving heavenly Father God to ‘mother’ us in our times of trouble and think of ways we can be like a mother to others.
Some years ago, I wrote a poem imagining Mary at the cross.
The Mother ‘Jesus saw his mother, with the disciple whom he loved standing beside her.’ [John 19: 26]
She looked at him
and saw that he was dying,
and rebelled against
the futility of it all.
Already he seemed
so far away from her,
like a stranger, almost.
She had known him
little more than
thirty years, such
a short time really
in the eons of eternity.
The emptiness which filled
her heart was replaced
by a kind of horror
as she looked at him –
a shadow of his former self –
his bleeding, sweating body
racked with pain; it was
revolting, repellent,
disgusting.
Where was the glory
and majesty of Death
which people talked about?
She shut her eyes
to try and efface the agony
of it all……. and saw
the stable and the blood
upon the straw, recalled
the stench of sweat
and warm animals –
felt their hot breath and the pain
of the child fighting
its way out of her womb,
from the darkness
into Light!
Looking up, she caught his eye
and, meeting his tranquil gaze,
understood he knew that they
had travailed this journey before.
The ghastly gore of death
was no different to that of birth.
The glory came afterwards…..
‘It is accomplished!’ he cried to the world;
and she smiled, through the mists of her tears. © Carol Dixon
In these uncertain times when we seem to be surrounded by death, may we get a glimpse of the resurrection hope that is found in our Loving brother Jesus, who cares for each of us as deeply as he cared for his mother Mary.
by Lilly Lewin
In the world before COVID-19, I led workshops on experiential worship and creative ways to pray. Like Jesus, I like using things I find along the way to remind me to pray for different things and different people. I also follow in the way of the Celtic Christians who prayed along with their daily tasks and routines. They had prayers for making up the bed and praying for those who slept there, prayers for making the fire before breakfast and prayers as they left the home and walked to the fields or to the barn for work. When I get up in the morning, one of the first things I do is make coffee! I use a French press so it’s a bit of a process. I use a water kettle for boiling the water which gives me time to pray for friends and family members while I wait for water to boil and the coffee to brew. I use post it notes above my coffee station as prompts and reminders. So my morning coffee routine is now a prayer practice and my coffee station, a prayer station.
Since we’ve been under the STAY at HOME order in Nashville, I’ve been inspired by other things in my kitchen too. I started noticing every day still life groupings that have inspired me to pray and I’ve posted them on my instagram feed @lillylewin. I call the series “KITCHEN STILL LIFE PRAYERS.”
I don’t find them everyday, but when the Holy Spirit sparks something, I pause and take notice, and take a photo.
Here’s a week’s worth that you can use to pray with in the coming days, and here’s my invitation to you to take notice of the everyday things around you, even dirty dishes, and allow them to inspire you to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit for inspiration!
I’d love to hear about what you notice and what God uses to inspire you to pray with along your way!
Today’s Kitchen Still Life
Seems like an invitation
A reminder
Am I awake?
Am I paying attention?
Am I willing to wake up and take notice if what is really happening?
This pandemic is revealing so many things about our world
And about each of us.
Am I willing to awaken?
I need to drink in the hard things… the pain, the suffering, the conflict. The things I have done to contribute to the injustices in the world.
The Kitchen Still Life today is
Reminding me to wake up and smell the coffee
Wake up to the broken systems and injustices in my neighborhood, in my city, in my state, in this country.
And be willing to take action! And to continue to pray for eyes to see and ears to hear as Jesus did and a heart that breaks for the things that break God’s heart. AMEN
Today’s Kitchen Still Life reminds me to pray for those who are picking our food and growing it too! All the agricultural workers we take for granted each day and who usually are not paid well for their labor or honored for their time. And they are usually immigrants and migrant workers! #grateful for their work. Praying for those who pack the products and put them on our the shelves too.
Today’s Kitchen Still Life is reminding me to pray for everyone who is cleaning up after us! Trash Collectors, custodians, cleaners in grocery stores & Hospitals etc! So Grateful!
Also, it reminds me to pray for all the moms and dads, parents & roommates who are doing a lot more clean up & time in the kitchen because we are staying in! Praying for peace & helpful hands and attitudes and finding joy in the mundane of everyday tasks!
Finally, I am so thankful for running water! And soap to wash hands & dishes when so many places don’t have the basics!
And so thankful for a dishwasher! We spent many years without one, so I’m grateful every day!
Finding beauty in the messes of life.
Today’s Kitchen Still Life
Reminds me to pray for all those doctors, scientists, and researchers trying to understand this wicked disease! All those working on vaccines and treatments, all those creative people working on test development of all kinds!
We need the wisdom & inspiration of the Holy Spirit! and the will to work together from all over the globe and from all scopes of life! So grateful that scientists are not afraid to work together! So grateful for the technology that allows this from across the world! Praying for miracles in prevention and cures! Join me!
Today’s Kitchen Still Life reminds me to Pray for @chefjoseandres and his team of amazing cooks, chefs and volunteers of World Central Kitchen on the front lines of feeding so many in the middle of #covid19 and during other disasters around the globe! If you don’t know of Chef Andres or World Central Kitchen, take time to find out. @chefjoseandres “recipes for the people,” cooking videos with his daughters will bring you joy on their own. His work and the work of @wckitchen will inspire you and encourage you too! Make a donation if you can!
Praying for all those who are helping with food insecurity in neighborhoods around the globe. Helping to provide food for those who are in need. Grateful for generous people.
Praying for our government to realize the real need for food security in the USA even before #covid19 and that we can address it!
Thankful for the Nashville Food Project for all they do each week! And practicing gratitude for whats in my pan and pantry today! 
Today’s Kitchen Still Life ... Reminds me to pray for all of us who are feeling used up, spent, done or plain forgotten.
For all the missed opportunities that have happened because of #covid19
Proms, graduation, classes, rights of passage.
Weddings, trips, funerals and proper mourning, coffee dates, work, conferences, missed kisses and hugs.
For friends, family and people everywhere feeling used up, spent, or just done.
May we remind each other of our true value… we are loved without performance!
We are adored just as we are!
We are held by the One who won’t let go!
God is with us in the Sweetness and in the very Sour. Amen!
Love from Nashville!
What does this STILL LIFE inspire you to pray about today?
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
by Tom Sine
Drive by Worship
Most Christians in North America missed the opportunity to celebrate Easter with friends and family this year. However, pastor Ryan Pedde of the Christian Reformed Bridge Church in Saskatchewan created an innovative way to gather without putting people at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Pastor Pedde and his team hosted over 240 cars at the Dow Centennial Centre on Easter morning. They not only secured the approval of the local government but also Peace Officers to help insure distancing orders were respected. Only three people were allowed in a car and members were required to keep their windows rolled up.
Parishioners said it felt more like Christmas than Easter but reportedly this congregation had a great Easter service as members of the church community. Now that was innovative.
It was estimated that over 900 people attended this worship service through streaming. People tuned in their car radio to hear the service. Since they couldn’t shout “amen”, they were encouraged to honk their horns any time they wanted to “amen” a song or a part of the sermon.
Jordon Walker, a member, got creative by taking pictures and filming the entire service from a drone. You can check it out on The River Community’s Facebook.
The pastoral Staff also host a daily prayer time every morning at 9:30 on Facebook.
Drive by Food Drop Off
Reportedly, numbers of food banks in both Canada and the United States are running out of food and supplies. Even grocery store are beginning to run out of some supplies as well.
Faith Christian Reformed in Saskatoon hosts a drive though corridor in their church parking lot where members drive in with food and supplies. They don’t even have to get out of their cars as volunteers unload the provisions to share with neighbors in need in their community.
Deacons at the church said “we are grateful for this tangible way to help those around us who desperately need it.”
How are you and your congregations reaching out to those who are struggling to get by? We would like to share some of your innovative ways your church is responding in your own community.
For more inspiring stories, check out Breaking News During COVID-19 from the Diaconal Ministries in Canada.
New book by Tom Sine and Dwight Friesen called 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change will be released in September 2020 by Fortress Press.
by Sue Duby
This journey has been so very different. I’ve wrestled often over the years with wanting my days to count. Desiring to have purpose in my actions. Joy in my “doing”. Wonder in the adventure of each day. A sense that life is full, rich and going in the right direction. But now, in the midst of continued isolation, social distancing and no clear “finish line”, it’s different.
With no toddlers to entertain, teens to coach through trigonometry lessons or a job requiring endless ZOOM calls and emails, my calendar remains crazily clear. Mornings seem to begin with a bit of a shoulder shrug, smile and shaking of my head, whispering, “OK Lord, here we are again. Another day. Wide open like all the others. Show me what You have in mind… please.”
Somehow, along the way, I’m realizing God’s not too concerned about filling my days with activities and check lists during this time. There’s a slowing down, a re-posturing, moments to actually ponder deeply and even joy in letting each day unfold (when I allow it!). And as they do, He continues to remind me of the basics in fresh ways.
This morning I had my game plan! Grab that coffee, sit in my favorite chair, try to get still and listen…hoping for some clear direction for the day. I was ready! Give me the “doing list” and I’ll happily march right through it! I flipped open my Bible and randomly decided to read Psalm 37. Familiar words, underlined multiple times, a “go to” passage… and yet this time, it came alive through the grid of “How to live my life in Corona virus crazy”.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…”
Point one in the game plan. Trust in the Lord. Rely on Him. Have confidence in Him. I know in my head I do… but do I really lean into and on Him each moment, knowing He’s “got it”… the beginning and the end of the story I’m living? Not concerned, in control and with my best in mind. Seemingly simple, but requiring ongoing to choices to NOT trust in so many other things… Covid-19 briefings, political chatter, scientific trials, even my own figuring. But actively, all the time, trusting in YOU Lord.
Point two in the game plan. Do good. That’s a puzzler indeed, since I can’t “go” or actively “do” like I loved in non-isolation days. Some are busy making masks (I crafted two and resigned from further efforts). Others shop and deliver groceries to the “elderly” (we’re limiting shopping trips, reluctantly admitting we’re in that “e” group!). I’ve video chatted with multiple friends, walked the neighborhood countless hours (definitely need a new pair of shoes when this is over!), checked in with family and even managed routine workouts with a favorite online coach (quite a sight with our yoga mats sandwiched between the dresser and bed).
I know God’s not keeping score or rating the value of any activities. He’s cheering me on in my simple desire to “do” (make, produce, act) “good” (benefit, welfare, happiness). I’m guessing that natural unfolding during a given day may be the very “doing” that pleases Him most. Waving to our homebound 85 and 95 year old neighbors as we stroll by. Sharing my saga of driving over my precious petunias with the widow across the street, while she struggles to contain an explosion of giggles. Even just thanking master dishwasher Chuck for his nightly gift. I’m guessing God smiles at all such daily “doings”.
Point three in the game plan. Dwell in the land. Reside, permanently stay, abide. We know for certain that our move to Arkansas 3 years ago was His idea. He’s truly settled us in a sweet season… close to family (Krista and gang), our own “beach cabin” (no water, but has the look!) and walking trails galore. With the novelty of isolation wearing off (I even dared yesterday to voice aloud, “I’m over it!!!”), everything in me wants to jump ship, go somewhere, hop on an airplane (maybe not quite yet). . . or at least endure until the next going somewhere… anywhere! Instead, in the midst of restlessness, it’s clear. Stay put. Live like I REALLY live here. Not just until the next activity. Not just until things “open up”. But believe in His promise that “dwelling” is a sweet thing.
In fact, dwelling allows us to “enjoy safe pasture”. Dwelling allows me to pause and see the table He’s already set before me. A safe home. A full freezer. Health of our entire family. A slowing to “graze” on what He brings each day. Sunshine. First blooms of Spring. Bounty in the midst of such a time.
Point four in the game plan. Delight in the Lord. I know I love Him… but “delight”? Do I wait for Him to lead, guide, answer my prayers only… or am I really happy in just being with Him? Do I truly find my joy and “making merry” in my heart with Him? When I lay all else aside and grab hold of that privilege, it comes only naturally that my desires line up with His. Even in the midst of uncertainty and unscripted times.
Point five in the game plan. Commit my way to Him. Confession… most days I charge into the morning with swirling thoughts of options to fill the hours ahead. I’m a great dreamer, planner and list maker. Then, somewhere along the way (NOT quickly), I grimace, reroute my thoughts for a pause and dare to ask, “Lord do you have something for this day?”. For me, it requires more than a simple change of focus. It’s taking clenched fists holding my plans, opening those palms and letting go… waiting for Him to fill them back up with better plans. And then, He promises to “do this”… to carry the load and work His best for my good.
Point six in the game plan. Be still… and wait for Him. The grand summary. After posturing myself to listen, let go of my plans, expect He has better ones and knows all my days. . . my job is to get still and wait. Why is it that when I’m most ready to “get the show on the road”, pausing for silence and waiting is first required? He knows me well. That I can easily run off with my good ideas. OK and maybe even great ones… but not best ones. So, the stillness, the pause to rest… and the waiting for further direction is all for my good.
The root of “wait” comes from “to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail”. A crazy mix, but sets a picture in my mind of a restless young child, pensive with excitement, jumping and dancing about, while at the same time anxious and nervous about what’s to come. That’s me. Waiting for God, for timing and His ways, is hard… in moments, seemingly impossible to handle. But in the midst, while waiting and knowing He’s not gone anywhere and is actively working on my behalf, I’m privileged to experience
- Unfolding days
- New understanding
- Release in the joy of a slower pace
- Reminders of His presence and love
- Tickles of joyful gratitude
- Refreshment in mind and spirit
The journey continues to be so different. Puzzling. Uncertain. Like no other. Along the way, His road map is clear and simple. May I trust in Your best, Lord and eagerly wait for You.
by Christy Grace Arnold-Milston
There is hope. There is hope for a tree that has been cut down by life’s storms and trials, that it will sprout again and grow new shoots and leaves. There is hope for a dream that has been cut down by many tests and hardships that it will sprout again, as God can breathe new life into those dry bones. He can make a way, where there seems to be no way. Your dreams have potential to grow, despite multiple setbacks. No matter what you facing right now in your life or how impossible a dream looks, you can trust and put your hope in a God who brings life and restoration.
You serve a faithful and true God who offers hope and new life in the midst of pain, loss, tragedy and confusion. He’s the God of second chances. He can redeem anything and restore anything. He will never leave us nor forsake us in the fire, however He is also faithful to bring deliverance in His timing. No matter what current situations or circumstances look like right now, it doesn’t define the future that God has planned for your life. You may be wondering to yourself, “Well, then why is God allowing this?” It’s important you come to the revelation that God sees the bigger picture and He knows what He is doing. You may not understand the process, but that is where faith and trust comes in. Trusting God and putting your faith in Him is a vital part of the process.
Sometimes it can be hard to trust God whilst waiting for a breakthrough or promise to come to pass, when it looks impossible to come to fruition. There even maybe certain situations that keep reoccurring which can cause a lot of pain and grief in some cases. But Jesus is close to the broken-hearted. He is close beside you everywhere you go. And whilst you’re struggling to see the breakthrough, it’s in these moments that God is testing your faith and preparing you for those dreams that He has given you. For it’s in these certain waiting seasons that God wants you to walk by faith not by sight- relying on what He has spoken to you rather than what you see. Jesus will never let you down. Choose to hold onto hope in the waiting. Choose to hold onto His Word and Promises during many trials and tests. Don’t allow the enemy to discourage you from believing what God has spoken to just because you are not seeing it yet or if it is taking a really long time.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)
It’s important to have hope in the waiting, but if you are find that you’re getting really discouraged by what appears to be circumstances that seem impossible right now, ask God to remind you of the plans that He has for you. Ask God to expose any lies that you have been believing and replace them with His Word, His Truth and His Promises. Ask God to help you see things how He sees things. He is faithful to respond to you when you ask for His help, wisdom and perspective on your situation. So trust Him. Trust God that He can bring about new beginnings and new life to your dreams, because He can and He is faithful too. No weapon that the enemy forms against can hinder God’s perfect plan for your life. No obstacle has the power and authority to hinder God from doing what He has promised to do in your life. You worship an unstoppable God. Trust that God has it all in His hands. He knows the beginning from the end, and the end from the beginning. God is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud. And bring forth branches like a plant.” Job 14:7-9 (NKJV)
(Above image is not my photo- used with permission by Pexels.com)
~~~~~~~
Christy Grace Arnold-Milston is the founder of I AM H.E.R.R- Healed. Embraced. Restored. Redeemed, which is a blog and magazine for women who want to discover more about their worth, identity in Christ and calling. She was born in 1998 and has been raised in a Christian family. Christy surrendered her life to God when she was 12 years old, as she really sensed the call of God upon her life to follow Jesus to know Him and make Him known. In 2016 she completed Year 12 ever since has progressively been moving forward into the future God has for her life
by Lynn Domina
I recently came across a photograph of a large stone carved with the words, “Abandon all hope,” alluding to Dante’s Inferno and its warning outside the entrance to hell, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Throughout The Inferno, God is never mentioned directly, because hell is so absent of God that even the word itself cannot be spoken. That’s almost the definition of hell in The Inferno, a place where God is absolutely missing. It occurs to me now, though, as I think about that carving and its warning, that hell is also the place where hope is entirely missing.
Over the years of my long life, I have occasionally felt nearly hopeless, though I’ve always been able to cling to something, at least a hope for hope. And something or someone has always come through for me. I am able to live in hope because I have experienced so much kindness.
Living in the midst of a pandemic as we are now, it’s easy to forget kindness, to surrender to panic, even despair, instead. Every morning when I wake up, the death toll has risen by thousands. How could something so small and invisible as a virus have such power? How could experts not know when this will all end as they warn us to prepare for another wave? I think about our ancestors who experienced the plague, who didn’t know anything about transmission by fleas, who only knew when they spotted a black lump like a tumor in their armpit that they would be dead by nightfall. The other day when I felt hot and clammy, I took my temperature, and when I felt a scratchiness in my throat, I wondered if it was the beginning of something really bad. We’re right to fear the corona virus, to fear it enough to respect its power, to protect our neighbors from our potential contagion even when we feel fine. How ironic that this virus accelerated so furiously just as we were preparing to celebrate the greatest feast of the Christian year. Just as we prepared to greet each other with renewed life, we needed to consider our own potential as agents of death.
We are all heirs of people who survived the Black Death that overwhelmed much of Europe during the 14th century, or of the smallpox and measles epidemics that infected indigenous peoples of the Americas during the 16th century and later, or of similar diseases that have historically spread across every inhabited continent. In our lifetimes, we’ve witnessed millions of people die of AIDS and thousands of Ebola. And yet we have not abandoned hope. We have trusted physicians and scientists to discover causes, treatments, and cures; we’ve donated our resources and changed our behaviors to help o
ther people, many of them absolute strangers, survive.
During the spring of 2020 and maybe for quite a while longer, isolating ourselves is becoming an act of kindness for hundreds of others we may never even meet. It’s an act, not of panic but of hope. When I walk around my neighborhood, I see how many people have decorated their windows with hearts. I read story after story about people sewing and donating masks. I watched Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar that Andrew Lloyd Webber made freely available to all of us. I see photographs of children waving through the windows of their grandparents’ nursing homes. We’ll get through this. We’ll be together again. I hope we’ll be able to maintain the concern we’ve felt for each other once we feel secure and ordinary again. I believe we can.
If you’ve never read The Inferno, I encourage you to take a look. It ends with the word “stars,” as do all three sections of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Stars, those mysterious beckoning points of light that remind us how vast the universe is. And we’re part of it, all of the darkness and all of the light. The Inferno ends with stars, but it doesn’t really end even there, for it continues through The Purgatorio to The Paradiso, where it really ends, where we will all end, in paradise with stars.
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