One year later...

Sometimes, when I'm grumpy or down in the dumps, my husband suggests we play what he calls the "Blessings Game." This means that we take turns thanking God for things. Invariably, its difficult for me at first because I stubbornly want to sulk, but eventually it turns my mood around and puts my heart back in the right place - thanking the One who is worthy of praise no matter what is happening. But today I need no encouragement to play the Blessings Game. My heart is completely overwhelmed with praise!

Thank you Jesus!

... that I am even in the place to praise You, to talk to You, to know You. For new life, for life that lasts forever with You. For calling me out, picking me up, and placing me on solid rock that has held me steady through all kinds of storms and sunny weather alike.

... for reminding me to pray constantly over those years, for giving me all the strength and persistence neccessary to keep praying for him even in the face of hurt, rejection, discouragement, hopelessness, and exhaustion.

... for never giving up on Your lost sheep. For going and getting him from his dark pit and bringing him into the light. For giving him a brand new redeemed, restored life with You.

... for allowing me to witness (all at once!) years worth of tearfully fervent prayers get answered right before my eyes. For letting me be there to see You crumble a hardened heart and replace it with a heart of flesh.

... for remaining so faithful to me and to Your perfect plan for us, even through my many periods of shameful faithlessness. For being so patient with me, and never letting me wander too far off course before calling me back and reminding me of the good You had in store.

... for Your promise that "the best is yet to come," and the peace that came from believing that. For all the wisdom and truth and confirmation I got from reading "Choosing God's Best." (Thank you Heather!) For blowing my mind one year ago today (and every day since) with what Your best really was, I never could have known it could have been THIS good. For reminding me still, through every trial we face together, that Your best is still yet to come.

... for how deeply You love us, how thoughtfully You created us individually and for each other, how closely You've knitted us together, how generously You provide for us in every possible way, and how carefully You carry us through.

... for giving him the strength to quit smoking cold turkey and a whole year without a single cigarette.

... for an incredible husband, best friend, lover, and leader who I get to look forward to seeing every single day. For a man who makes me laugh more than anyone, who loves me more than I deserve. For giving him all the words he needed to teach me about You when I didn't know a thing, and the perserverance to keep telling me even when I resisted.

... for how perfectly you've put together our story, so that we are an undeniable testimony to your power and love. For the ways that you've used our story to change other people's lives. For letting us be your witnesses. For using our history to confirm our future, for bringing us together in such a way that we will never be able to fool ourselves into thinking that this was not your perfect plan for us.

... for an incredible first year back together, the first of many.

... for the pastor, spiritual father and discipler who has spoken an incredible amount of truth and guidance and love into my life from day one. For giving me someone who didn't think I was crazy for believing what You had told me, who helped me pray for him, who walked with me and encouraged me all the way to the end of the aisle. For everything he's taught me and all the understanding of Your Word I've learned from him over the years that You remind me of whenever I am confused or unsure. Thank You for being so evident in him, for all the lives that he continues to influence with love and wisdom and patience.

... for being the God who is able to do abundantly more than we could ever ask for or imagine, and reminding me of that on such a consistent basis. For giving me more reasons to praise You than I could ever put down in words.

I will never run out of reasons to praise You - its a good thing I have the rest of eternity!

Resurrection of the Lord, of life, of love.

Today, Sunday April 4th is Easter. This day honors and exalts the day that our Lord, the King of Kings and Creator of the universe, defeated the undefeatable. In His perfect, spotless, sinless state, He beat death, He conquered the grave. He rose. And in dying first and then rising, He gives us each the opportunity to do the same - first to die to this world and all that it offers, and then to rise into life - real life, the life we were designed to live. Wholly, sanctified, and with our Designer. Set free from the weight of death, we rise into an everlasting life the moment that we believe and on into eternity. And one day, we will be raised physically to live forever with Him in His presence.

Today, Sunday April 4th also marks the 7th day of a most incredible, almost indescribable week. A week so unlike any other and so beyond human capability that it has clearly blossomed straight out of God's hand. This moves me to tears each time I pour my heart out in thanksgiving to it's Author. Today marks the end of a week watching life and love be raised out of death by the power of God.


(to be continued)

A Form of Religion Without Any Power

We are called to worship God both in Spirit and in truth... Knowing the Power of His Resurrection Tim Keller "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:7-11 I was watching a documentary recently on PBS and there was a minister who was asked, "Do you believe Jesus was raised from the dead?" And he responded, "The purpose and the personality and the power that was in Jesus continues, so that today he is a risen and living presence and possibility." What was he saying? He was suggesting that the purpose of Jesus lives on but that he is still physically dead.

But if Jesus' example lives on while he is really dead, you can only know him as an example. You can't talk to him, and he can't talk to you. If Jesus is not really living, he is not a living force who can come in and intervene in your life. You will have a form of religion without any power. But on the other hand, it is also possible to be orthodox about your belief in the resurrection of Jesus, but if you've never had a profound experience of that resurrection, your own spiritual resurrection, then you have a form of religion without power as well. One one hand, the resurrection is a fact to be believed. On the other hand, it is an experience to connect with. If you have one without the other--if you believe in the resurrection as historical fact but never experience the resurrection personally, or if you think of the resurrection as a spiritual experience but don't believe it was a fact--you come out with a form of religion with no power. My question is: Do you know them both? Do you believe in the resurrection as a historical event, and have you also had that profound personal experience of spiritual resurrection? Christianity refuses to be stuck in either category. It is not all about rationality, nor is it all about spirituality. It's both. On one hand, Christianity is about beliefs, proposition, and ethics. But that's not enough. You have to experience him to know him. There has to be a real connection. And on the other hand, Christianity is not only a spiritual religion. It's not like Eastern religions with no rational content. Christianity has hard edges to it. It says, "This is true, and this is false. This will get you saved. This will get you damned. This actually happened."...

To be a Christian is not just to believe in a set of propositions. It is that, but it's much more. It is to say, "I count everything as loss or rubbish in comparison to my number one ambition, which is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering." Paul is saying that if you understand the doctrine of the resurrection you don't just believe, you have a passion. When I talk about having a passion for Christ, it might make you afraid that I mean you need to be a fanatic. Maybe you think, I had an aunt like that. All she did was talk about religion and the Bible and made everybody sick of it. That's not what we're talking about when we talk about a passion for Christ. It's like my glasses. I don't spend all my time looking at and talking about my glasses. But I do spend all my time seeing everything through my glasses. And if my relationship between my and my glasses gets off, if they get too far down on my nose or get too dirty, it affects my perception of everything. Likewise, a person with a passion for Christ is not necessarily always talking about Christ, but is looking at everything through Christ....

(This is an excerpt from the book Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross: Experiencing The Passion And Power Of Easter.)