Another Mary: He Knew Her Name

One of the most touching words in the entire Bible to me is in the Easter story.

After Jesus was killed, Mary Magdalene (one whom Jesus had driven out 7 demons: Mark 16:9) went to the tomb. To say that Jesus had radically changed her life is surely an understatement. Can you imagine how she felt when He was killed, and all of her hope with Him. All she knew to do was to go to where He had been buried. I imagine she just needed to be close to Him.

She stood outside of his tomb crying when she realized that his body was not where it had been buried. Not only did she lose him, but she lost the ability to even grieve where his body had been laid. As she was crying, Jesus Himself came up and talked to her, but she didn't realize that it was Him.

She was carried away with grief, feeling hopeless and lost, until He said one word:

"Mary" John 20:16

When He said her name, she knew who He was, hope was restored and she ran to tell the disciples the very good news.

That one word changed everything for her; He called her by name. We can spend our lives knowing about Jesus, hearing about all He has done and all that He has done even for us. But life changes drastically when you hear Him call YOUR name.

As we live beyond Easter and the good news of "He is risen. He is alive." My prayer is that you would hear Him call you by name. I pray that, like Mary, you will experience all of the hope and life change that she did when she realized that He knew her and called her by name!

So Great a Salvation

This week in a Lenten Reader that prepares us for Holy Week, I read this quote about Mary:

"Then there's Mary, standing there to the bitter end; the mother of God, who gave up her womb, her reputation and finally gives up the One for whom she gave it all."

She gives up the One for whom she gave it all. That hit me like a ton of bricks! So many times I feel like God has asked a lot of me, has put a lot on my plate. Somewhere in my subconscious I even start to believe that He owes me for what I have sacrificed or given. I forget about Mary, and Esther, and Moses, and David, and the ones that Hebrews 11 says:

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." They each said yes to God's call on their lives to join Him in His bigger story and each paid a high price for it.

As I get ready to celebrate Easter, I cannot bypass Good Friday. I cannot forget that my freedom and my salvation came at a very high price.

"How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him." Hebrews 2:3

"It's crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we've heard so that we don't drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation?" Hebrews 2:3 (The Message Translation)

I will probably never fully understand the price that Mary paid by saying yes to God when she was blessed and chosen to be part of His plan to save the world. I will never know how she felt at the foot of that cross as she "gave up" all that she "gave it all up for".

But I do know that I will never give to my Savior more than He has given me. He will never ask more of me than He gave for my freedom and salvation. I do not want to ignore so great a salvation or let my heart drift from remembering how costly this free gift really was.

He owes me nothing and has given me more than I could ever deserve: such a great and perfect salvation!

Happy Easter
Angela

For Virginia

My precious friend, Virginia, is pregnant with twins. She already has 2 beautiful little girls. Virginia was in France when we arrived there in 2000. She understands God's love and redemption in a very special way. She found Christ when she was in college and had lived, up to that point, VERY far from Him.

Yesterday I heard the heartbreaking news that Virginia and John's unborn son has Downs Syndrome and a heart condition. I've read the encouragement of their friends on Facebook and as I've read them I can't help but remember how I felt 15 years ago when Jim and I received similar news about our baby son. The encouragement was priceless, but I also needed someone to acknowledge that this was hard and life-altering. I needed to hear from someone who had been there.

So I started thinking about what I want to say to John and Virginia, and I have to admit that what my heart feels and wants to say is very difficult to express. I'll take a shot at it though, because I love John and Virginia dearly.

I want them to know that among the heartache is hope, amidst the suffering is grace, behind the ambiguity is a divine plan, and inside of their son is an eternal soul created in the image of God.

Yes they are going to find God more faithful than they ever dreamed He could be, but they will also learn that He is more unpredictable than they wish He was. They will discover that His grace indeed is sufficient, but His ways are so much higher than theirs that they cannot even imagine what the next step will look like. Their faith will be tested as they wonder if a good God would place a precious soul inside of a broken body. They will grieve the little boy they lost as they embrace and love the little boy they have. Grief will take them by surprise at different stages in their son's life.

They will discover, as they allow God to give them strength, that God is indeed very good. As they fall more and more in love with their son, they'll understand more and more about God's love for broken and imperfect people. Temporal things will lose value and they will learn what is really important. Their hearts will bust with joy and pride as they see small victories in his life.

They will worry about the sacrifices their other children will make for their brother. Then one day they'll look at their amazing children and realize that they are better for having sacrificed.

They'll appreciate more the fact that in heaven there will be no bad news, no pain, no suffering and no tears.

They will wake up every morning aware of their need for a gracious and loving God. That is the greatest gift of all. We all desperately need Him, we just tend to become self sufficient and forget.

One day they will thank God for who they are because of who their son is and because of all that he has taught them.

It's not a road they would choose, but one day they will look back and they wouldn't trade that road for anything in the world.........

The Lord said to Gideon, "Go in the strength that you have......I will be with you". My advise would be...get out of bed every morning and put one foot in front of the other in the strength that you have. God will be with you every step that you take and His grace and strength will be more than enough!

Press on my dear dear friends!

It Matters

This past weekend my pastor talked about David and how he was trained for greatness in the most unusual place, in a field taking care of sheep. David was anointed to be the next king of Israel when the prophet Samuel came to visit. He was the unlikely choice to be king, so much so that his father didn't even think to call him in for the prophet to consider. He was chosen, anointed and then went back out in the field to continue his work, to take care of his responsibilities.

This week I got an email from a young mom (love you so much Lynette!) who is discouraged and is finding it challenging to take care of her new baby and not finding time to pray and have her quiet time like she did before. Wow, have I been there! In her note she said, "How did you survive these times in life? I feel like I'm dying and my joy is fading by the moment."

As I thought and prayed about how to encourage her, I thought of David faithfully looking after his father's sheep. I thought about what pleasure God must have taken in seeing him do the task set before him with diligence and faithfulness. Then I thought about this sweet mom faithfully loving and nurturing her baby. And I asked myself this question, does God only take delight in us when we are on our knees praying or sitting in front of our Bibles? Or does He delight in seeing us serve Him with joy in whatever task He has allowed to be in front of us.

I remembered being in France with a child with special needs who only slept 3 hours a night and was at home crying most of the day. I couldn't imagine that God was anywhere near or that He could ever use me again....and here I was in France as a missionary! I thought I was going to drown.

All I knew to do was to open my Bible and cry out the Lord, as feeble as my cry may have been. I felt God whisper a question to my heart, "Will you serve me?" I explained to God that I could serve Him if He'd send help so that I could sleep and at least leave my house. Then He whispered, "Will you serve me with joy and thanksgiving?" Again, yes of course Lord, I've left everything to serve you! Then, "Will you serve me with joy and thanksgiving by loving this one little boy....with no one noticing but me and him?" That's when I understood that God takes delight in seeing me serve Him in whatever it is that is before me....with joy and thanksgiving.

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 1 Samuel 15:22

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23

I would bet that David did his job well because he was doing it as work to his God, whether that was protecting sheep or reigning as king. I encouraged this young mamma to love her baby and to serve with all of her heart as unto the Lord. He is never far, is always providing grace for the task at hand, and takes great delight in His children.

Whatever training ground God has you on, I pray that you will find joy and strength in every task.

Press On
Angela

Great Joy

The part of the story of Christ's birth in the Bible that brings me to tears and touches me in a deep place is when some shepherds were out in the fields just doing their job and an angel appeared to them. Here they were just normal everyday guys and an angel comes to fill them in on the "good news".

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10

The first time I heard (or at least paid attention to) that passage was when Linus quoted it in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I was a young girl and had no idea why it made me feel like I was going to cry. Somehow I knew in my heart that it was important and good news even for me.

Today I understand a little better that the "good news" the angel was talking about was that a Savior had come for them....and for me. There was a point in my life when I realized that the world was broken. I got to a place in my life when I realized that life did not look like I thought it would look. Sometimes we get to that place because of our own sin and choices and consequences. Sometimes we get to that place because others have hurt, abused, or abandoned us. Sometimes life just throws blows that we nor anyone else had any control over. A Savior came for us all, in all of our brokeness, in all of our frailty and in all of our disappointments and pain.

That passage still makes me cry. An angel showed up to tell some ordinary guys the best news ever. Their lives were never going to be the same. And neither will ours as we trust and hope in this Christ child who is the good news for all people!

I pray that this Christmas you will be overwhelmed by the news that a Savior has come for you. You will never hear better news than that!

Merry Christmas!
Angela

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn10FF-FQfs

Desires

My dauther, Melissa, is in New York City this semester dancing as an intern with a dance company. Recently we were talking about why she loves to dance, and she couldn't explain her passion. It's as if she was born with a love for it. We decided that, along with our gifts and talents, even what we are passionate about is from God.

Psalm 139:13-15 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

How sweet to know that not only does God know us better than we know ourselves, but He created us just as we are with a purpose in mind.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

So my prayer for each of us is that as we delight ourselves in Him, He will continue to plant HIS desires for us into our hearts. And as we follow our hearts, we will actually be following HIS dreams and plans for our lives.

Together

I ran my first half marathon! It was an amazing experience to do something that I never dreamed I could do and to push myself way beyond what was comfortable for me. It was also an unforgetable experience because I ran it with 2 of my sisters and my niece (plus big sis and niece's mom along with my parents were there cheering us on). But the best moment of the day was when I heard about this volunteer who had come to pass out water at mile 11.

A woman, who was originally there to run the full marathon but missed the 9 mile cutoff time and had to settle for the half, arrived at the 11 mile station and told the volunteer that she just wasn't going to make it. She asked if they would please call someone to come and pick her up. She went on to explain that she didn't make the cutoff and was so discouraged and tired that she just couldn't go the last 2 miles to even finish the half.

The volunteer tried to encourage her to finish and finally said, "What if I run the rest of the way with you?" The lady couldn't believe that this volunteer was willing to jump in and run with her. In the end the two of them took of from the 11-mile station and crossed the finish line together. The young woman didn't hold the runner up, didn't even touch her in fact, but her presence gave her the strength to finish the race.

This is why I love the Body of Christ. This is why I LOVE my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are here to run together, to encourage each other as we each "run the race that is set out for us". We can't run it for each other, but running with each other gives us the strength and courage to finish well.

I know the beauty of having others come along beside me when I don't feel like I can face another day. I know what it's like to experience "Christ in the flesh" when a family member or friend walks difficult days with you. I am grateful for those in my life who didn't bail when things got sad and messy for me! They are running this race with me and pointing me to Christ, the One who gives me His strength when my strength is gone.

I pray that you know the beauty of having brothers and sisters in Christ who are running beside you, reminding you of who Christ is and who you are in Him and that you run this race well!