Reminders

Wow. Life is complicated, isn't it? It just seems like things are always changing - that nothing ever stays the same, and that nothing good can just be good without something trying to mess it up. It's confusing, often heartbreaking, and almost always stressful. And at times, it seems like you're so aware of the "complicated" side of things, that you'll never be able to come up for air again and see anything brighter.

That's kind of where I've been lately - bent under the weight of what the world calls "life". But I've gotten several reminders today that what I see going on around me isn't anything close to the life that Jesus had in mind for us when He died.

I've been reminded today that I don't have to fall into the patterns that this world has tried to determine for me. He has set me aside for a greater purpose, and no one can take that away from me. No one can make me go back to the path I was headed down before, because I've been freed from that Egypt, and I ain't goin' back, no-way, no-how.

I've also been reminded today that God chose me to be His own - and He chooses me again and again every day. He doesn't tire of me (although I don't know how). He loves me, and wants me, and even desires me. And because of that, He will never, ever, forget me. Even if the whole world allowed me to be swallowed up and lost, He would still have His hand on my heart and my life in His grasp.

And I've been reminded that when nothing else is constant, Jesus is the Rock to which I can always turn. He is always good. He is always present. He is always the same.

I've needed these reminders today. The past few weeks have been rough ones for me (in many different ways - some more painful than others). At times it has felt like my life has been wrapped up in little deaths - some for the good, some, well, not so much - and it has been consuming, to say the least. So consuming that it's been hard to get that glimpse of Him. Hard to lift my head.

But then I was also reminded today that with God, death does not end in death.

For after The Death, there was resurrection.

And after these deaths too, there will be new life.

I love that our God is the God of hope. I love that in the midst of the darkest, loneliest storms, His light is right there with us because the darkness cannot put it out.

I love that He loves us the way He does.

I'm not selfish enough or so blind that I can't see so many others around me wrapped up in their own season of changes and deaths. I may be the only one fighting my own particular battle, but the battlefield is strewn with casualties right now. It's surreal, really, how much pain and hurt there is to go around today.

If you find yourself with me in those numbers, be encouraged. Find strength as we head into Easter, that while Friday is dark, Sunday is coming. Our Jesus is the resurrected lamb. He has brought life from death, and has taken us out of the grip of darkness.

He is the Way

the Truth,

the Life.

And that will never change.