He Has Promised

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers, welcome and thank you for joining us. Although it has been almost a week since Easter, Easter has continued to dominate our thoughts and discussions over this past week.

In last week’s post I focused more on Joy’s search for lost memories and understanding of this same time period from two years ago, and while that was true, I also feel compelled to share more of the wonder we experienced as we joined in observances of Christ’s Passion and glorious resurrection. Almost every day of the week, we found opportunity to worship and mediate on those events from two thousand years ago. They seemed to come alive for us in a new way this year especially for Joy.

Joy was repeatedly moved to share how much she identified with Christ’s sufferings and sacrifice and felt uniquely close to Him in the childlike place she finds herself after her TBI. Jesus’ compassion for children recorded in several places in the Gospels has taken on such a significance for Joy and it always warms my heart, and at times brings me to tears, when she shares how comforting and encouraging that is to her.

As she shared her beautiful albeit childlike insights on Holy Week, something I’m encouraging her to write about herself, it again made me genuinely appreciate the unique blessings we experience even in the midst of the tremendous loses resulting from the accident. So many things will never be the same and far from what we had planned, and yet, we are so very blessed in many new ways by God’s genuine grace and mercy shown us. In one sense our lives consist of shattered dreams and yet as those dreams shattered, new doors opened and new experiences have been lived, in a richer and deeper way than we may have ever known possible without that shattering.

Still, this is also a time when we are not alone in our shattered realities. Some of our dearest loved ones, family and friends, are experiencing their own version of shattered dreams through trials of physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial challenges. For those in the dry and painful place of unwanted and unexpected trials, I want to share some thoughts from Larry Crabb, that I have to admit, when I initially read them years ago, seemed more like pious platitudes rather than “real life” experience.

However, today, I read them, having lived them, and can confidently testify to their reality. So I share them now in the hope that they may be a genuine encouragement for what can be a tangible possibility, rather than wishful religious speak. In his book, Shattered Dreams, Crabb writes:

If you’re seeking God in the middle of shattered dreams, if you’ve become aware of your desire for Him but are having trouble finding Him, be encouraged that it bothers you. The more you’re bothered by not finding Him, the more aware you’re becoming of how badly you want Him. Abandon yourself to Him. Let the Cross bring you confidence that He is with you and will reveal Himself to you.

Abandonment and confidence—here are two key elements of true spirituality. When you realize that your desire for God is the most passionate yearning of your heart, you’re in the spiritual condition to recognize God’s hand when He makes it visible.

The soul’s capacity to abandon itself to God and to enjoy confidence in Him is a capacity that the Spirit’s companionship inspires. It develops most fully when our capacity for lesser pleasures is frustrated. Shattered dreams give us the chance to discover our desire for God and then to create space for Him (abandonment) and to watch Him enter (confidence). As that process slowly unfolds, we become aware of God’s desire for us.

God does want us happy; He’s gone to great lengths to ensure our eternal joy. But the happiness He provides now is the strange happiness of longing for what we were designed to experience but must wait to fully enjoy. It’s the happiness of serving a God we trust enough to let us cry today, knowing He has promised to wipe our eyes tomorrow.