In the meantime

I sat there in the recliner, holding my Little Girl.  She had been crying, hysterically so, with giant crocodile tears welling up in her eyes.  I picked her up. She stopped crying. She was crying for Mommy. Wait a minute…     She was crying for Me .      I’m her Mommy. And then, while Talitha snuggled up with me, I was the one crying. They were mostly tears of joy, tears of overwhelming thankfulness to God for giving us our Talitha. But there were also tears because I missed ever getting to hold our Twins, tears because of all of the “what could have beens.” But in the end, there were tears because I know God is good and He does bring “joy in the morning,” despite the sorrow in the night. Last week at the local MOPS-equivalent get-together, a couple ladies shared on Infant Loss Awareness Day. Yes, it has been like almost three years since we miscarried, but as one of the...

We live in a broken world.  All around us we see those we care about going through sickness and pain, death and sorrow, wrongs and injustices.  We ourselves experience it as well.  There’s no way around it: life is hard.  No matter how closely we walk with God and love Him, there will be bumps along the way that will threaten to shake our faith.  Or when we see those around us feeling the effects of this sin-cursed world, we wonder if there will ever be an end to it all.  I’m thankful that we can know the end of it all and that we don’t have to be overcome by the storms of life.  I’m thankful that there is more to life than merely this life, for it is the hope of what is to come that gives us strength to press on.  I’m thankful that we can celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection.  If Christ hadn’t died and risen again, we really would be living in a dark and hopeless world—the pain and suffering...

October 15 was Pregnancy and  Infant Loss Awareness Day.  I don’t really have much of anything eloquent or profound to say in light of it, as on one hand, dozens of emotions  are forever crowding my mind, making it hard to even know where to start. On the other hand, I feel empty and dried up, with no more emotions to be had…. Anyway, I do want to share something someone else has already said that is way better than anything I could ever say.  Here’s for you moms out there who know the pain and sorrow of losing a child: Be encouraged--it is only a temporary pain, even if it lasts a lifetime. We have a much greater hope and glory to look forward to!  “Every heart knows its own bitterness, and every heart has bitterness to know.  Sin must bring sorrow—tears are the inheritance of earth’s children;  but in the city to which we are going ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,...

This world isn’t the way it was originally created to be. In the beginning, it was perfect—exactly how God designed it to be.  But then the Fall happened and Adam blessed us with the curse of sin.  We now live in a sin-cursed world, with every aspect of our lives marked by the effects of sin in some way or another. “… for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now…”        Because of sin, life is full of groaning: Pain, sadness, tears, disappointments, sickness, death…the list of very real groaning due to sin could go on.  And when pain and sadness, suffering and tears, sickness and death make their way into our lives in big ways, it is easy to get bogged down with these things because it is what we see and feel and experience and live.  They are our life.  These groanings--these horrible consequences due to sin's curse--...

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”      2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Just over two weeks ago, a fellow-student with me and Isaac our freshman year here at Cornerstone Bible Institute became one of the 19 firefighters killed in the Yarnell, Arizona fire.  Isaac and I were privileged to attend the funeral service for Dustin DeFord last Saturday. The testimony for the Lord that Dustin left is being spread throughout this nation, perhaps even in different parts of the world.  The witness that his family is now having in their response to his death is an incredible testimony to the Lord.  Even so, the DeFord family and close friends of...

Resurrection Sunday.  Such an incredible day to celebrate.  I would like to be able to sit down and write an eloquent post on it, but I can't.  However, that doesn't mean that the significance of this event is consequently lost.  Please no!  Whether or not I continue to grow in my understanding of the fundamental necessity of the resurrection to my Christian faith, the truth remains: without the resurrection, there would be no salvation, there would be no hope, there would be no sanctification.   Jesus is alive!  How does that affect my present circumstances?  How does that change my perspective of the future?  How does that impact my relationship with Him?   My mind cannot seem to sort out specific and detailed answers right now for these questions, but I rest in the certainty that Christ has conquered death and that He has " begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorr...