 "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.' "
Luke 2:10-11 When we said good-bye to our babies, we experienced a grief and sorrow unlike any we had known. At times we felt like we were drowning in it. It felt like we would never be happy again. Indeed, it sometimes felt like being happy, or smiling, or laughing would be a betrayal of our children in Heaven, as if we had forgotten them. But the Scriptures seem to make a distinction between happiness and joy. Happiness seems to be dependent on our circumstances and the things that happen to us. Joy, however, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is a natural quality of our lives when we trust Christ and abide in Him. In lighting the third Advent candle, we declare by faith that joy is possible on this journey. We choose by faith to believe that there are many things to be joyful for, especially the coming of our Savior to rescue us from sin and sorrow, and that deep joy and deep sadness are not mutually exclusive, nor does sorrow indicate a lack of faith, but rather, a depth of love. God, fill our hearts with your joy this Advent season. Help us to trust you in our sorrow and not to be hard on ourselves when the joy, and even happiness, bubbles out. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who grows joy in our hearts as we abide in you. Amen. Follow these links for other titles in this series: Week 1 - hope Week 2 - love Week 3 - joy Week 4 - peace
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 Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." When we said goodbye to our babies, most of us at some point asked why. Why did my baby die? We ask it on two levels - physical and spiritual. We want to know what went wrong physically. And we want to know why God didn't stop it. Fully fleshed out, many of us want to know, "If God loves me, why would He let me hurt like this?" The question itself reveals a fundamental belief about love - that the truest expression of love is the protection of the object of that love. When we find ourselves hurting, we begin to distrust the one who supposedly loves us. What if that belief is wrong? What if the truest expression of love is not in what one is protected from, but in what one sacrifices for the beloved? Over and over again in Scripture, we are told that while God's love is shown in many ways through His care and provision for us, the truest expression of His love is found in one place - the cross of Calvary, where the Son of God laid down His life for us. An act of love that began with the Incarnation, God taking on human flesh - the story of Christmas. In lighting the second candle of Advent, we recognize by faith that the greatest expression of God's love is not in how well he protects us from earthly harm, but in how far He went to bring us back to Himself - sending Jesus from the splendor of Heaven to the squalor of Earth, to be born into poverty, raised in obscurity, to die in humility, and to be resurrected in glory. We choose by faith to believe that God does love us, regardless of how our circumstances make us feel. God, fill our hearts with your love this Advent. We are hurting, and you could have kept us from it, and so it is easy to doubt your love. But help us lift our eyes from our painful circumstances long enough to set them on the cross. Assure us of your love so that, in that knowledge, we can face our circumstances with renewed strength and faith in You, especially in this Christmas season. Amen. Follow these links for other titles in this series: Week 1 - hope Week 2 - love Week 3 - joy Week 4 - peace Have you ever wondered if your baby would have lived, if only your faith was stronger? Or has anyone else ever suggested that to you? I wrote about that concept this month in my Glory and Strength column. Suffering and the Hall of Faith Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 Children are meaning-makers. Just listen to any preschool child chatter away – half of their conversation will be filled with “why.” Why is grass green? Why do I have to eat my dinner? Why do fish swim? They are trying to make sense of their world, and they start by asking, “Why?” We joke about this being a trait of childhood, but as adults, we do the same thing. We want to make sense of our world – especially when something happens that doesn’t make sense. When illness, or loss, or hardship strikes, we want to know why it happened, and why it happened to us. Did I do something to cause it? Am I being punished? Could this have been prevented? Why did it happen to me, when I was following the “rules,” and not to that other person who wasn’t? And the kicker – did I not have enough faith for God to come through for me? Read the rest at Glory and Strength's "Words of Strength" column.
Ever wonder how a God can be a "good" father when bad things happen to us? I don't have the ultimate answer, but I share some thoughts about it in this month's edition of "Glory and Strength." God is So Good
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13 May and June are the months to honor parents. In May, we celebrate mothers, and in June, it is the fathers’ turn. They seem like innocent celebrations, but both can be terribly difficult for people, too. First, there are many men and women for whom parenthood is elusive. Pregnancy hasn’t come easily; babies have been lost before birth or shortly after; the road to adoption has not been smooth sailing. Couples struggling with fertility issues often find these holidays to be difficult at best, excruciatingly heart-wrenching at worst... To read the rest, visit the "Words of Strength" devotional column on "Glory and Strength" Webzine. You can also see an article about Memorial Day written by Naomi's Circle's co-founder, Eric Bothur. I have a love-hate relationship with the Proverbs 31 woman. You know her – the model wife who seems to have it all together, the Superwoman of the Old Testament who takes care of everything and everyone and is praised by her husband and children at the end of the day. I love the example – but I also hate her perfection. What would she do if she were thrust into twenty-first century America, I wonder!
As a mother of children in heaven, I have struggled with her example, too. Losing a child in pregnancy not only sets a woman on a painful road of grief, but it also is an awful blow to her view of herself as a woman. I’ve lost three children in pregnancy. In the place where they should have been the safest, my womb, my body failed them, and me. What could I offer, if as a mother, I could not protect the most helpless of my children? Reading Proverbs 31 again, though, showed me not a perfect woman, but a list of priorities that I could use to help navigate the waters of loss, and they focused on some key areas that I believe are potentially hazardous to women who have suffered this unique devastation. This Mother's Day, a day that may hold much pain for you, I want to invite you into her world to see what she can offer us in our journey. |
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Here you will find articles intended to help you in your journey. Some will be reviews of websites and books. Some will be devotionals, some general articles, and some will be guest bloggers. Feel free to comment and let us know if there is something you would like to see addressed here. Subscribe here!
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