Hope Hurts

(from Love Hurts by Nazareth)

Love hurts, Love scars, Love wounds and mars
Any heart not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud, it holds a lot of rain
Love hurts, Ooo-oo Love hurts 

I told my counselor the other night that hope hurts and she looked at me in bewilderment and asked why it would hurt!  Imagine, having to explain why it would hurt.

"Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free",

Words from the tablet on the Statue of Liberty (which could als be what God is saying to us), and so many immigrants looked to those words and found hope.  But look what they were leaving, and again ask, why it would hurt.  They were leaving family, most of them probably already dead, and knowing there was nothing for them in their homes any longer.  They took those steps to us to save their lives, but the leaving hurt, and the guilt of those left behind.

It hurts when you have lived for so long, in the rut.  And the rut, it gets really comfortable – you know it, you know what to expect.  You don’t get surprised, even if it is bad things that happen, because that it what you have learned happens, what you have become accustomed to.  Leaving that rut, there is fear.  Things might look better out of the rut, but you have been conditioned and so can’t believe that it could happen for you.  And that is where hope hurts.

(from My Hope is You by Third Day)

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul

In you, O God, I place my trust

Do not let me be put to shame

nor let my enemies triumph over me

My hope is you

Show me your ways

Guide me in Truth,

In all my days

My hope is you

(from You are my hope by Skillet)

Times are hard
Times have changed
Don't you say
But I keep holding on to you
It's hard to keep the faith alive day to day
Leaning on the strength I've found in you
You're the hope of all the Earth

You are my hope
You are my strength
You're everything
Everything I need
You are my hope
You are my life
You are my hope
You are my hope

Far beyond what I can see or comprehend
Etching your eternity in me
Nations stream and angels sing, "Jesus reigns"
And every knee bows down
You're the hope of all the Earth

Yes, hope and love can hurt initially, BUT . . .

He understands that fear and pain, the want but holding back.  We can learn to hope, starting out small, and learning the trust that we can place in Him.  He understands, for He hoped:

Luke 22:42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

And he hurt from love:

John 11:33-35 (Lazarus)

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

And He gave up:

Mark 15:34

And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

But . . .

He also rose again!

Acts 2:24

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

And he did this for all of us! 

I have an Eeyore coat and on the patch it claims, “the positive pessimist.”  It fits me pretty well – the slogan as well as the coat.  But I am working at overcoming the pessimist part and just being positive.  And you can too, thru Him!

Backstage Passes

William Shakespeare wrote: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts...

Job Chapter 1:6 "One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them..."

Isaiah 6: 1 "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.."

There are areas of reality that we can't see. I like to think of these dimensions as "Backstage". In the bible, we get a few peeks behind the curtains of our five senses.

Why write about this? Out of sight. Out of mind. There are a few important things about backstage that DOES effect our every day life.

Many people tend to think about prayer as a feeble 'hail mary' football pass in the closing seconds of the game. If you could see prayer backstage then you would quickly drop that notion. Prayer is mighty. Modern science is acknowledging the power of words. The phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword" is in the shadow of God's statement "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit"

Then there's God's seal. Us Christians have some kind of identification on us that points out whose we are. The Enemy can see it and that changes what his options are. Many of us are very afraid when we meet bad people. We're not sure what or how to respond. A look backstage to see all the angels there would be very reassuring.

Then there's God, Himself. Backstage could be a lot nearer than we guess. What if the curtains were a veil. God could be a lot closer than you thought.

The bible teaches that there are areas that are real that we can't see. Faith with a humble request for permission allows you to glimpse backstage. Isaiah was forever changed after he saw the Lord. Job put his hand to his mouth and retracted his remarks. Personally, I think it's time that God's sons and daughters stopped ignoring their spiritual blessings in this area. We can certainly request access. I pray that you will.

In Defense of Rhythm

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.  [1 Cor 14:33].   Now this verse context has to do with the worship service.   You see structure and coherence in everything God created.  The migration patterns of the animals with their beneficial instincts are one example.  Our family institutions which protect the vulnerable woman in pregnancy and early childrearing are  just another example of God's wisdom in action.

One of the sweetest whispers that I get from God is "You are not late."   That worry creeps into so many situations.  Picking up the children from school.  Getting chores done around the house.  I have this anxiety that I am behind schedule.  Being led by the Spirit is not an every day thing yet.  I still love my agenda.  When I am being led by God, there is a pacing to it.  There is rhythm.  It is recognition of this ordered, structured wisdom that is in part my evidence that God is in something.  My instinctual efforts to hurry it up, to double check the clock prompt God to reassure me that His timing is spot on.   I am not late.

WIsdom is not only what we should do or who we should do it with, but when something should ideally happen. Eccles 3:1 "  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. "   Staying in your season protects you. Moses was the appointed leader of the Israelites.  He killed the Egyptian thinking that the Hebrews would rally to his leadership.  Their reply? “Who made you ruler and judge over us?"  It was 40 years or so later before Moses would be promoted by God to lead the Israelites from their captivity.

God may start small.  Zech.  4:8 "After that, the Word of God came to me: "Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!" Going back to the vision, the Messenger-Angel said, "The seven lamps are the eyes of God probing the dark corners of the world like searchlights."


However God leads you, it has a rhythm...pattern and order.   In what situations have you felt His touch?  It is the specifics that make it clear.  Please share your encounter with God with us!

That 40 days in the desert? That was no picnic!

I read in one of Max’s books, and for the life of me can’t remember which one right now, that addressed Jesus being taken into the desert by satan and being tempted after 40 days and nights of fasting.  The reference that Max wanted to make was that it was more than just the couple of examples that we read about in the bible.  It wasn’t a sneak attack and then get a reprieve to gear up for the next attack.  It was 40 days of constant struggle and misery.  And it really got me to thinking.

We have been told that there is nothing that we can suffer that Jesus hasn’t already suffered for us, that there isn't anything that any of us could ever go thru that He hasn't already so that He understands and has complete compassion.  He suffered in this way so that there is no pain that He cannot know, understand, and be able to help us get through, so take this one step further, to the belief that He knows:

• what the fire felt like in the concentration camps
• the fear of an unplanned pregnancy
• the fear of going into battle
• the need to be touched when disease ridden (the leper He healed)
• how it feels to be an physically or emotionally abused (the woman at the well)
• the feelings of being dirty and unclean after a rape or molestation
• clinical depressionthe false sense of power over other people/issues
• the unnatural high from any type of addiction

 This song comes to mind:  John Michael Montgomery (The Little Girl)

She said I know that man up there on that cross

I don't know His name

But I know He got off

Cause He was there in my old house

and held me close to His side

As I hid there behind our couch

The night that my parents died

She didn’t know Him, and her parents were too wrapped up in their addictions (if you know the song) to hear Him speaking to their hearts, so He went to the one that He could help, where He knew that suffering.

In "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway writes, "The world breaks everyone and many are strong at the broken places."

A line out of the movie "Seabiscuit," says:  "You don't throw a whole life away just because it's a little banged up."

He suffered for us, went on the cross for us, and came out the other side so much stronger!  And you hear stories of similar strengths from adversity;

• the people from abusive relationships that go on to strong relationships and volunteer opportunities
• those that overcame addictions to mentor those trying to overcome the addictions

Remember these lyrics from Skillet and “The Last Night”

This is the last night you'll spend alone

Look me in the eyes so I know you know

I'm everywhere you want me to be

The last night you'll spend alone

I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go

I'm everything you need me to be

The last night away from me

This is the last night you'll spend alone

Look me in the eyes so I know you know

I'm everywhere you want me to be

The last night you'll spend alone

I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go

I'm everything you need me to be

He’s been there, done that, and is there to lead us through!

Introductions

We are three women, each separated from the other by thousands of miles, but united in love and friendship.  In choosing pen names, we are free to discuss life without jostling our family, friends or children.  The names we picked are African because one of us is from Nyeri, Kenya.  Each name means something wonderful.