Two Funerals and a Christmas

The weekend had been booked and planned for months. Excited, looking forward to spending an early Christmas with loved ones we won’t see at actual Christmas time. Menu planned and presents wrapped with a few Christmas decorations taken down from the loft and packed to take with us.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. (Robert Burns).

First a funeral which delayed our departure, then another funeral arranged for the day after our return, then sadly at last minute our beloved boy shafted to “secure the skies” this particular weekend. 😞

But life is like that isn’t it? A mixture of sorrow and joys. Disappointments seem to go hand in hand with big expectations.

Sometimes, our joys are tinged with a sadness, our hearts can be heavy whilst in the midst of a happy time and tears don’t seem far away from our laughter.

I am reminded that “for everything there is a season and a time”.

And yes seasons do come and go, but when you get all those seasons at the one time it is A LOT!!

500+miles, 5 days, 2 funerals and a christmas is A LOT.

Yes, I am tired, yes I want to stop the world so that I can get off for a while, yes I need time to process, but my overwhelming feeling at the moment is one of thankfulness!

I am thankful for safe travels, I am thankful for the lives lived well, I am thankful for our short & small family time and I am just so thankful to the Lord that He sustains us in our days, especially when they are A LOT.

My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Tired, but thankful.

Hope

This post is written as part of the Resilient Hope series where we are looking at various aspects of God’s Character, His promises and Spiritual Disciplines in order to build up our depleted reserves of resilience and hope.

Whilst in our Bible study group we looked at many other subjects in our study on ‘Resilient Hope’ today, we will close this series in the Blog by looking at hope itself.

Hope – not a vague hope that ‘things will be good again’, but a deep assurance that all will be well because God is in control and God is with us. It is a trust in the living God who is working on our behalf.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians says:  “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world“. (1Corinithians 15:19)

Hope then is both placed in a person and a place.

Jesus is the person who has prepared the way for us into eternity. Jesus, ‘Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross’. (Hebrews 12:2) He endured the Cross because He knew eternity was better; He knew that there He would be able to wipe away all tears from our eyes; He knew that there is where we would find ultimate fulfillment to all our hopes. The person is Jesus and hope placed on Him and His saving work of redemption provides us with security and stability and anchors us to God in this life.

The place is eternity where we find all our hopes fulfilled, and where we ourselves meet our ultimate fulfillment. Because we have eternity in our hearts, then that is where our hope lies.

We live in a broken world, full of injustices, sorrows and pains, so where do we place our hope? We place our hope in eternity where every wrong will be righted; where every sickness is healed and where our very tears are wiped away.

So to build up our resilient hope, we remind ourselves that it is in Jesus that we place our hope and we recall that it is in eternity that all our ultimate hopes and fulfillment will be realized.

Here and now though as we struggle with life’s disappointments, oppressions and sorrows we echo the words of the Psalmist:

Send out your light and your truth;
    let them guide me.
Let them lead me to your holy mountain,
    to the place where you live.
⁴ There I will go to the altar of God,
    to God—the source of all my joy.
I will praise you with my harp,
    O God, my God!

⁵ Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and my God!

Psalm 43

Endurance

This post is written as part of the Resilient Hope series where we are looking at various aspects of God’s Character, His promises and Spiritual Disciplines in order to build up our depleted reserves of resilience and hope.

Endurance is something which is built up over time, it is something that is forged through hardships, which rather than break us, make us stronger

We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead us to disappointment . For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love’

Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

So, we are not to be surprised nor caught unawares by the trials and hardships which come to us in our lives. Instead we dig our roots down deep so that we are stayed on Jesus and not swayed about or thrown off course.

We keep to our patterns and disciplines of prayer and bible study. We keep going out to church, we cultivate Christian friendship and support systems. We build good pathways to God, so that these things are already there in our lives for the hard times.

Endurance builds strength of character, no spineless jelly fish here, but strong-in-the-Lord Christian men and women who believe and trust in the face of hard times!

This strong character goes on to develop confident hope of salvation. By looking to Jesus we see how much God loves us, that He was willing to send His own dear Son to die for us, in our place. When we see the extent of God’s love for us then we can be assured that nothing, not one thing can separate us from God’s love for us, not even hardships and that encourages and strengthens us and enables us to endure, to keep on keeping on.

So, let us set our face then, let us stand firm in our faith and keep on standing, building character, building endurance, building resilience.

 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8: 35:39 (NLT)