The Resurrection and the Life

Dearly Beeloveds,

Mary and Martha stood crying when they met Jesus after the death of Lazarus, their brother.  

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? John 11:25 

Do I really believe that God can resurrect something that is completely

DEAD?

The last years of our lives have been about dying.  God certainly did not have the same idea that we had about who we thought we were, what we thought our ideals and dreams for our life together would be, the careers, choices and paths that we would have liked to have taken.  Every single area was tested!  And so the last season was about giving things up, surrendering and… dying.  

I received this life signboard when I started truly following the Lord in my early twenties, and truly it is a reflection of what our journey through the last season season firmly established:

For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3

Contrary to what might have seemed different to someone looking from the outside, following the call of the Lord has not been all moonlight and roses, as one would imagine it should be. Instead, it has been the hardest journey we have ever undertaken. It has certainly taken its toll on us as a family and although we have tried our best to be good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us, we have undoubtedly made some serious mistakes along the journey.

Will we do it all over again?  If I personally had known how intense the journey would be when we signed up for it, I am pretty sure we would have gladly declined the invite.  BUT!  Even though it has been harder than I could ever have imagined, the lessons, the wisdom and the jewels of truth that we have gathered along the way, the deepness of revelation, the solidness of God’s love and faithfulness through the good times and the bad that has been established firmly in our hearts over and over again, and how He has transformed us as a family in the process is a treasure that is more precious than gold.

I would not trade the service stripes that we have received for every blow and battle scar we have been dealt on the journey for anything.

God is able to restore everything that was lost and stolen in the last season.  We can confidently lay each of the mistakes and losses before Him, trusting that just as He has been faithful in fulfilling His promises to us regardless of our mistakes, and even though we have been so undeserving, He will continue and complete the good work that He has started in us.  The season may be over, but His faithfulness surely is not.  He will fulfill EVERY promise He has made to us in its appointed time.  

He kept every promise he had made to the Israelites. No promises failed. Each one came true. Joshua 21:45

We cannot ever imagine our lives and choices without our Father’s love and input.  I often marvel how anyone can cope with life without God!  The sadness of walking through life on this earth alone, choosing to do life without the protection  and involvement and pure love of a loving Father, through all the pain and suffering that life throws at us without a greater hope of something transcending this life only, and the worst- living without a purpose, is difficult for me to imagine and even more so to comprehend.

I am first to admit that we are not able.  Not strong enough, not gifted enough, not patient enough and definitely not enduring enough. But WITH Him, we can accomplish anything.

With the new mandate to continue with Beeloved Father has given us a new life-verse for the next phase of our journey:

[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. Philippians 2:13

And so here we still are! Scary as it may seem, we present ourselves ready for the next season, willing servants to fulfill the mandate and calling of Beeloved.