He's alive! Is he ever!!!

Today is Easter.  The end of a 40 day journey.  At the beginning of this journey, I prayed that I would be a different woman on this day.....and indeed I am.  I am more at peace than I was 40 days ago and it has nothing to do with anything in particular that's taken place.  It's more about Who I've been with. It hasn't been a journey based on emotion.  The Lord hasn't imparted great wisdom to me. Believe me, it would take a whole lot longer than 40 days for that to come about!  The fact is, is  He simply bowed down from heaven and took the time to talk to me.....really talk to me and I just couldn't quite get enough.  His voice was so sweet I just wanted to hear more.  He was right there when I cried, I mean He was so close that His breath dried my tears.  I began this journey seeking resolution to my shame and to my past.  What He gave me was restoration.  And I saw His face. The longer I sat at His feet, the more intently I saw His face. The need to speak of my shame dissipated, the longing for resolution to my past faded.  All the sudden, none of that mattered.  I just wanted to stay right there.  It didn't matter what was happening around me, I didn't care to look.  I began to see Him everywhere .... in the heart of my kids as we prayed together; I saw Him in the eyes of my mother as she looked at me with her childlike wonder;  I saw Him in the smile of my sweet friend who got good news of her husband's cancer;  I saw Him in my father's heart as he told me of his renewed walk with His Lord and Savior and in his voice as he spoke gentle words of love to his daughter that so needed to hear them;  I felt His touch in the hand of a patient who let go of life with grace and dignity, and I felt His joy as I shared laughter with my students, being reminded of why I love being a teacher.   I've looked into the eyes of my Savior and I'm different because of it.

I finished up a women's bible study that I was involved in as well.  It was based on 5 women that literally changed history.  They were all in the lineage of Christ.  But they also were women that would seem incredibly unlikely to be called to such a high purpose.  They were women with a past.... they were women touched by shame.... they were women that were restored, that were healed, that were transformed, that were used for the Kingdom of Christ.  As you can imagine, these are women I want to get to know.  They are women that have shared a few of the same footsteps as my own, they are women that were called according to His purpose for something beyond their hopes and dreams. They are women that give me courage to hold my head up when I walk in the midst of others, their stories give me strength to let go of my yesterday and keep my eyes fixed on what He has planned for my tomorrow.  The great thing?  They were women like you and I.  They were wives and mothers that struggled with temptations and heart break, they were single women that felt discouragement and pain.  I'm certain they had times of anxiety, they suffered from depression, they experienced the ups and downs that hormones bless us with, and when they looked in a mirror (did they have mirrors back then?:), I'm just sure there were many days that they were nothing less than disgusted with themselves.  The fact is, they were everyday women that had more than one thing in common, but the most incredible?  The Lord chose them.  He saw something in them that they didn't see in themselves.  Did you hear me?  He saw something in them that they didn't see in themselves.  Wow!!  Did that gust of hope just about knock you over???   Yeah... me too.

Did the Lord show you His face during this Lent season?  Maybe it was just for a moment when your breath was taken away or perhaps there was healing....restoration.  Did He 'resurrect' you from a life of shame and pain?  He did that for me.  It doesn't mean that when I look into the mirror I am not reminded of what my yesterday held and the scars that remain. Believe me,  I see them!!   In the book, Jesus Creed, the author says "even Jesus was resurrected with His wounds".   Powerful words for those of us that have some pretty deep wounds.  Maybe the season simply represented a time that you surrendered a piece of yourself.  Did He touch you?  Are you different because of the last 40 days?  I would love to hear from you either by comment or by email. And then let's see what the next 40 days might hold...