He is Risen

Good morning! We have hope today. Sorrow and mourning are banished, for today is filled with light and hope and peace. Our Savior came to us once, to save a dying world, and it is for this reason we remember that He will come again.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

-Luke 24:1-7

Let us not fix our eyes upon death and this dying world, but on the Resurrection and the Life: Jesus Christ.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

-The Apostle John, 1 John 4:9-10

By His Wounds We are Healed

I can’t let this day pass without remembering. This day is painted in crimson and scarlet, the colors of forgiveness.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

-The Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53:3-5

Although my pain is unrelenting, it pales in comparison to the suffering of Christ. If only I would use my pain as an ever-present reminder of the price willingly paid for me. If only I would understand this truth, and let it sink in, to viscerally accept the love God has for me. No matter how awful the pain, it is a reminder of what true love is.

The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heaven’s eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died

-Phil Wickham, True Love

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia. My thorn has a name. I don’t really feel as if I have more power over the thing. This is my official diagnosis.

It’s not the type of condition for which there is a definitive test. It’s the last option after everything else is ruled out. The good news is that I finally saw the rheumatologist, after 3.5 months of messing with insurance. The bad news is the future is a mess of therapies (drug, physical, and mental) stretching out endlessly before me. The strategy: keep trying until something works.