Last Sunday, we’re sitting in the church (me in the
congregation and Bryan up in the light booth) and we were inspired by the
message we heard. Like most churches, the messages of this month revolve around
the Christmas story. Ours was no different, except it addressed a point of view
that I had never really thought about in any great length. Joy is for the
choosing; God uses sorrow; Amidst the sorrow comes joy.
When I think about Christmas (as many of you have already
read) I think of so many joyful things that accompany the season. However, so
many people don’t necessarily feel that way and while we really try to focus on
the joy of the season, inevitably evil occurs and people are filled with great
sorrow. What I fail to remember many times about the story of Jesus' birth is that it
wasn’t necessarily all “picture perfect” either. So many forget that it
includes an angel, Gabriel, coming to Mary, a woman who was devoted to God, and
informing her that she would bear a son and name him Jesus.(Luke1) What must
have Joseph thought and felt in that time? How must have Mary been ostracized
and doubted, to be a young virgin and yet pregnant with God’s son? Surely
people thought she was crazy. Nevertheless, she remained steadfast. Joseph,
though it must have been a huge challenge, remained by her side after an angel
appeared to him too. (Matthew 1) Mary and Joseph trusted in God’s plan and were
obedient to His calling on their life.
Hindsight is always 20/20, now we can
look back and say, “Wow! How blessed were Mary and Joseph!” Think about that a
second. Yes, absolutely Mary was blessed by God; however, that included bearing
a child as a young girl when she had not been married. It meant having to have
Joseph not believe her at first and nearly break off their engagement. It meant
that they had to hide their child for a little while, because an evil King
Herod had set out to murder Jesus because he felt his kingdom was being threatened (Matthew 2). It meant having to watch the son she gave birth to be crucified
and shed his blood on the cross. Her blessing was certainly a blessing, but I
have to imagine that it didn’t mean that she wasn’t occasionally feeling great
sorrow.
Holiday seasons bring about a multitude of expressions. Two that I see
most often is joy and sorrow. People
feel these emotions for a multitude of reasons and I’m sure any one of us could
go on and on explaining how justified someone is about feeling this or that.
What I was reminded of recently during this great sermon is that God USES
sorrow! Think about it. If we didn’t experience sorrow, would we truly
understand and feel joy? Our entire world and the way we understand it is often
based on dichotomies: good/bad, heaven/hell, God/Satan, black/white, up/down,
excited/calm, joy/sorrow. Couldn’t it be
possible that sorrow is a part of God’s plan? Perhaps there is something to be
learned through it or something to be appreciated more, or an experience that
spurs growth. Either way, God REFINES through trials, tribulations, and
sorrows. I know, I know…that sounds all nice and good…but the reality is,
nobody wants to endure this forever. There is good news! JOY COMES IN THE MORNING! God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) We are His
children! He made the ultimate sacrifice in His son, to give us the ultimate
gift! (John3:16) He is our Almighty Father!
The nativity story is such a great
example that joy comes amidst the sorrow! Mary and Joseph surely felt these two
extremes, such sorrow for the confusion that they were enduring, then joy once
the angels came to explain, joy to have a son, sorrow to know he was being
hunted and already persecuted, joy to have Jesus in their lives, joy for his
coming, sorrow for his persecution and crucifixion and again joy for when he
rose again and God’s promises were fulfilled. In the moment, I wonder if Mary
and Joseph understood the bigger picture that was being painted, because while
there must have been great sorrow for the evil that they endured and witnessed,
the eternal and inevitable joy not only for their Son but that their heavenly
Father sent HIS son to die for their (and all of mankind’s) sins so that they
may have eternal life. God uses sorrow! Joy is always just around the corner
even though it’s hard to see sometimes.
Some of you might be hearing all of
this and remembering a song; a song that has continued to be such an
inspiration to me: “Your love never fails” by Jesus Culture. I talked about it
in a blog post awhile back. Once again, it resurfaces. I haven’t heard the song
in a while, but while I was learning this new perspective from last Sunday’s
sermon…this song came ringing back to me as true as ever. It is in these moments when God’s Word strikes me in my core and I begin to reflect. For us, our
sorrow derives from our desire to have children and grow our family. No, we
have not conceived yet. Yes, it appears that we are still struggling to get
pregnant. No, it is not easy. Yes, we are sad sometimes. Yes, we believe in
God’s promises. Yes, we know we will be parents someday. Yes, we feel called by
God to be parents. We don’t talk about it all the time, because quite frankly
we think people may be sick of us talking about it or it is sometimes just too
painful to talk about. It’s a reminder of how much we want this, how many
prayers that have been said, how many people that are praying for us, how many
times we’ve asked God “Why not yet? What do we need to do? How can we prepare?
When will our time come?” Unfortunately, we don’t know when His plan will
happen; however, His plans will unfold. (Jeremiah 29:11) What I do know…is we
will continue to remain faithful, because while we may feel great sorrow right
now (sorrow for the baby we miscarried in March, sorrow for the difficulties we
have faced in getting pregnant since), we know that this too shall pass. We give it all to God. JOY
COMES IN THE MORNING.
The same is true for anyone who is feeling great sorrow
for whatever reason. God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.
Joy is for the choosing; God uses sorrow;
Joy comes amidst the sorrow.
JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!
If you’d like to hear the sermon that I heard that made such
an impact, check out this link to see a video:
In case you missed it before (or you just want to hear it again!), here is the song that continues to inspire and speak to my heart!
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