Gratefully Finding God in our Hard Times (Henri Nouwen)

(Source)

Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude. Such a perspective puts God in view in all of life, not just in the moments we set aside for worship or spiritual disciplines. Not just in the moments when life seems easy.

If God is found in our hard times, then all of life, no matter how apparently insignificant or difficult, can open us to God's work among us. To be grateful does not mean repressing our remembered hurts. But as we come to God with our hurts - honestly, not superficially - something life changing can begin slowly to happen. We discover how God is the One who invites us to healing. We realize that any dance of celebration must weave both the sorrows and the blessings into a joyful step ...

We tend, however, to divide our past into good things to remember with gratitude and painful things to accept or forget.  This way of thinking, which at first glance seems quite natural, prevents us from allowing our whole past to be the source from which we live our future ...

Gratitude in its deepest sense means to life live as a gift to be received thankfully. And true gratitude embraces all of life: the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, the holy and the not-so-holy.

~ Henri Nouwen, Turn My Mourning into Dancing

G&P
- Andrew

When You Lose Someone (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

(source)

There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve -- even in pain -- the authentic relationship.

Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

G&P 
- Andrew

The Realities of Special Needs

Marie and I would echo all that Nish Weiseth says about her experiences as a mom of special needs child.

Here are some golden words formed in the trenches of parenthood:

Being a special-needs parent is hard. It's work. I'm usually exhausted by noon. But it's also beautiful, inspiring and affirming. When the difficult days come, remind us that there is much to love, much to celebrate and much to be joyful for.

Always remind us of the joy.

And always bring wine.

The whole post is worthy of a reading. Warm comfort and sound wisdom.

G&P
- Andrew

Lent, Easter, and Grieving

Sometimes you don't find what you want, but what you need.

First week back in the office after our sabbatical, I'm preparing a sermon for this Sunday. As I flip through books, listen to sermons, and reflect on God's Word, I have discovered two phrases of truth and comfort that speak into my soul's season of grief. They don't fit with the direction my sermon is taking, but meet me where I'm at.

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Grieving is like exercise for the soul.

~ Shane Hipps (sermon, April 16, 2006)

I am conviced that when we bring our griefs and sorrows within the story of God's own grief and sorrow, and allow them to be held there, God is able to bring healing to us and new possibilties to our lives. That is, of course, what Good Friday and Easter are all about.

~ NT Wright Christians at the Cross (pg xv)

G&P
- Andrew

Judy Martens - "Strong Enough"

This is belated, but it came to mind again last night so I'm linking to it this morning. My friend Judy posted some thoughts for me the day after my dad died. You can read it all here.

via Flickr

You must. You must think I'm strong, to give me what I'm going through...

~ Matthew West "Strong Enough"

G&P

- Andrew 

Not Feeling Christmasy at Christmas Time

via Flickr

Misery loves company, as the saying goes.

With Advent upon us and Christmas accelerating towards us, I am again drawn to the sad and lowly and tragic parts of the Christmas story. I caught myself doing this when Josiah died and I'm on that same path again this season.

Christmas and sorrow. They go together more likely than we think. Most of our holiday rhythms have drubbed out any hint of sadness, for it is after all supposed to be the season of perpetual joy. And so we put on a seasonal sheen to fit in and a festive glow is projected in all that we do. We cloak ourselves with holiday goodwill and merriment, and yet within, our souls are aching and the Christmas season is just making it worse.

Loneliness. Pain. Heartbreak. Grief. Shame.

Christmas sometimes comes at the worst time of the year.

And yet, it is the story of God coming to us. To us. It is the beginning of the slow renewal of the world. It marks the return of God being with man for the first time since He walked in the garden with His creation.

God chooses to be with us.

In sadness. In sorrow. In suffering. God comes.

To suffer with us. To suffer for us.

This is Christmas.

... Advent is not just remembering how the world waited for the coming of the Messiah, but how we still wait for His coming. It is a time to embrace the ache of our lovesick hearts, to rejoice in our hunger pains, to survey the broken mess of our world and know that, because God fully entered into it, He will also fully redeem it.

As we sit in our suffering and know that the God of the universe decides to sit with us in it, we have a truth that is weighty enough to answer our heavy hearts, our loneliness and disillusionment that are intensified during the holidays. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that while God wants us happy as little children, it is the grown-up knowledge of God’s desire to always be with us, the fact that “we are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved unto us,” that brings true joy. “Therefore we adults can rejoice deeply within our hearts under the Christmas tree,” he said, “perhaps much more than the children are able. We know that God’s goodness will once again draw near.”

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She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’
~ Matthew 1:23

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.
 ~ Luke 1:78-79

[via RELEVANT]

G&P
- Andrew

Shane Hipps - Does God Suffer Like Us?

via Flickr

 
A wonderful post by Shane Hipps, a pastor and author serving at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Somewhat fitting of a read for me, coming off the heels of my preview post.

Here's a snippet of what Shane's getting to:

But when pain finds purpose or meaning it transforms from mere hurting into suffering.  We could use the word Suffering to describe pain with purpose.  Suffering is pain set in a larger context.  Suffering is what happens to a woman giving birth.  The labor pains are extraordinary, but the pain becomes mere memory when the child is born (so I’m told). The pain is matched only by the clarity of purpose.

Discovering that pain may have a purpose doesn't alleviate - even a smidgen of - the grief or insult, but it can help put the pieces of your life back to better. Better to have a God that spends sleeplessness nights tending to us than a God who falls asleep on the job.

G&P
- Andrew

CS Lewis Quote - What Do You Find When You Need God?

via Flickr

I read this today.

"Go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face and a sound of bolting." (CS Lewis, A Grief Observed)

God.
On the other side of the door.
Present.
There. 
But inaccessible.
Distant.

He locked Himself away.
He can hear you.
You know He's there.
But you can't reach Him.

What hurts more?

The pain that sent you to God's door.
Or the pain of finding the door locked.
From the inside.

God.
He wounds.
He heals.
He promises.

But when?

"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me.I put to death and I bring to life.
I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand."
~ Deuteronomy 32:39

 "Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"
~ Psalm 10:1

G&P
- Andrew

Baby Updates - Doctor Follow Up

Just wanted to let you all know that our doctor called last night to let us know that she saw no concerns in the ultrasound images! So ... baby looks really healthy and we have no reason why she has an irregular heartbeat. Baby right now is sizing about 6 lbs 11 oz with just a few weeks to go.

Marie wanted to pass along a recent quote from Josiah's best friend Sammie. This discussion occurred after Sammie was shaking and patting Marie's belly, saying "Wake up baby!"

Sammie (with his hand on Marie's belly): "Can I hear baby cry?"

Marie: "No, not until she's on the outside do you get to hear her."

Sammie: "Can you come downstairs to the car with us so that I can hear baby cry?"


Grace & Peace
- Andrew & Marie