I've been reading II Cor 4 and the message that there must be death in order to experience life is really fascinating me. I'm realizing every day that the life, death and resurrection message is of course literal but also a picture of every day life experiences. I'm all about application to this moment right now, where I live and where I'm at in life. God has been posing the following revelation to me: "You can glorify me and honor me in ever daily task". How do I treat people at the store? How do I handle a nurse that is short tempered and unhelpful? Do I give myself enough time from errand to errand to connect with someone and really listen? The answer usually is that it is so much easier to run circles in busyness, show the world I'm carrying a heavy load, avoid eye contact and by all means please don't ask me to engage in your life, your problems - I have my own thank you. This answer is not what God is looking for. He's asking me to slow down...stop long enough to listen to the elderly mans story, help the new mom that's frazzled, smile with patience. "For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death." (IICOR4:11 - AMP)
How I manage Zach's care and deal with the medical world is a chance to spread the Gospel through the vehicle God has chosen. How I raise my children, who I speak to my husband in a stressful situation are all opportunities to die to the flesh and build up the Spirit man. No matter what we face at work, within the four walls of the church or in our families the Word encourages us that ..."we do not get discouraged (spiritless and despondent with fear) or become faint with weariness and exhaustion." (IICOR4:1 - AMP). Wow, so could being confident, refreshed and always ready with an encouraging word be a way that world might know Christ in us is
illumiating our lives from within. Lets face it, everyone is stressed, burned out, unhappy with their marriage, frustrated with kids...but what if someone looked at me and saw peace (not perfection) maybe that would be an open door to introduce the lost to the Prince of Peace. If our lives really are open books, what are people reading? I've spent many of days frustrated about this place in life that I'm at. I'm a slow learner, but I'm learning to enjoy the magic of the moment. So when Zach wakes me up for the third time in the middle of the night...instead of screaming (which yes I have done) I thank God for the opportunity to die so that I might receive new life and yes there is such a thing as supernatural rest. There are those days when your not being loved like you'd like to be and in that moment God displays His love for you in a sunset, a song, or a call from a friend. "However, we posses this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves." (IICOR4:7 - AMP)
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