Rachel is about the same. She still isn't feeling well. She's had a fever off and on and stuffy nose, which needs alot of cleaning out. But if you are praying about her constipation, you can stop right now;)...because she has had lots of soft, almost diarrhea like poops. She has also thrown up a few times, poor girl. But no spells.
And us? Well, I still had to do quite a bit more lamenting after that post. In fact, it was a Lamenting sort of day for both Dave and I. Thank-you for coming with me on my lament journey yesterday. I know it isn't easy to enter someone else's pain in this way and I appreciate your openness with me too. There was a line from a song in my head this morning, as I thought about lament. "Where should I lodge my deep complaint? Where but with you, whose open door invites the helpless and the poor?" It is good, so good to know that I can speak openly and honestly with God. And he is not a far off or distant God, or a God that has no idea of the suffering we experience.
As it is Good Friday today, I wanted to do some reading about what this day of remembering means for Jesus followers. These are some verses that spoke to me this morning. If the player on the blog still worked I would have liked to play this song by Sandra McCracken that fit well with this day..but it looks like it's on the fritz..
"Because God's children are human beings - made of flesh and blood - the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested." Heb.2:14-18
Then, I read this blog entry....A Good Friday Reflection written by the author of "One Thousand Gifts". This is one part of it...and it became my prayer today.
"I know… how could You have been our Saviour if You hadn’t known suffering?
How could we have worshipped You if You weren’t wounded?
How could we bow to You if You were not bruised?
We could only believe in You because You have lived in us — in our mangled world, in our aching pain, in all our hurting humanity.
You alone are the God for us — because You alone are the God who has been one of us.
You felt what we feel, You touched the death that we know, You came to us as Immanuel: God with us."
I've been doing my own lamenting along with you, as well as crying for you guys. Sure missed you at the family gathering today. Praying that in the midst of lamenting you will also experience the joy of the resurrection. Love you. Carol
ReplyDeleteI read the devotional from Rejoice last night, and thought so much of you. Don't know if you're in the moods for a quote, but here it is
ReplyDelete"I have found no answers on the question of innocent suffering...in a way I don't understand, God suffers with us...Matthew's account of Jesus crucifixion is the most bleak and unrelieved...in fact throughout his crucifixion Jesus is silent until the end.
When he does finally cry out, the words are both terrible and precious...his cry resounds within our own experiences of abandonment, loss and despair...When we are silenced, crushed by our own sense of God's absence and silence, Jesus cries out for us, for even that darkest of places is one that he knows."
Know that today, He is crying out foryou -- Love MOM