For the past six months
our beloved church has been going through a trial that can be likened to your
parents divorcing or learning your sister has cancer. The family still exists,
but everything turns upside down and while you know things will never be, nor should it
be, the same again you yearn for a new "normal" to just start
already!
It's been a long six
months. I know for me I have flitted between emotions - anger to forgiveness,
why's to what now's, excitement to disappointment, disillusionment to
rejoicing. Can you relate?
This week, our interim
pastor called the church to another week of fasting and praying. After some
prayer I decided to fast from my usual morning routine, which consists of the
alarm sounding at six in the morning and me hitting the snooze button a dozen
times. I set the alarm clock half an hour earlier with all intentions of
bouncing out of bed and praying and reading God's Word, my Bible.
I spent a good bit of
time on the anxious side wondering if I would get up in time and if I would get
enough sleep to function the next day. I woke up at midnight when Brad came to
bed and later his loud snoring roused me from bed and I stomped off to sleep on
the couch. A dream and a nightmare later, I woke up before the alarm sounded at
5:30am and I have all of four and a half hours of sleep to my name.
But I did pray for us
and I did spend time in God's Word.
Church, we are walking
in a trial of scorching heat, one that seems to leap up and lick at places we
didn't expect.
Do not give up hope!
Kings Harbor Church is not forsaken, but rather disciplined in love by the God
that prefers our sanctification over our comfort. Yes, this is a time of
refining, a re-defining perhaps.
In this (speaking
of the imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance that awaits us) you
rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by
various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious
than gold that perishes through it is tested by fire - may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter
1:6-7
This morning, church, as
I pray for us, I rejoice that God is allowing this time of refining and
sanctifying. I'm feeling raw, just like you are. I'm feeling a bit singed
around the edges. But we know we have not been abandoned! We
know that God is with us, just as He was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
in the burning fiery furnace of Daniel 3. And may our bonds of captivity burn
off as we walk through this fire together, just as their bonds were the only items
burned off by the raging fire of Babylon's great furnace.
When we come out the
other end of the fire with bonds broken, we'll be more freed up to dance and to
point and to shout out that Jesus is here for all to see! May God be glorified
in our church, our homes, the workplace, and in all of the South Bay!
Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the
signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His
signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His
dominion endures from generation to generation. Daniel 4: 1b-3
2 comments:
Amen, Janna. Love it.
Amen!! Thanks Janna!
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