4-24-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This weekend marks an anniversary in my family. Usually that word \u201canniversary\u201d connotes a happy date but in this case it was associated with much sadness. My niece Liza died on an April 22nd<\/sup>, after a difficult birth, a severe case of cerebral palsy, an eventual three-month mental maturity level, a prognosis of perhaps three years of life but ultimately well more than two decades of these conditions. Her sweet smiles masked the tragedy of her daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My sister Barbara was a single mom who battled this situation bravely and lovingly. After some years, at a certain point she stumbled and sustained her own individual health problems and myriad other challenges, some virtually nightmarish. Many people might have thought her situation could not possibly have been worse. And then Liza died. It can be an empty phrase, or a cruel joke, to say that we can choose joy despite life’s pitfalls. On the other hand, many people who know <\/em>the truths of God\u2019s promises nevertheless choose despair and depression and sorrow. Excuse me, but those<\/em> choices are empty, cruel, and joyless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the choices that my sister Barbara made along the way, and that made all the difference, was to accept Jesus. I quickly say that \u201caccepting Jesus\u201d is another phrase that we frequently hear, or say, but it has many deeper shades of meaning. Something so profound cannot be reduced to a phrase, and if you are a Christian who deals honestly with your faith walk (or even if you are not) you know how many steps there have been, and will be, on that \u201cwalk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even a lightning-bolt conversion, the \u201croad to Damascus\u201d experience, is never the whole story. We all have progressive revelation\u2026 we see through glasses darkly, then with increasing clarity\u2026 we experience doubts\u2026 we learn lessons\u2026 we rebel and return\u2026 we hunger for the Word\u2026 we grow bold\u2026 we receive spiritual chastisement\u2026 we feel the peace that passes understanding\u2026 we \u201cknow that we know that we know\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes these experiences are stretched out over years. Sometimes they can all seem to come in one day of spiritual yearning! And everything in between. Faith is a living thing, growing; almost breathing. In fact, the Holy Spirit does breathe into us the profound truths of God \u2013 literally in-spiration. Then that \u201cwalk\u201d didn\u2019t seem so lonely anymore. And the devil cannot take away an anniversary that, somehow, is a Happy Anniversary after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recalling all this on the phone this week, Barbara, still facing challenges, spoke with perfect peace. So many past memories have been replaced, she said, by the joy and hope \u2013 no: the knowledge \u2013 that one day she will be with Liza in Glory. And they both will be whole. And that now, she knows, Liza is in the arms of my late wife Nancy, also the victim of many ailments in her own painful journey on earth. What a reunion that will be!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Barbara cannot really be described as suddenly \u201caccepting Jesus.\u201d As her brother who prayed for her and with her, it has seemed to me more like she gradually realized Jesus had been there with her all the time. And then the realization that Jesus had accepted her<\/em>, not just the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all these ways a miracle can take place \u2013 for it is miraculous that amid horrible conditions and seemingly hopeless situations such as this mother and daughter experienced\u2026 joy and peace can come out of it. The world<\/em> cannot give that, and the world cannot take it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n