Joy Comes in the Morning

Mosbach I - May 10th, 2013

The pleasant middle-aged woman approached me respectfully, asking if I had a moment.  Having just heard my story of "Broken and Complete", she was hoping to share her story with me...

A number of years ago, she had lost her son, and then husband to a drowning accident in the North Sea, one trying to save the other, and in the panic, both died.  She stood on a beleaguered beach as the helicopter pulled her men out of the water.  

At the funeral, amidst the despondent weeping and palpable hopelessness, she heard the voice of God.  "Even in the midst of this, I am still good."  She knew at once that it was not her inner voice - she would never say such a thing in such a time as this.  And it was not the voice of the enemy - he had already been spitting negativity and whispering depression towards her and her faith.

Her crying stopped, and her worship began.  She tapped deeply into the words of the prophets, "He will bring beauty from the ashes, and turn sorrow into dancing."  She has since been patiently waiting for the Lord to release her into a deeper ministry of healing to the broken-hearted.

She thanked me again and again for vulnerably sharing my story of wreckage and salvation, bitterness and redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation, as it once again validated what she knew to be true in her heart - the God of Job, Jeremiah, and Mary, is a God who will redeem all things to His glory, if we will only allow Him the room, the opportunity, and the time.  She would like to attend our school of the arts, Incarnate, in February 2014, and learn how to use her classical musical talents to build a platform to share these truths and bring help to the hurting.

He is a God who counts time through His redemptive history, and measures things with an eternal standard.  He is a God who keeps track of every tear we have cried, and has recorded every prayer - nothing is beyond His reach, and no-one is beyond His grasp.  His mercy is without end, His faithfulness is unchanging, and the peace that comes from knowing Him and basking in His presence goes beyond where our ability to understand stops.