This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.Yet the Lord desires to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of Justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

Isaiah 30:15, 18 (NIV)

I wrote this 6 years ago,

and while I don’t remember the details of the time (bless God for faded memories), I yet remember the pain. When a friend shared her own struggle with Holy Week this year, this came back to me. As I said to another friend yesterday,

Often, it’s experiencing your own words through someone else’s lens that makes them fresh again.

Me

And so, as we prepare to face the Cross again,

here is my story from another time.

This has been a hard Holy Week.

Oddly, my struggles (both literal and spiritual) have given me a new perspective on the Cross. On Good Friday, I participated as a worship leader through dance in a dramatic presentation of the Crucifixion. It was among the hardest and yet one of the most beautiful things I have experienced recently.  

I accept that for now, my life is to be lived in the crucible,

a hard but beautiful place where He leads me away from the world in order to draw me near to Him.  I now understand that every part of my life is connected. Each moment of praise and worship, worry and wonder in my life until the moment I entered the wilderness and then fell into the crucible He intended for my good, for my growth, to get me into right position. To bring me here, into this hard place.

As I prepare for Resurrection Sunday worship,

I don’t feel the kind of joy I usually do on Easter Sunday. I now appreciate how irrelevant my feelings are. Just now, even as I am feeling so very defeated and so utterly broken, there is hope; there IS joy.

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Max Lucado writes that the Bible is a story of two gardens.

The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Adam hid from God. In Gethsemane, Jesus emerged from the tomb. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.”

Max Lucado, The Greatest Moments in the Life of Christ

Thank You Lord, for bringing me broken before Your Cross. 

It is that simple. In the garden, we fell. Out of the garden, we were redeemed. Death could not stop Him and the grave could not keep Him. He overcame, and His Power and Strength are within us. By His Sacrifice, we are restored in Peace to God’s Grace. 

In just a few short days, we will proclaim, 

He is Risen, Allelujah!