Ferocious Suffering & Gracious Sacrifice

Five.  That’s the number he would be today.  As I showered this morning, I pretended in my mind, even for a second, that he was still here.  And if he was, what excitement would fill our home today.  I would be rushing to go pick up the cake.  Straighten the house.  Wrap the final present. 

Giving birth means giving birth to life. 

Courage, n.

It doesn’t mean one is not afraid.  In fact…it means boldly staring fear in the face and affirming fear will not win.    Not this time.

Even in the stillness when night falls and your pillow is soaked from the torrent of blistering tears…even then,  courage roars.  Because despite risks and percentages and the crumby odds of medical science, He was there.  And despite the hard days that followed that turned into harder weeks and months and years, He was there.  Despite man-made anxiety and poorly worded platitudes and a raw, rough-edged heart, He was there. 

Giving birth means giving life and that often means scars.

Scars are where the strength gets in.  It’s in the being broken that gives way to life.  When Christ hung on that tree, His body broken and bloodied, He gave way to new life.  The Way and The Life.  And though grief may surge in the scar, Joy hangs, nailed ever so tightly.    Scars are only ugly to people who are blind.  And where there’s a scar that runs deep, so does the love.  Only He can move you, strengthen you, remake you because only He gave His life for you.  That’s the redemptive work of the cross.  Because scars and love – ferocious suffering and gracious sacrifice – gave birth to everlasting life. 

So when the pain spills over and the tears flood your face, run headlong to Him.  Giving thanks to the One who gives and takes away.

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did no revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 

1 Peter 2: 21-24  

From the Fullness of His Grace, 

Lacey 


You can find last year's posts from Parker's day here (part 1) and here (part 2).