THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

April 5, 2023

Happy Easter!

LIFE IN THE FOLD

In Job chapters one and two we read where a man named Job lost everything that he had. He lost everything he owned and his family. Yet his response was to fall to the ground to worship. He said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise (or blessed) be the name of the Lord!" Scriptures say that Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job was then struck with terrible boils from head to toe. He scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die."

Job's response was, "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?"

When three of Job's friends hard of the tragedy that he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. There are many chapters written about their time with Job and what was said and what happened, but I want to just focus on what happened when they first arrived at Job's home.

When these three friends first saw Job from a distance, they could scarcely recognize him. They began to weep, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust over their heads to show their grief.

Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days and nights. No one spoke a word to Job, because they saw that his suffering and grief was too great for words.

Many times when we see someone suffering or grieving we think that we have to say something to try and help; but the truth is, sometimes all they need is a friend to just sit with them in silence. There are no words that can make the situation better or ease their pain. The words that are spoken are often cliché and overused phrases that people use when they don't know what else to say. I'm often guilty of that. But what if we were to just give a hug or squeeze their hand and just let our presence speak for us?

An example of this happened when Jon's dad passed away. We were standing in the funeral home for the visitation when I looked up and saw one of my sisters and brother-in-law walk in. I had no idea that they were coming and it touched my heart that they would drive two hours to show their support and love for the two of us. They may have met Jon's parents at our wedding, but they didn't know his dad. Yet, they took the time to come and offer comfort and to show that they cared that we were grieving.

Sometimes, just the simple act of showing up for someone when they are going through a difficult time can touch their heart more than any words spoken. Letting the person who is suffering determine if they want to be silent or if they need to talk; then us determining whether we just need to sit in silence or if we need to have listening ears. That's generally not the time to be giving advice or telling them how they should feel or respond; but it's about allowing them to experience various emotions they may be feeling and to grieve and hurt -- so that healing can come.

With this being the week leading up to Easter, my mind shifts to that time over 2,000 years ago when Jesus had been crucified on the cross, died, and been laid in a tomb. What were Mary and the disciples feeling? Were they grieving the loss of their Messiah and leader and son and friend; yet feeling fearful of what the religious leaders, as well as the king and others with political power, would now do to them and other believers?

Scripture doesn't say what they did between the intervening hours between the burial and resurrection. Did they gather together to comfort one another or did they go to their own homes? Did they sit in silence and think about what had just happened over the past several hours or did they speak in fear and try to figure out what needed to be done next? Did they allow their emotions to speak in anger and frustration to one another and try to come up with a plan or did they weep and grieve for the death of Jesus?

They were experiencing something that they had never gone through before. Even though Jesus had told them that He would rise again on the third day, they didn't truly understand what He had meant. This was all new for them! This was something that they had never gone through before, so they didn't know what to expect or what was going to happen to them or what to feel.

When Job, who had been greatly blessed with much wealth and a big family, lost everything owned plus all of his children, this was new territory for him to navigate through. When he woke up with boils covering his body, he had never experienced that before, so didn't know what was going to happen next. The only advice he got those first few days was from his wife; who, instead of being supportive, told him to curse God and die. Yet Job determined in his heart to trust God and not sin. He chose to worship. He chose to believe, "God gave me everything I had and now He has taken it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!" He chose that he would not only accept the good things and blessing from God, but the bad things, too.

We will all go through hardships in life. But it's during those times that we have to choose if we will worship and trust God, or if we will become angry and blame God. We may not understand why things happen as they do, but we choose to maintain our faith in the Lord.

There is a pastor of a large church in California whose wife passed away from cancer last year. Their church has a healing school and have been witness to many, many miraculous works of God. Yet, even though they prayed and fasted and had faith that she would be healed, she died. I watched a sermon clip where shortly thereafter this pastor stood in front of his congregation and spoke these words: "Matthew 5:4 says, 'Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.' Biblical mourning will either take you to the Comforter -- the presence of the Holy Spirit -- or it will take you to unbelief. Biblical mourning must be enhanced with hope or it will lead to unbelief."

When you experience times of mourning in your life, let it take you to the Comforter and into the presence of the Holy Spirit. If we were not going to ever experience times of mourning, then Jesus would never have spoken those words in Matthew 5:4 that says that those who mourn will be comforted. The Father would never have sent the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter, if we were to never need Him to be that.

This week, think about what Jesus did on the cross so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and be cleansed and experience salvation. Think about His resurrection from death, giving us hope and the promise of new life upon our death on earth. We have the promise of eternal life, if we choose salvation and allow Jesus to be Lord in our life. Before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate and Comforter. He made provision for every situation of our life upon earth; as well as for our eternal life.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

Job's perspective on all he had was very interesting. He was grateful for all he had, even if he didn't have it forever. It all came from God, so it was fine for God to take it back whenever He wanted.

We know because we can read the conversation between God and Satan, but it wasn't really God that destroyed all that Job had.

But Job's acceptance of losing it all was very noble. He didn't pout or curse. He accepted that what he had enjoyed was temporary.

Children usually have a hard time with that idea. The clothes they have, their rooms, their homes, their beds and bedding all belong to their parents, not the kids. They are assigned to the kids, but not really their property. As an employee, "my" computer at work isn't really my property. It belongs to my employer. It is just assigned to me as long as I work there.

Tough situations might be a lot easier if we could see that in all things. "My" home is really God's, but assigned to me for this time. If it is destroyed, it is God's loss as much as it is mine. Of course that's much easier to say while my home is still standing in great shape.

ON THE MENEWE:

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

(This is my favorite banana pudding recipe!)

Line the bottom of a 9x13 dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer all of the sliced bananas over the top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well.

Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth.

Fold in the Cool Whip (mixes better if not frozen).

Add the cream cheese/Cool Whip mixture and the pudding together and stir until well blended.

Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas.

Cover with the remaining cookies.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Growing up, Easter always meant a new dress and shoes to wear to church. When I was younger, Mama always sewed my dress for me, but when I got older and after she passed away, I got a store bought dress. My favorite Easter dress she made for me was a peach cotton fabric with little raised, white polkadots all over. The dress had short, capped sleeves and embroidered lace across the bodice. I was probably 7-8 years old.

One year when my sister was about 12 years old, she was at that age where she still wanted to participate in the Easter egg hunt at church, but kind of thought she was too big. That was her first year of wearing panty hose for Easter. She was hunting eggs when her panty hose started sliding down; so she just sat down. Unknown to her, she was sitting right on top of the golden egg!! One of the men kept trying to get her to stand up and hinting that she was on the golden egg, but she was afraid if she stood up then her hose would fall down to her knees!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

If Easter says anything to us today, it says this:

You can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." - Clarence W. Hall

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org