Rhythms of Rest and Renewal

My Life seems to get fuller, faster, more demanding yet richer! But oh I long to remember and keep rhythms of Rest and Renewal. I will pray for you as you pray for me as we remind each other to rest and renew routinely!

"In order to grow towards wholeness,
accepting our brokenness
and gradually becoming more compassionate,
we need the power of the Spirit.
But we are humans
and must also know the ways of our own bodies and beings...
Each one of us must find our own secret rhythm
of how to rest, relax and find re-creation
for each one of our bodies is different.
We need personal space and time...
Each of us must discover our own
real nourishment...
We must learn
not just to free ourselves from tension and fatigue...
We must learn
As the mother must learn
in front of the never-ending needs of her children,
how to respect our energy
and relax in all the moments of our day
filled as they may be with arduous work
or often tiresome meetings,
and crises of all sorts,
and the hundred and one things that have to be done.
To do this we must discover how to harmonize
the active and the passive in us.
If we are just doers,
feeling terribly responsible and serious,
we will crack up one day.
We must nourish the passive part of us,
our hearts made for a personal love,
learning to listen to others,
to marvel at nature,
to rest a moment in the presence of Jesus,
to receive the love of those around us
and be nourished by their trust,
enjoying the little things of each day,
not taking ourselves too seriously,
accepting to become like little children."
Jean Vanier

Canvas of Society

I dare you to take 20 minutes and watch this U tube video. It is a piece written by a Filipino painter who paints the Last Supper with Jesus at the table with street children and narrates on the Canvas of Society. A very moving piece.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-bzYgSJCPEtY/sa_kambas_ng_lipunan_on_the_canvas_of_society/

The more I deal with adults that suffer from insecurity, low self image, anger issues and are negative and critical, the more I can trace back a difficulty from their childhood. Parents, we have so much influence on our young children. Give them a heritage that will last a lifetime. I am not talking about presents cheap or expensive, educational pursuits or a classic ballet lessons. I am talking about unconditional love no matter their IQ, personality, weight or prowess at sports or music; teaching them to consider others better than themselves, that life is not fair but we should try to be; that we can live within our means and be content with what we have- others will always have more and many more have less; be respectful of country, authority and laws, that we should live with life goals and seek to pursue those; that life without God is no life at all.

When we do this we can change what is on the Canvas of our Society

Don’t Short Change Christmas

Let’s exchange

Worry for Worship

Shopping for Singing

Clamor for Calm

Parties for Peace

Jollies for Joy

Santa for Savior

Christmas lights for Christ the Light

Gifts that fade for the Gift that lasts forever

Baking for the Bread of life

Holly for Holiness

Christmas tree for the Cross

Presents for His Presence

Let’s not short change this wonderful Season!

Coincidence?

Some may call it coincidence, I prefer to call it tracing God’s hand in putting a picture together, piece by piece. I have been asked to take on a new role. My first reaction was “No way, I have enough on my plate and feel quite stretched already!” But I promised to pray about it and after several weeks, felt I should say that I would be willing to tackle it.

If I took on this more-expanded-job, I would need some help in the job I already have. One of the first people I skyped seemed ready for my question before I asked. He and his wife had been feeling that they needed to stream line into one direction, for about a week already. And the direction was in helping in what I am doing!

One of the most overwhelming parts of the job I have now is the administration load. Two people have already said they would and are helping carry that load!

As I have been praying and thinking through this new job, ideas have been bombarding my thoughts day and night. LOTS yet to learn, but the learning seems like something I will enjoy.

We bought a new book called Axiom by Bill Hybel and I have been reading a bit each day. Almost every day God has used that book to speak into the different questions or doubts I have had concerning this new job.

Family, friends and colleagues have all given me their confidence vote!

There are still many pieces missing to clearly see the big picture but there are enough pieces in place that I am starting to see the shape. Coincidence? Nah! Just pieces coming together and I can’t wait for the next one!

Prayer

I am reading Philip Yancey’s book on Prayer: Does it make difference. A good provocative read.

Prayer is vital to me, yet it is one of the biggest mysteries I have concerning my faith walk with Christ. I continue to grapple with how prayer affects my walk with God and God’s working in my life and in the world around me.

Eugene Peterson says it this way

“My grammar book said, “The middle voice is that use of the verb which describes the subjects as participating in the results of the action.” I read that now, and it reads like a description of Christian prayer- “the subject as participating in the results of the action.” I do not control the action: that is a pagan concept of prayer, putting the gods to work by my incantations or rituals. I am not controlled by the action: that is a Hindu concept of prayer in which I slump passively into the impersonal and fated will of gods and goddesses. I enter into the action begun by another, my creating and saving Lord, and find myself participating in the results of the action. I neither do it, nor have it done to me; I will to participate in what is willed.

As I continue to try to understand prayer there is one thing I know for certain. Prayer is commanded by my Lord so I am all the more determined to pray and keep asking for prayer; working in partnership with my Savior and Creator.

Windows of the Soul

One of my all time favorite books is Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire. He gave me the inspiration to look into the many windows in my life that display God!

“If such things as art galleries exist in heaven, certainly the picture of the widow’s offering is hanging there in a prominent place, for it was one of those secret acts of devotion that Christ referred to, something sacred that the Father saw and treasured….The Temple, which for so long had been a sacred place, had become a streetside gallery of religious display. Lost behind the clutter of ornately framed gestures was a pencil sketch of a poor widow’s soul. Not until Jesus pulled it out and put a frame around it did the disciples even realize it was there. Once they did, though, they sensed it was a sacred picture, revealing to them a window and showing them what was dear to God.”

I am no artist- I have sisters who are! But as I make myself more acutely aware of looking around God’s gallery and seeing what he frames (and what he does not), then I get a glimpse of what is important to God.

Lately in the mornings he has framed the non descript little sparrows that hop outside our window. Then in the evening he frames the multi hued gilded clouds of a Manila sunset. During the day he captures wafts of breeze that cool the sweat on my face, sets a family living in a cart on the sidewalk into a framed pencil sketch and splatters my day with loved ones affirmation.

I hope I will never cease to be amazed standing in God’s art gallery. Which picture are you pondering over right now?E is framingHe deems to frame ( and what he does not!)he

Yeshua and me

Doing what I love- being grandma!

Transformation Garden

recommended by Jill Briscoe's Magazine "just between us"

Talk & Tranquility
Your Daily Visit with Friends

"A non-denominational website designed to encourage women in their walk with Jesus."

If this looks like your place to get away and be quiet in your busy day log on to the sight at

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The Cart People

I see them from my window and this morning I walked through their midst. The cart people who live on a street near us. Their 6-8 feet wooden carts are their livelihood and their life. They are our area’s recyclers. They go through the garbage looking for wires, cardboard, bottles, steel, iron, soda cans and anything else that may bring a few pesos at the end of the day. A few of the kids may be lucky and find half a banana or a few chippies at the bottom of a bag someone threw away. A young man may find cigarette stubs that he savors as he lights up and feels “like anyone else” and not like he is- street dirt poor. At night they have emptied their wooden carts of recyclables and it becomes the instant bed for the family. During the day, the ones watching the stuff at the “camp site” find shade from the trees or an old tarp nailed to a nearby wall or tree.

As I walked by this morning the “community was abuzz”. A dad had a baby on his knees giving him a bath under a community tap. Two ladies were sorting the already full carts of “merchandise”. Another lady was washing clothes in a small broken plastic basin. One little tyke probably 3 or 4 played with a stick making circles in the muddy stream that was running down the street- a stream full of soapy water and from the smell, someone’s overfull sewage. Another youngster was face down on the sidewalk watching her older brother play in the stream- both stark naked. Another young man was in the grassy part of the median between the street laying out the day’s laundry to dry in the sun.

The only thing any of the young children are wearing was the amulet on a string around their neck to ward off evil spirits. Life as lived on the sidewalk in Manila.

Yeshua a month old

Who will take their place

I have just hit the delete button on our partner database for 4 prayer partners. 3 are with the Lord and one has Alzheimer so cannot of course pray as he did. Wow, 4 in a few days! That is a lot of prayer NOT done because these people really did pray- not just give lip service to it. So I wonder who God is tapping on their heart and saying, "You child. I want you to take up the baton of prayer from these dear saints. I am calling you to this high purpose in life to pray for the nations. I am asking you to stand in the gap. You cannot go and bring the gospel in person, but you can touch anyone, anywhere with me on your knees through prayer." This is not to put false guilt on anyone. Just a cry of help. Will you listen and see if you are part of that answer?

grandparent-hood

Let me introduce my grandson. Yeshua Emmanuel Schlitt Manansala. He joined our family on August 30 by C section. Lisa is healing really fast and Yeshua is a delight! He was 5lbs 12 ozs. but starting to thrive on mommy's milk. So now you know why I haven't blogged in a few weeks.

Some aged wisdom I have gleaned in my new found role:

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown~

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old. ~Mary H. Waldrip~

It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one.
~Author Unknown~

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma.
~Teresa Bloomingdale~

Total Living

I have been to three men's funerals in the past few weeks. All leaving an indelible mark of Christ in their path.

The first man was only 21 years old. But the wake service went on and on as classmate after classmate gave testimony of his friendship, his influence and his joy of life with God.

The next man was a seasoned Chinese elder in his church. The greatest tribute that was given is how much he loved his family, especially his wife of 60 years and how much he loved God and wanted all to know Him as he did.

The third was a veteran soldier- actually a Brigadier General in the Philippine army. But he also was a governor statesman, teacher, and a man of Christian integrity who refused to take bribes and even advances in his career if it meant compromising his faith.

I just finished reading Beth Moore's book on the life of David. David, like each of these three men was not perfect but a man after God's own heart. Let me quote you something that Beth wrote that my heart resonates with:

Satisfy me not with the lesser of You
Find me no solace in shadows of the True
No ordinary measure of extraordinary means
The depths, the length, the breadth of You
And nothing in between.
Etch the words upon my heart, knowing all the while
No ordinary roadblocks plague extraordinary miles
Your power as my portion, Your glory as my fare
Take me to extremities
But meet me fully there.

Dancing With God

I just received this and it is a beautiful way to think through guidance from our gracious Guide Master- God:

When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing 'dance' at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, And everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, Both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back Or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, And attentiveness from one person And gentle guidance and skill from the other. My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw 'G': I thought of God,
followed by 'U' and 'I'.
'God, 'U' and 'I' dance.'
God, you, and I dance.

30 years and still going

It was 30 years ago yesterday that I stood in my long white dress at the altar and spoke my wedding vows to Richard. Sometimes it seems like a different life time ago and other days it seems like only a very few years ago. I love what someone wrote on my face book. “We believe that birthdays come and go whether you like it or not (and usually we don't like it), but that wedding anniversaries represent achievements - marriage is hard work - and so need to be celebrated.” Amen!

So what has made our marriage work? – other than God’s grace! We are far from perfect but here are a few things that help make our marriage into what it is today.

Respect for each other and embrace our differences- and there are many!
Divorce isn’t even joked about in our home.
We accept each other as we are and not try to change each other- that is God’s job!
We try not to assume what the other is thinking- but share or ask.
We give each other space
We affirm each other’s gifts
Try to keep short accounts when things are not right
Talk about money
Celebrate special occasions

Bottom line as we individually work at keeping close to God, we are closer to each other.

There but for the grace of God…

A few mornings ago, Richard and I woke up to a shouting and screaming match coming from the street below our fifth floor apartment window. There is a 24/7 bar/restaurant open across the street and often we hear happy noises, but this was anything but happy.

One woman had another woman pinned to the ground and both were screaming at each other. It was all in Tagalog and I couldn’t make most of it out but it was something to do with one of the husbands. I have a feeling a wife came in the early morning hours to find her husband and found him with this other woman. She was a large woman and VERY drunk. It took a couple big men to haul her off, put her in a tricycle (motor bike with side car) and send her home to sleep off her stupor and rage.

As I stood watching this scene from our window, I prayed for all those involved. There were many hurt that night and not just from the physical punches!

I couldn’t pass judgment as God quickly reminded how depraved we all are!!

I went to my Bible to start my morning devotions (even though it was only 5 am). I am reading through the Bible and was starting Romans. 1:24 “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” THEN 3:12”All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." BUT 3:21 “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

So the only reason why I am blissfully sleeping with my husband of 30 years and not pinned on the street by a jealous woman is GRACE- God’s grace!

Walk with me through to the Manila Center

True Love

In a few days time I will be witness and godmother to a young couple starting their married life. The bride has had many questions leading to this special day- questions she doesn’t feel her mom can or will answer. So she asked me. One question was, “How can I fulfill all the needs of my husband? I have not seen “true love” demonstrated in my home. (her dad passed away years ago). Ah, so true love is meeting the other’s needs?

If true love means we “need” someone else to complete us, what does that say about singles? Are they less complete that married people? None of us would say that.

So what is true love? We go to the source himself. God loves us truly. But what does it look like? God doesn’t need me to meet his needs- he has none! He is complete in himself. So why does he love me and want my love and devotion? I cannot give him anything? God does not Need me, he Desires me- WOW! He gets nothing extra out of my love- he just loves me! Isaiah 30:18 “Yes, the Lord longs (desires) to be gracious to you…” Psalm 32:10b “…but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man (person) who trusts in him.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So I told the new bride-to-be- YOU cannot meet your new husband’s needs. All you can give him is your love. He cannot meet your needs- only God can do that. That is why my husband and I can be apart for work or family reasons for a week or two and not crumble or feel “incomplete”. We are complete in ourselves- but we love each and desire (not need) to be with each other.

That to me is true love.

Early Morning Musings

My mind is full and whirling- We are starting a new term of work in the Philippines and the demands are everywhere! Then this morning in bed I got to thinking….

My head is full of all I need to prepare for the workshops I will be teaching – one a month so far through till December BUT it is for a job I love and I keep hearing affirmation that says the material and time is helpful.

My head is full of trying to figure out how to juggle being with my daughter in the birth of her first baby while I have workshops scheduled in and around the due date. BUT how blessed I am that my daughter wants me to be part of this awesome experience with them!

My head is full of special requests- can you teach my son piano? Can you counsel me as I have been through a terrible year? BUT what a privilege that I can play piano and enjoy it. (Thanks Hebron and Miss Fountain!) What a privilege that a friend wants my listening ear- isn’t that a deep compliment?

My head is full of plans, dreams, visions on what I would like to do in the next year or so. I would like to work on another set of materials to serve churches in partnership with missions. I would love to get a committee together to host a celebration (day or weekend?) for adult MKs (missionary kids) here in Manila. I would love to get more reading done. Love to get back into shape. Love to learn some harder pieces on the piano….. I know these plans will only be successful as I lay them before my Master Planner and work in union with him.

So I start this day with my head full and heart at peace. How is your day going?

Something I wrote for a ladies outreach

Mary’s true story

I can hear my mom’s deep sobs in the next bedroom and Dad’s angry barrage against this unexpected news. “ Where did we go wrong? She was such a good girl. What on earth was Jo thinking! What till I get my hands on that young man!”

I had just told my parents that I was pregnant.

I knew they would blow up and so didn’t dare add the extra blow- it wasn’t even Jo’s baby! Jo and I were engaged almost a year ago and everything seemed so right and good for our future. I had grown up in a godly home with good morals. I was known in the community as that quiet, respectable girl that every mother dreamed of tagging for her son. Everyone knew Jo too. He was that stable kind of guy you need and want in a husband. Mature with a good job already. Everything was so perfect until now!

I sat on my bed hugging my knees. The look on Jo’s face when I told him I was pregnant haunted me. He face contorted with pain and his jaws tightened and twitched. He said nothing but turned around and slowly walked away. This was so confusing. I know it hurts him to think I was with someone else. Should I tell Jo the secret of whose baby this is? Is the truth any easier to bear than what he was thinking now? How could he possibly understand! I don’t even understand how this happened? Oh, God, what do I do now? When I checked out to confirm the pregnancy, one of my first thoughts was should I get rid of the baby? Its still early. This baby is just going to mess up my future with Jo, my relationship with my folks. But as I kept thinking about it, the mere thought of getting rid of this little one made me sick in my stomach- more than the morning sickness!

The phone rang. I let it ring several times before I picked it up. It was Jo! I shut my eyes ready for his burst of anger, but instead I heard a deep sigh. “Mary,” he said, “ I don’t know what happened to us. How this happened to you. You tell me it was not a rape so what am I supposed to believe? I have been thinking it over and as much as I love you, I am willing to release you from our engagement so you can be with the baby’s father if that is what you want. You can even use the excuse of our broken engagement as the reason why you went off with someone else. I just wanted to tell you I still love you and I pray the best for you and the little one you carry; and hope the father will be good to both of you.” Click, the phone went dead before I could say anything. It would have been less painful if he had stabbed me with a knife.

I don’t know how long I lay in my tears when Mom came into the room and sat beside me on the bed. “Mary, I don’t know if I should be excited that you will make me a grandmother or angry and just tell you to walk out of the house and never show your face here again. But you are our daughter and we love you no matter what you have done. When you are ready you can try to explain some of this to us but in the meantime, your dad and I have been talking and have a suggestion for you. Everyone around here knows you and Jo, so we wonder if you want to get away from here for a while. Dad’s cousin, Lizzie, is actually going to be giving birth soon and could use some help around the place for a while. It will be a chance for you to learn from her how to care for a baby. What do you think?” I didn’t say anything. What could I say? What else could I do? Where else could I go? It may be good to get away from the accusing looks and whispered gossip that will soon be spreading around town. It would be good to be far away so I won’t bump into Jo anywhere.

So it was decided and after Mom and I shopped i for a few maternity clothes, I soon found myself heading for the mountains escaping all that was familiar and dear to me. When would I return? Would I ever get back? I was too tired trying to make any sense of it all and put my head back and slept from sheer exhaustion.

Maybe many of you hearing my story can identify with things up till now. Some facts may be different but you know how I feel. But what I am about to tell you next will be something nobody can identify with. You see I am not living in Canada and the time is not 2007- I put my story in your context but actually I lived in Judea 2,000 years ago.You may have heard my story before. You have heard of my famous baby before- he is the one named Jesus the Christ.

To make sense of this whole pregnancy and birth of my baby we need to go back to the beginning. Not my beginning, but the beginning of all time.

In the beginning was God. The self sufficient, Holy One. God has existed forever and has no start or end. He is all-powerful and is completely good and loving. He is a creator God and made the universe. His word is all-powerful. He just said, “Let there be light” and suddenly there was light. In an orderly way, God made the dry land, plants and animals. God looked at what He had created and it was perfect.

Then God created the best last. He created people. Everyday, the first people (Adam and Eve) and God talked together. They had a perfect friendship. Adam and Eve were like God’s own children. God knew that if He forced people to love and serve Him, then people had no dignity. He wanted people to CHOOSE to love and serve Him. So God gave people freedom. He told Adam and Eve that they could eat anything EXCEPT the fruit of one tree in the garden. The day they ate that fruit, they would die. So God made the choice very clear ‘choose life or choose death”. Now there was an angel that became proud and was thrown out of heaven. He is called Satan and he has ever since tried to destroy the relationship between God and people. He used a very clever method. Satan worked through a beautiful snake. The snake said to Eve, hoping that she would begin to doubt God’s goodness to them, “Did God really say that you couldn’t eat ANY of the fruit in the garden.” Eve wasn’t tricked so easily. “oh no, most fruit we can eat. Only the fruit of one tree is forbidden. If we eat that fruit we will die.” Satan immediately contradicted God. “You will not die! God knows that when you eat that fruit you will become like God.” Wow, that sounds good and the fruit was so shiny and beautiful.

She chose to rebel against God and listen to Satan. She also gave some fruit to her husband and he also rebelled against God’s clear word.

Immediately they rejected God they felt ashamed. They tried to cover their naked bodies and hide in fear and embarrassment.. God came to have his walk in the garden with them, but they hid from him. Their perfect friendship with God had been destroyed. God called out and said, “Where are you?” Did he know where they were? Of course, He knows everything. So, why did God ask this question? He wanted them to approach Him and admit that they had rebelled against him and say sorry.

But what did Adam and Eve do? They started to pass the responsibility. Eve blamed the snake. Adam had the audacity to blame not only Eve but God , “The woman YOU gave me”. His meaning was clear. If you hadn’t created this woman for me, I wouldn’t be in this mess!

God was very sad because He knew the suffering that this rebellion would cause. Every person looks to themselves or anything else but God to find meaning to life. The result would be arguments, divorce, war and much more. People would no longer care for the world but would try to exploit it, never thinking of the floods, pollution and misery that they were causing.

Perhaps Adam and Eve thought that Satan was right, they hadn’t died when they ate the fruit. The reality was that rebellion against God inevitably leads to death, spiritual death- separation from God forever. From the moment of their rebellion, they walked on death’s road.

In the midst of all God’s judgment, God showed mercy. He gave people hope through a wonderful promise. Although the descendents of Adam and Eve would continue to be hated by Satan, one day someone would come who would defeat Satan. Yes, only God can defeat Satan. This wonderful promise was that God Himself would one day come and save the world. The day I got pregnant that promise came true.

You see I didn’t have sex with any one to get pregnant. Believe it or not I was a virgin till after Jesus was born. Jesus is God taking on human flesh. Since Adam and Eve’s time, everyone was waiting for the promised Saviour. They waited and waited. Then one day an angel appeared to me. I told you it would be hard to believe! But it is true. You can imagine how frightened I was to see an angel because you don’t see one of those every day! The angel said to me, “You are going to have a baby.” And I said, “How can that happen since I’m a virgin?” The angel said, “God is going to do a miracle and put a baby in your womb.” You will have a son and his name will be Jesus, which means “God saves”. He will also have another name, Emmanuel, which means “God with us”.

That is the secret I was carrying of how I got pregnant. It was all pretty overwhelming! After I was at my Aunt’s place for a few months I did come back home. And guess who was there to meet me. Jo! He told me an angel had come to him as well and told him how I had got pregnant and that I shouldn’t give you up, but marry you! Wow, it was so good to have someone else know my secret and it was great to be back with Jo. You know the story of how Jo and I had to go back to our home town for a government census taking. I was almost full term pregnant and the travel was exhausting. When we got to Bethlehem there was not one motel room available and in the end I had to give birth in a smelly old animal barn. You know the story too of our first visitors, the shepherds that first night. After that we moved into a home and in a few years there were these very wealthy men from the East who came because they had found out that I had given birth to a very significant child. Their gifts helped us out as we set up our carpentry shop and had more children. Jo and I didn’t feel it was our place to be telling the world about Jesus, our son. Sometimes we even forgot ourselves that he was actually God come in the flesh. When the time was right God would let the world know.

It was when Jesus turned 30 that I once again realized who my son really was! He was God come in flesh to tell us good news.

I remember one night, a council member named Nicodemus came to talk to Jesus. Jesus said a very strange thing to him. He said, “to know God you must first be born again!” Nicodemus didn’t understand and wondered how a grown man could possibly enter his mother’s womb to be born again. But Jesus wasn’t talking about physical birth. His meaning was that to truly be friends with God it is like being spiritually reborn. We need a new start. Just as it is impossible for people to be re -enter their mother’s womb, we cannot save ourselves. No person can find this new life themselves. This new start is a miracle that only God can do. Only God can give us new life. This was the good news my son had been sent to teach and I was thrilled that I played a part in it all.

For the next three years Jesus was not at home but doing his heavenly father’s will- teaching, healing and comforting the hurting. But one very frightening night it seemed to all come to a crashing halt. One of Jesus’ best friends betrayed him to the religious leaders, who were jealous and fearful of Jesus and his teachings. It is hard for me to tell you this part of the story. No mother should have to see her son falsely accused, cruelly beaten, abused, mocked at and finally condemned to die. Not only die but die the worst criminal’s death by being nailed to a wooden cross.

When Jesus died you can imagine how devastated I was. Physically I hurt because I had seen my son suffer unbearably and spiritually I hurt as my hopes for this promised Saviour evaporate in thin air. We were not prepared for this. We had no burial plot ready but a rich man who had been impressed by Jesus offered us his tomb. This tomb was carved into a rock and a big stone was rolled in front of the opening to seal it shut. Guards were also placed at his tomb.

I remember it was three days after we buried Jesus that some of us women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. We weren’t sure how we were going to roll that heavy stone away but we hoped the soldiers would have pity on us and help us. But when we got there the stone had already been rolled away and the soldiers guarding it were face down on the ground. There at the entrance was an angel. Where was Jesus body? Who had taken it away? Was this just a cruel dream or was this really true? One of my friends grabbed me before I fell, I was so shaken. The angel then spoke to us and said, “Do not be afraid. for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”

It all made sense now. God made human beings to have a relationship with him on their own free will. But when they disobeyed him the relationship was broken. The punishment for this disobedience was spiritual death for ever. But God made a way for this punishment to be dealt with once and for all. Jesus HAD to die to pay for our wrongs against God. But He rose again to show us the all surpassing power of God and give us hope. Why? Because God, the King of Kings loves us. He wants a relationship with us. We are the ones who should die because of our broken relationship with God. But God is merciful. He changed our destiny.

Jesus took our place so we could be reunited with God, our source of life. Whoever believes in the Jesus has eternal life, but whoever rejects him will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.Jesus is no longer my son but my Savior. He can be your Savior too. Admit that you are disobedient to God. Believe that Jesus took the punishment of your disobedience for you on the cross and accept this payment as a free gift of love from God himself. When you do I welcome you to the forever family of God.