One year is coming to a close and another is about to unfold before us. So, KC and I wanted to pop in while you’re in the midst of your new year’s festivities to make sure you hear a gentle, comforting, and truthful word from God.
In fact, you’re not going to believe this, but we have a letter from God.
GIVEAWAY ALERT: You can win the book The Problem of Jesus: Answering a Skeptic’s Challenges to the Scandal of Jesus by this week’s podcast guest. Keep reading to find out how!
Well, I will start right off with the answer to the question posed in the title … “Yes, you can!” You can trust what the Bible says about Jesus, and today, you will understand why.
Jesus is the Christ, and yet, He is so controversial, isn’t He? He impacts our political discussions and our dinner table debates, but lots of people are pretty confused about who He really is.
“We’re overcome with deep sadness to be at this point.”
That was my friend’s response to the hard place she and her husband had found themselves.
Her beloved mother had been in and out of institutions because of mental illness and now, they had to make a hard, soul-tearing decision about her guardianship.
For years, they rallied, they loved, they emptied their savings for the best treatment centers, and they fought, trusted, and never gave up hope. And, now they felt like they were giving up her mom to an uncertain future.
I knew that would probably get your attention!
It was all about the laundry.
I’ll get right to it. My husband, Phil, has always been a great guy, but there was one big issue with his greatness. He was perfectly capable of dropping his dirty clothes in the hamper, which has always been placed conveniently in our closet. But did he ever do this simple thing that he was perfectly capable of doing? Nope. Most of the time, he dropped his dirty clothes right in front of the clothes hamper. Right in front.
At first, I tried to handle it with humor. I conducted a dirty clothes protocol seminar in our closet.
I invited him into the closet with me, where I used exaggerated gestures while standing varying distances from the hamper, all the while counting out loud how many seconds it took me to toss laundry into the basket rather than in front of it. Of course, I also pointed out that even though I cannot see, I rarely missed.
It’s so easy to get discouraged, isn’t it? Life hits us hard and trials last too long and we just get worn out trying to stand firm in faith. Or, sometimes we are in the thick of doing good, serving God and it just seems like progress is slow, our confidence is low and discouragement is high.
I’ve felt discouraged for both reasons lately. I’ve felt overwhelmed and under-qualified to rise to the demands of ministry. I’ve fallen into a confidence crisis and just plain felt defeated. And, at the same time, my sweet Dad has been in the hospital, fighting pain and infection. My mom is worn out caring for him and instead of things getting better, they just seem to get worse. As soon as we see some progress, the next day, his fever spikes and our hope deflates. It is just downright discouraging.
“Are you there? Can you hear me?! Can you hear me now?” How many times have you held your phone to your ear and asked — okay, shouted, “Can you hear me?” Then, you shift positions; you move to a window, put the phone up to the other ear, speak even louder, “Can you hear me now?”
If you’re like me, you’ve done that too many times to count! In fact, so many of us have had this happen that Verizon Wireless featured an actor uttering those very words over and over in their famous cell phone commercials. Remember that?
