"I will wait"
2Cellos
I love this version of "I will wait". The landscape and the music go beautifully together. I'm not sure where on this earth they filmed this video, but I'm sure it reflects a little bit of what Heaven looks like:) This place looks like a place you might want to retreat to when your waiting.
So as we wait this Advent season..what are you waiting for?
What are you hoping for?
What has your heart longed for year after year?
&
You find yourself still waiting..
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life."-
Proverbs 13:12
Waiting without real hope can make our hearts sick. It can cause us to let go of hope and never want to pick it up again. That's no way to live, but if we admit it.. parts of our hearts are dead because they were sick way too long waiting for hope to be UN-deferred.
Today's devotional focus for Advent was about Sarah.
She was promised a son.
After hope was deferred way to long she tried to do things in her own strength.. and it didn't turn out very well.
At the ripe "Ol" age of 99.. Sarah must of felt the slow beat of a dying heart. She wanted a son. Her own son .. the one God had promised her.. the one she thought He forgot about.. The one she thought she would never get because of her big mess up with Hagar and Ishmael.
Abraham was given a promise by God that Sarah laughed at..
Ann VosKamp's Children's book on Advent so wonderfully captures the moment..
"Abraham", God said, "everything is always more than it seems, more than you can see. I am doing unexpected things! I am sending you a child! And through that child, your family will grow big and the whole earth will be blessed."
Abraham laughed happy. And when the news of a miracle child reached the ears of his wife, Sarah, she laughed too- but Sarah laughed sad. Sarah laughed the way you do when you think someone is teasing you, AND YOU LAUGH BRAVE SO YOU DON'T CRY HARD. Sometimes you use laughter like a shield to protect your heart. Could Sarah let down her guard and believe that God would be gentle with her dream to hold a child of her own? Sometimes when your heart hurts, your head hurts to believe."
Isn't that so true.. How many times have we felt that way? We laugh.. only because it protects us from doing what we really want to do.. cry.. but that would show our real heart.. and no one needs to see the real condition of our hearts.. its too much for us to look at let alone anyone else.
So, we laugh and move on..
with a bitter
sick
heart.
And.. here is the HOPEFUL part.. this heart.. the one that laughs to protect itself.. will someday laugh with joy-filled tears streaming down her face because Jesus has proven Himself faithful to her hopeless dying heart. He did it with Sarah .. so why wouldn't He do it with us?
Her battle was with His timing.. not His faithfulness.
And really that is a hopeful word.. because if your still waiting .. He is still ready and willing to be
faithful. The waiting on Him digs a deep well in our hearts and when He fills it with His hope.. His promised fulfilled.. We laugh and laugh until the whole world around us is touched in someway by the hope that now spills from our deep well of waiting.
The video above portrays this process so well.. In the tucked away times of life if we will surround ourselves with His living water.. His word.. His heart.. His people.. We will find ourselves immersed in His beauty and it will spill on us.. in us .. until we can pick up our own instruments and play along with His song.. The one that takes the different road when it emerges into the yellow wood. This song we learn in the tucked away times will lead us to real laughter..
The kind that comes from strength after admitting our weakness..
We admit our weakness to Jesus because that is when He is strongest. What we really fear is that He has left us.. given up on us.. and that is just not true. He waiting for the perfect time to give you what your heart deeply desires.
"All fear comes from thinking that somewhere God's love will end. But God's unbeatable, unstoppable, unwrappable love for you will never, no matter what, end. So we can loosen up, because all our heavy, sad chains have been loosed, and we can laugh free. Because of Jesus, the other miracle Child who came to us, laughter comes to us too. And we get to hold the wonder of it close to us. Sadness is not the end of the story. Jesus is the end of our story.. and the beginning of our story and the BEST part of our story." Ann Voskamp
My desire was wholeness after the hollowing out..
After the waiting.. I'm beginning to laugh again.. He is bringing wholeness to me but what is far greater is the wholeness He is bringing to my home and my family. My greatest blessing this Christmas season is seeing both of my girls doing what fills them with joy. They are both in such a good place of life! YES!!!! I'm one who can laugh!! Laugh at what the enemy tried to steal.. our hearts.. The hollow hearts filled full now with His promised fulfilled. They are healing now in good ways..They are now a waterfall of life.. giving life to us all. I still have sad places in my heart.. I still miss Jack so much.. but I do get to see glimpses of his heart in the hearts of my girls.. I know some day Jack will say to us.."I'm so glad you waited .. I'm so glad you didn't give up .. I'm so glad you turned to Jesus and let Him heal your hearts...and I'm so glad you learned to live again with Joy and laughter. You have made me so proud!"
So with that being said..
in the midst of all the mess
we wait
we wait for Jesus
He's coming
He promised us that
wait for the
laugh
because when it comes
It's oh so so good:)
"She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future."
Proverbs 31:25
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