Never Ending Praise The Lord

Good morning!

I apologize for not posting last week.

Yesterday was Resurrection Day- or at least what some of us refer to as Easter Sunday. I have to say, this is probably my favorite holiday. Around this time, I always do a lot of reflecting. Perhaps it’s the Holy Spirit working through me. This year, I was able to think about the ways Jesus has brought new life and I wanted to share.

The thought hit me a couple of weeks ago as I prepared to study John 3. In my prayer time, I always begin by thanking God for different things that he’s done, as well as the things he will do. On this particular day, I happened to think of the symbolism I had missed a year prior.

In the midst of a rough season, I switched from teaching toddlers, to being surrounded by infants. I had avoided being around babies my entire time at my job. In part, it was due to fear. What if I dropped a baby? I didn’t think I could possibly keep up and stay organized. I didn’t feel qualified to care for these very vulnerable, tiny humans.

Let me tell you what God did though. He surrounded me with new life. It was in this season that I started to really feel better. My first class of babies witnessed a lot of tears, I’ll be honest. There were days I had a lot of pain and could barely move, but I needed to be at work. Focusing on these babies helped a lot. Interestingly enough, infants know how to show love in the very best way. They show love with snuggles. They show love by laughing when you do something funny or make a funny noise. They show love by smiling when you engage with them. It felt like they saw through my pain and loved me through it. Through them and their innocence, I really felt the love of God.

God was telling me that he was about to really bring me new life- but it had to come through him. I couldn’t give in to the dark, sad things of this world. There was lot of praying in that classroom, a lot of reflecting and meditating on his word, a lot of frustration while i muddled through health issues, surgeries and even mental anguish.

After I realized that he had shown me new life in him by surrounding me with new life, I thanked him. I was just simply awestruck by his goodness, his purpose and his intentionality. I finished praying,and opened my bible to John 3.

John 3 opens with a Pharisee, Nicodemus, approaching Jesus in the night. The discussion following was about being born again. Now, Nicodemus was very confused. At that time, Jews searched for a messiah to bring them a new world in which they would not be oppressed by the Roman empire. However, Jesus came to bring new life.

Reading this passage with commentary [enduringword.com] was like God saying, “See how I’ve brought you new life?”

I want to just remind you here, that his suffering on the cross didn’t just end in death, it actually ended with an empty to tomb as he was raised to new life. And that is what he wants to do for you.

As my pastor asked yesterday, what will you do with it?