Believers reflect on the Good News that Jesus overcame death; his empty tomb was the beginning of our rejoicing.
Today we are on the other side of the tragedy of the cross. Mary doesn't have to wrestle with "what if" any more.
Most of us, however, with our own real time circumstances, still live in the midst of our heartache:
Premature death, separation and divorce, loss of property.To add to the pain, thoughtless believers carelessly ascribe personal failure to these events:
You didn't pray hard enough.
You didn't believe enough in healing.
You somehow weren't enough.What is Truth that we can apply to "what is?" Truth that will help us fight the temptation to adopt the optional guilt of "what if" or "if only." In most of our heartaches and tragedies, we can find a thread of "if only I had done this or that differently." Therein lies the foodstuff of guilt that we too often decide to adopt.
Truth:
God asks us to travel through heartbreak. My sweet friend, who just lost her grandson in a four-wheeler accident, got a tattoo that says it all: Only God Knows Why.
When Jesus left, God sent the Holy Spirit as our Constant Companion, our Comforter, our Reassuring Voice that "what is" is not the end of the story.
There is personal strength gained in the walk-through. While the enemy of God fights hard to keep us stuck in "what if" and "if only," God invites us to let Him walk with us and build our strength through the story. Only He knows how our strength gained might someday help another, in the sometimes life-saving gesture of paying it forward.God asked Mary to travel through heartbreak. Her faithfulness got her chosen. When we are placed in the position to endure heartache, we have no idea the role God plays except that He is not taken by surprise. Somehow He allowed it.
Our response, chosen minute by minute, is our victory or our defeat:
God knows. I don't. (And neither do thoughtless believers who offer guilt-laden counsel.) I choose to be comforted in the knowing that I don't know but the Holy Spirit is by my side to give me comfort. I can ask for that comfort daily.
Or, God is a mean god who cannot be trusted. I will turn my back and do this life on my own.The Bible says God has our best interest at heart.
Choose the hope of the other side. Keep moving by asking for the Comforter. Tell optional guilt that you will no longer be its audience.
The joy of Easter can be found each time we choose hope in the midst of our heartbreak.
