I didn't plan on writing another blog for a week or so but God so powerfully spoke to me the past few days that I had to share.
Sometimes stress, unanswered questions, changing seasons, new chapters of life starting or other ones ending...many things can cause us to lose perspective on the big story we're part of.
Even with sunsets and cloud masterpieces like these in recent days...you can still lose focus.
The past few days I've felt the stress of a new school semester beginning here in Ethiopia. They've given me different classes than the original plan and so things don't feel entirely stable. With school starting Monday, tomorrow, I'm still not sure of my schedule and if it will hold.
On "Good Friday"- I had a hard time all day shaking unexplained irritation. Why was I irritated? Was it because a plan for the semester still had to be written? Usually if I feel stressed- I can shake it off through exercise, a long walk or run. I tried the LONG walk, it didn't work. I came in Friday night really tired physically, but still irritated internally.
That's when I remembered that my Mom had sent me her old i-pod a few days before through some friends visiting Ethiopia, maybe music would help.
So I laid on my bed and asked God to help me. Then I began listening to some worship songs. As I listened, I began to fully remember and focus on the big story we're part of...God's redemption plan for mankind. A Savior, Jesus, came here and died to give us life. And I actually had a "get happy"moment right then. I don't know where that saying ("get happy") originated from. But we always used to say people would "get happy" in church when they would get lost in worship...like David did as he danced into the city long ago...being all "undignified". My Grandpa was classic at "getting happy"- his arms would raise and he'd start praising God and would go down the aisle of church- even in the middle of a sermon- we said this was him "getting happy." :-)
So on my bed before I knew it...tears were streaming down my face (joyful tears) and my hands were raised and I think I might have been bellowing some classic songs...like Shout to the Lord, Jesus Paid it All. I'm glad the neighbors weren't next door at the time. I remembered that "old old story...how a Savior came from glory....how He gave his life on calvary...to save a wretch like me."
I think God likes it when we "get happy" about His love for us. So, that "get happy" moment turned the tide on my irritation and my Easter weekend reflection time.
All of Saturday, I was still having the lingering effects of that moment...I was humming....victory in Jesus, my Savior forever, He sought me and He bought me with His Redeeming Blood....He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood."
As I was sitting at a cafe thinking about it all later that day...I noticed big rain clouds coming and I thought I need to get under cover soon. And I felt God say to me...HOLLY, YOU ARE "UNDER COVER, MINE".
I think this was what God was trying to get to remember and think about this Easter weekend.
Now, I remember many times being "covered" or "coated" by different things.
In Haiti, it was sweat.
In South Sudan, it was heat.
In Kenya during rainy season, it was often mud and mosquito nets.
At the beach when I was a kid, it was sunscreen.
In Ethiopia, during rainy season last fall, on a village visit outside of Addis- I was covered in a chill I couldn't shake...so much so...that I literally ran into a place where ladies were cooking to get warm.
You can become deeply affected by the environment you're in.
Then sometimes if you are covered in something that protects you, like a mosquito net or bug spray or sunscreen, sometimes you forget that's even there.
Sometimes I think our salvation is that way too. We forget we're covered and to be thankful for that.
God has provided us with an amazing covering because the one we had, the one we were living in, separated us from God and condemned us to death. And this coating, this covering, denied us access to the life God intended us to have. We were covered in a guilty penalty we couldn't pay.
But what Jesus did when He died for our sins and rose again on the third day was He offered us a new covering, His covering, His own coat.
And if you accept what Jesus did for you- you go under His cover. So when God now sees you- He sees the covering of his Son. Access to God is granted. You're free to know God in the way He intended. You can get as close as you dare. And you're given eternal life with God, beginning now. What an amazing gift!!!
Check out these verses...
Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness
2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 8: 1-4
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Hebrews 10: 19-22
Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...
After we get this covering, life goes on ...but we're different, and we're under Jesus' cover literally. We're different on the inside, but we look the same on the outside. And in fact, your life doesn't miraculously become perfect when you get under Jesus' cover. Some people believe this....that all prayers will be answered...all struggles will cease...all storms will calm. But no where does God say that will happen. In fact, the struggle will probably be harder. Flesh and spirit often go against each other...
Romans 7:21-15
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The good thing is you're now covered, God is with you and will never leave you or forsake you. Perfect peace. Unexplainable joy. A "living hope." Global family. Purpose. A friend who sticks closer than a brother. A guide in the Holy Spirit- so much you receive when you're under this cover.
God also wants this inner change that has happened- to be reflected in our lives outwardly- to be uncovered. (don't hide your light under a bush...)
The way you speak, the way you serve, the way you live- love. Your generosity, your compassion, your humility, your justice, your wisdom, your joy, your peace...can attract others to the God who wants them covered too.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
May our lives reveal to others the greatest most undeserved gift and sacrifice ever made. May we not forget that we're under cover. And may that cause us to shine, to be light in darkness as God's Spirit strategically places us globally.
Easter morning, which here in Ethiopia is next Sunday, I plan to rise early and go on top of the mountain behind our school and watch the sun rise...remembering the covering I now I live under, a Savior who gave His life for mine, may I "get happy" remembering the hill He climbed, the grave he entered, the keys he claimed, and the tomb He exited, the victory He won for those who accept Him and believe.
So grateful for our Risen King!!!!!
Celebrating joyfully with you this Easter.
Let's "get happy" and invite others to "get happy" too.
Blessed Easter to you....
From Ethiopia- Holly
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