WE WILL RISE

Easter is not celebrated here in Ethiopia for another month or so.  But many thoughts were going through my mind over the weekend about the big story we’re part of and how history forever changed with the obedience and love Jesus lived out. 

Was the life Jesus came to live- an easy one? Did He surround himself with comfort and acclaim? NO.

He followed His Father’s plan to enter into a fallen-broken world to serve and offered himself as a sacrifice for humanity’s sin.  His death brought us life.  The darkness preceded a BIG BIG dawn. 

These reminders then the rain falling several evenings here- for some reason brought to my mind moments of when I lived in Haiti.

Some of my hardest, most heart-rendering moments were lived out in the back alleys and paths of that Caribbean country when I was in my early twenties.

It was where I saw poverty, disease and death for the first time. 

It’s also where I saw my pride and felt my sin. 

I remember sleeping was one of the hardest things.  The staff and interns of the mission we worked for in northwest Haiti would sleep on the roof. The rooms downstairs were too hot. 

I remember months and months of feeling beat up by the elements on that roof every night. It was the nights I often dreaded most. I missed soft pillows and AC.

I would try to hide in my sheet on that roof… protecting myself, from bugs, bats, dew, and sudden rain storms…but no matter how much and how hard I tried- my bedding would usually blow off the roof at some point and I would wake up each morning feel small, vulnerable, and was usually soaked in sweat, dew or rain and was covered in bug bites of some kind.

My pride began crumbling.

What felt to me like a dark, lonely, scary place…was actually right where God wanted me to be and to experience.  This place of humbling and hardship would turn into a sweet place of intimacy with God- almost like a sanctuary.  Over time, I learned to love the huge ceiling of stars.  I learned to love the breeze and how the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the shore down in our town could lure me to sleep. I learned to love the fun and challenge of trying to beat the rain coming down the mountain. When I heard it coming, I had less than a minute to either get under cover or wrap in the plastic rolled up on the foot of my bed. I learned to love and chuckle at being able to hear all the community chatter going on in huts around our compound. 

And remarkably- over time, instead of hiding from that dark place- my hands began to lift and I worshipped in awe- the Creator of it all, in what before was a dark place.

God has been reminding me this week of lessons He taught me on that roof. That even if He allows me to go to a dark and low place, He can help me RISE better and stronger than I ever dreamed possible- if I allow Him to teach me what He needs to teach me there. 

We will rise! Isn’t that part of Easter’s great message?

Valleys come. Trials come. Sickness and death. Disappointment. Betrayal. Deserts. Storms.  It’s all part of life. And we’re not given an exempt ticket.  We have to pass through it all too.

Sometimes situations beyond our control take us to those places.

Sometimes we get ourselves into those messy places on our own.

Sometimes God can lead us to those places.

But the good news is…that’s not the end. We have the ability to rise. Darkness comes before dawn. We might be pushed down, but we’re not destroyed.

Check out these verses…

Psalm 30:4-5

Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning

Psalm 20:6-8

The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Lamentations 3:19-26

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Looking back at my journey, the lowest points, the hardest trials, came before the biggest, most rewarding, most fulfilling moments. Most often in the most distressing of times, God did His biggest and best work in me.  His voice, I heard. His truth, I embraced. His love, I felt to my core. In those hard places, these lessons become seared into the fiber of my character, and I was changed. 

On that rooftop in Haiti, I believe God was wanting and observing a transformation process. He watched a prideful American girl battle with a surrender of will, a loss of control. He wanted to see a perspective shift. From the bigness and security of self, to humility and dependence on God- that would lead to authentic worship and a life lived thus after in radical obedience and trust.

When my pity party for myself on that roof began changing, I believe God watched in expectation. And when my songs of sorrow changed…and my hands lifted in praise to God…I believe He said, at last.  There’s my girl!

These songs I have been playing on my laptop this past week, old ones, but good ones about how we will rise...Dallas Holm’s "Rise Again" and Chris Tomlin’s "I Will Rise."

Rise Again by Dallas Holm (lyrics and link-www.youtube.com/watch?v=smtQh_xEnQY)

Go ahead, drive the nails in my hands
Laugh at me where you stand
Go ahead, and say it isn't me
The day will come, when you will see!

(CHORUS):
'Cause I'll rise again
Ain't no power on earth can tie me down
Yes, I'll rise again
Death can't keep me in the ground!

Go ahead, and mock my name
My love for you is still the same
Go ahead, and bury me
But very soon I will be free!

(CHORUS):
'Cause I'll rise again
Ain't no power on earth can tie me down
Yes, I'll rise again
Death can't keep me in the ground!

Go ahead, and say I'm dead and gone
But you will see that you were wrong
Go ahead, try to hide the Son
But all will see that I'm the One!

I Will Rise, by Chris Tomlin (lyrics and link-www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf7t3P9ISrE)

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

May we be reminded and encouraged this week after Easter that our God is one who likes to say- RISE UP, GET UP.  He can heal, restore, renew, resurrect. He can lift you from darkest lowest place and give you a new place to stand and a smile and testimony to share!

Isaiah 30:8

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Matthew 9:6-7

So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”  Then the man got up and went home.

Luke 8:53-55

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!”  Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

John 11:43

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Psalm 124:1-5

If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say— if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us;  the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.

Psalm 18:16-19

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me

Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord

Celebrating this truth here in Ethiopia this week!

May we not forget the great story we’re part of and that WE CAN AND WILL RISE!

Blessed Easter and Spring to All,

Holly