On this day....
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." Mark 16:15-16
I will never forget this day 16 years ago.
It changed me forever.
I had just given birth to my first child.
It was a gorgeous September day. He and I had just went for a stroll around our neighborhood. I was just getting into the swing of being a mother. Life was so sweet. So innocent. So perfect.
Until, I heard an alert come on the news about 30 minutes after our morning stroll. Something in my heart knew all was not well. I could just sense something was wrong.
I sat in my green rocking chair, holding my 5 week old baby boy. My eyes were glued to the screen.
My pulse began to quicken and a felt a cold chill go down my neck.
My first panic attack.
I thought I was about to die right there in the green chair holding my newborn.
Life changed in the moment.
My eyes were opened to evil in a way that I had never seen before.
I realized in an instant the sanctity of life. The utter amazement of breath in our lungs and the rhythm of the beating in our hearts.
I wonder if this is how Eve must have felt when her eyes were opened to sin? When she realized that life would never be the same after she took the bite of that fruit.
Perhaps there is a moment for all of us. A moment when we must choose....will it be a life or will it be death.
In the years to follow after 9/11, I had a choice to make.
Would I choose to live in panic, fear, anxiety and torment?
Or, would I choose peace, joy, and faith.
I could not have it both ways, I soon discovered.
After many years, many doctors, many medicines, I finally found the cure.
Jesus Himself.
He was there all along. Beckoning me to His side.
I knew Him, but I didn't know Him.
One day, I opened God's Word in a desperate pursuit of peace. I found peace, and so much more.
I think about the many who did not know Jesus on that September day, 16 years ago. They had no idea their lives would end that day. No idea.
They probably thought they had forever to choose life. Forever to choose Jesus.
But, they didn't. And neither do we.
The state of our world brings anxiety to my heart. Not anxiety over war, or storms.....but over the lives of those who still don't know Jesus.
This keeps me up at night. I picture their faces. Precious faces.
What if they don't know about Jesus? What if they don't know Who He is and what He's done?
Or, what if all they know of Jesus is religious people who judge them and turn their backs on them.
Or, religious people who reflect anything but love, gentleness, peace, and kindness.
Or, religious people that attend faithfully to their church services, but hold hatred and grudges in their hearts against others.
Or, religious people that say all the right things, but their actions show anything but love.
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Matthew 15:8
Or, religious people who think they are showing love by not sharing Truth in a loved one's life. We watch idly on the side lines as if we pity them and their sin. Shame on us.
May our pity never stop us from sharing the Gospel of Jesus. Even if they turn away from us, may it never be that we turn away from them.
Pity will not change a heart. But, Jesus can.
Are we loving others enough to tell them about Jesus? Or, are we afraid we will offend them.
For Heavens sake, if we offend them, then count it all joy.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds" James 1:2
Who do you need to share Jesus with today?
Listen, we don't need to be bible scholars to talk about what Jesus has done in our lives. We just need to have courage to speak up, and love other enough to tell them.
speaking up,
jill
I will never forget this day 16 years ago.
It changed me forever.
I had just given birth to my first child.
It was a gorgeous September day. He and I had just went for a stroll around our neighborhood. I was just getting into the swing of being a mother. Life was so sweet. So innocent. So perfect.
Until, I heard an alert come on the news about 30 minutes after our morning stroll. Something in my heart knew all was not well. I could just sense something was wrong.
I sat in my green rocking chair, holding my 5 week old baby boy. My eyes were glued to the screen.
My pulse began to quicken and a felt a cold chill go down my neck.
My first panic attack.
I thought I was about to die right there in the green chair holding my newborn.
Life changed in the moment.
My eyes were opened to evil in a way that I had never seen before.
I realized in an instant the sanctity of life. The utter amazement of breath in our lungs and the rhythm of the beating in our hearts.
I wonder if this is how Eve must have felt when her eyes were opened to sin? When she realized that life would never be the same after she took the bite of that fruit.
Perhaps there is a moment for all of us. A moment when we must choose....will it be a life or will it be death.
In the years to follow after 9/11, I had a choice to make.
Would I choose to live in panic, fear, anxiety and torment?
Or, would I choose peace, joy, and faith.
I could not have it both ways, I soon discovered.
After many years, many doctors, many medicines, I finally found the cure.
Jesus Himself.
He was there all along. Beckoning me to His side.
I knew Him, but I didn't know Him.
One day, I opened God's Word in a desperate pursuit of peace. I found peace, and so much more.
I think about the many who did not know Jesus on that September day, 16 years ago. They had no idea their lives would end that day. No idea.
They probably thought they had forever to choose life. Forever to choose Jesus.
But, they didn't. And neither do we.
The state of our world brings anxiety to my heart. Not anxiety over war, or storms.....but over the lives of those who still don't know Jesus.
This keeps me up at night. I picture their faces. Precious faces.
What if they don't know about Jesus? What if they don't know Who He is and what He's done?
Or, what if all they know of Jesus is religious people who judge them and turn their backs on them.
Or, religious people who reflect anything but love, gentleness, peace, and kindness.
Or, religious people that attend faithfully to their church services, but hold hatred and grudges in their hearts against others.
Or, religious people that say all the right things, but their actions show anything but love.
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Matthew 15:8
Or, religious people who think they are showing love by not sharing Truth in a loved one's life. We watch idly on the side lines as if we pity them and their sin. Shame on us.
May our pity never stop us from sharing the Gospel of Jesus. Even if they turn away from us, may it never be that we turn away from them.
Pity will not change a heart. But, Jesus can.
Are we loving others enough to tell them about Jesus? Or, are we afraid we will offend them.
For Heavens sake, if we offend them, then count it all joy.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds" James 1:2
Who do you need to share Jesus with today?
Listen, we don't need to be bible scholars to talk about what Jesus has done in our lives. We just need to have courage to speak up, and love other enough to tell them.
speaking up,
jill
