Seasons

“That they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:23

Seeing Beautiful Again by Lysa TerKeurst has probably been one of the most powerful devotionals I have ever read. The rawness of her emotions, the transparency of her suffering, and the pure invasion of her bold faith into the brokenness have left me speechless. There is not one page that she promises outcomes…there is not one chapter that wraps it all up with a pretty bow…but there is one message which you and I both need to hear. God adores us…God gave us His Son who died for us…God placed His Spirit within us giving us everything we need to survive every circumstance we face. Through these truths, we can find the love and unity of which Christ spoke with each other no matter our differences and experiences. ‘Seeing beautiful again has a lot less to do with the circumstances right in front of us and a lot more to do with using God’s truth to frame our perspective’ p. 251.

Even at the Last Supper, Jesus stayed engaged with friends and family although He knew His future held the brutality of the cross. ‘He was focused enough to stay very present in this moment instead of living in the dread of the future moments to come’ p. 252. So, will we? Can we be courageous enough to stay engaged when all we want to do is pull the covers over our head? Will our boldness recall the promises of God instead of the echoes of pain? Can we admit that although we rehearse the worst-case scenarios in our minds, we could instead believe in and experience the best comforts of God?

‘Hurt shapes us for better or worse. Jesus knew this. And He knew humans have such a propensity to turn healing into hating. Maybe that’s why He prayed for unity…With Jesus, unity and peace are possible…Seeing beautiful again is acknowledging what is. It’s accepting what isn’t. It’s offering to use what you learned through your hurt to ease someone else’s pain...It’s determining to look a little more like our Creator by taking what’s in front of us and creating something beautiful from it’ p. 254.

There is beauty everywhere no matter what we are experiencing because God is everywhere and in every season. I will allow the author of Ecclesiastes 3 to close out our devotion this morning.

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to 

      refrain from embracing,       

6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.