I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
When Life Turns Sideways
|
Hi Friends, Last week I shared about the Feast of Normalcy… the banquet the Lord sets before us in every moment of every ordinary day. (If you missed it, you can catch it here.) But what about when life turns sideways? What about when the word “normal” sounds foreign to your ears and life is war-torn (for some of you, literally)? I believe that in difficult seasons of life, our need for the feast of normalcy actually increases. Our craving for ordinary—for patterns and expecteds—actually spikes when what we’ve known turns upside down. And that craving for normalcy: even that is from Him. Into the very fabric of existence God wrote pattern. On the most earth-shattering of days, the sun rises in the east. Even when your heart races, “unknown” lurking behind every turn of the hour hand, the sun still marches across the sky at just the same rate, sinks in the west at just the same time. Spring follows winter, summer follows spring—it’s like the world around us is unaware of the grief, pain, or waiting that fills the days for many. It can feel wrong, unfair even, that nature carries on when all else is coming to pieces. But there is One who is actively turning the page every day, changing the scene every season, and He is not unaware. Could it be that even here, He sets a feast before the unsteady heart? Perhaps He is saying, “Even when the whole world falls apart, I never change”. There’s a feast in the normalcy happening all around us. A feast of His faithfulness. His goodness. His constancy and trustworthiness. And just as He lifted up bread and wine on the night before His greatest suffering, lifting up ordinary food and drink always found on the table in that day, He wants us to remember Him. In our eating and drinking. In our sleeping and waking. And yes, even in our trembling under the covers in our greatest hardships as the dark of night surrounds. Because the sun will rise even then, and it comes as a feast to remind us: He is here. –Anna |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul longs for you. This verse from Psalm 42 reads like poetry, but lives like utter desperation. Yes, this is a story about survival. When you are dying of thirst, you know exactly what you need. You pass up gold, opportunity, open doors, applause, all of it. It’s not even tempting. When you’re achingly thirsty, you will do anything to find the water. You check all the wells that have nourished you in the past, running from one to the...
Hi Friends, American writer Frederick L. Collins once said: There are two types of people — those who come into a room and say, “Well, here I am!” and those who come in and say, “Ah, there you are.” A “here I am” person walks into a room wrapped around themselves. How will I be received? How do I look? What impression will I make? A “there you are” person walks into a room with eyes to truly see the people in front of them. Their lives, their needs. My friend who works in the food industry...
Hi Friends, As the pastor shared from Exodus 32, painting the picture of the Israelites waiting nervously for Moses to return from his journey up the mountain, I began to see the scene in ways I hadn’t before. Here they are, in the middle of the wilderness. It has been weeks with no sign of their leader. Fear takes hold. They are distraught that God may have abandoned them. Left them for dead in the middle of this wasteland. They wake up in the morning, collect manna for the day’s...