It is Holy Week 2017 and my emotions are all over the place today. I am looking at all these pictures from a super busy yet amazing weekend smiling but then my heart is heavy over family tragedies and major medical crisis thaat some folks in our community are dealing with. As I met with one of our youth last week I reminded him that some things like suicide, childhood cancer, and health crisis, make no sense to us mere mortals on this side of heaven. We cannot understand why bad things happen but we can know that God is near and loves us, and that because of Jesus we can have hope in the storm.
Holy week is the time of year where we can thank God that despite the darkness of the crucifixion and the sad days after Jesus' death the resurrection happened that gave all of us hope and life. Because of Jesus and the hope we have in Him sad and hard times are going to happen but we can rejoice that He is always near and that we know that because of Him we have life. It is makes hard times easier to bear knowing the closeness of God and knowing that he is always close to the brokenhearted. Psalm 34:18 reminds us that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. I love that verse.
Cancer taught us to live life to the fullest everyday and to be a blessing to others. I started Challenger baseball to bless those kids that otherwise would not have a chance to play ball, but of course it was just the opposite. Those kids bless me and everyone else every.single.day.
My heart is also blessed with these amazing volunteers that come out each week to help these players. It makes me so excited for the next generation when I see the beautiful hearts that some of these youth have. They get it and they know they are part of something bigger than themselves. This blesses me.
The number of folks that would come out on a chilly Opening day to make sure these kids had a great first challenger game overwhelmed me.
Because of Jesus our cancer warrior was suited up in all the baseball gear we could find at our house and had a great game in between three basketball games. I was watching David suiting up in his baseball gear and saw all the scars on his chest and belly from his cancer and I got such a lump in my throat. Because of Jesus he is here with us, healthy and strong. To God be the Glory!
Because of Jesus my other kiddos get it that life is better because of the amazing people God has put in our lives with designer chromosomes. Yesterday at the Down Syndrome Easter egg hunt, I was so blessed watching all of our kiddos with Down Syndrome have a great time playing and hunting eggs. We know that all children are a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3) and that we can praise God that all of our children are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
Because of Jesus my husband has been able to throw his leadership skills and love for kids into Marion Little League this year. With the job change he was able to step up and take over the presidency of the league which is no small task. At the opening ceremony on opening day on Saturday I was so overwhelmed. Mike has done an amazing job revitalizing little league and seeing ALL those boys and girls out in uniform ready to play Saturday blessed my heart. God be the glory for blessing us with new opportunities and new jobs.
So this Holy Week I am sad and praying hard for many that are hurting, but I am also trying to remind myself that Jesus is bigger than all of our hurts. Yes life is hard and we may hurt a lot, but because of Jesus we can have immeasurable hope in the storm!
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