Wednesday
Apr222009
Celebrating God
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 12:11AM
This last Sunday, we did something that really touched and filled me.
We celebrated God.
I mean, we really celebrated Him. We got together for the express purpose of celebrating His goodness and faithfulness. It was marvelous.
Jackson and Erin had trouble conceiving. It was really hard on them. They soon found out that various medical problems made their chances of conceiving pretty much impossible. Jackson is a doctor, so he understood the impossibility probably better than anyone.
But God intervened. Jackson and Erin were encouraged by others to call the Church together to pray. They opened up their home and invited others to pray for them. It was not an easy thing to do, and it took an incredible amount of vulnerability. Brothers and Sisters in the Church filled their living room: sharing, crying, praying, encouraging, and loving. A few there really got the sense that God was saying He would give them a second child (they already have a beautiful girl). I'm not sure Jackson and Erin knew exactly what to do with that. No one wanted to oversell God. We all knew that there are many in the same situation who, for whatever reason, God does not provide a baby for. Yet, it seemed that God was really leading us in this.
At the end of the evening, Greg even had us sing a song to the baby (the one that had not yet been conceived). I had never experienced anything like that before.
40 days later, Erin became pregnant. Simply amazing.
How often do we struggle with God over something, praying and pleading for Him to intercede, and then, after He does do something, go on with life and barely acknowledge both the suffering and the healing? How often do we fail to acknowledge that we have a living God who is capable and loving?
Jackson and Erin made sure not to forget!
I'm guessing that around 30 adults (plus kids) gathered together to celebrate what God had done. It was a party to celebrate God! Jackson and Erin gave their testimony, their eyes filling with tears as they recounted the suffering, the agony, the love, and the joy that they experienced with Jesus Christ and His Body during the last two years. When they were done, others shared words of encouragement, or talked about how much their testimony has helped their own faith, or just simply declared that our God is good. Not simply because He did what we wanted. Rather, He is good because He was with us through the whole process, constantly revealing Himself.
After the sharing, Erin asked each of us to take a stone (that she had asked us to bring beforehand), write our names on it, and place it in a glass container. She wanted a physical reminder of God's faithfulness, and she wanted our names on the stones because we were all expressions of God's faithfulness to her and her family.
I'm so thankful we have a beautiful Lord who is so worth celebrating. I'm so thankful to be surrounded by people who love Him, struggle with Him, and desire to be transformed by Him amidst this very fallen world. I'm so thankful to be living with freaks.
You can see a photo gallery of the celebration here.
Reader Comments (4)
I am SO bummed we weren't able to come. But I am glad that God's people celebrate(d) Him.
Thanks, Amy. We really did miss you. Although I'm glad you made the sacrifice in order to not spread your pink eye!
Wow, I didn't realize that Erin became pregnant 40 days later. WOW, God really DOES use numbers doesn't He?
Hey, Clint! It's good to hear from you. I was pretty blown away by the "40" as well. Sometimes God just weirds me out.