During this season where we’re home and so much is unknown, my newsletter subscribers asked that I share weekly content that encourages. This message has helped me through a lot of personal valleys, and once again served as a reminder. I shared this in my most recent newsletter. I pray it encourages you.
| I’m not going to lie, celebrating Easter is surreal this year. For our family, I designated myself as the only shopper weeks ago and last week my husband encouraged me to get enough to last for two weeks. That meant I had to get the Easter dinner fixings, along with ingredients for our traditional chocolate peanut butter eggs and basket items with other grocery items. Weird, right? Beyond that, the shelves were mostly cleared out and I was growing frustrated with the lack of compassion from other shoppers to the clerks. Social distancing was not being adhered to at one store. I know overall our personal situation is full of blessings. We are safe, healthy, my husband is working, and we have food. Yet, on the drive home from that excursion I lamented to God, “When is this going to end?” I got my answer days later. Years ago my husband used to sing special music back at our home church in Upstate NY. One song that continues to impact me long after he finished singing it was “Four Days Late,” a southern gospel song by Karen Peck and New River. It’s the story of Mary and her sister Martha, regarding the death of their brother, Lazarus. Jesus was great friends with the three of them, so when word reached Him, you’d think He’d run to get to him. Not so. To our eyes, and to Mary and Martha, Jesus took His sweet time. When He finally arrives on the scene, Lazarus is dead, wrapped in linens, and buried. The grief Mary and Martha were experiencing, well, I can’t even imagine. What I can picture is the sisters asking Jesus what took so long? Don’t you care? If you know this story from John 11, Jesus was overcome by their grief, and His own. Lazarus was his friend. He asked Martha to take Him to Lazarus and Martha’s like, “You don’t understand. You’re late. He’s gone. He died four days ago. He’s buried.” To be specific, he was rotting and smelly. Dead, dead, dead. Jesus wept, and ordered the grave stone moved. And with a command, He ordered Lazarus to come forth. And Lazarus did. Here’s what I love about the song. When the sisters ask where were You, don’t You care, they realize in the resurrection of Lazarus that had Jesus showed up when word reached Him, where would the miracle have been? A group of people saw Lazarus leave his own tomb very much alive. Can you imagine the commotion? People running home to tell everyone, EVERYONE the miracle they just saw. Thanks to Jesus. As the song goes,”He was four days late but right on time.” We are a month into isolation. The stats we see on the news are scary, devastating, and hard to process. The texts I receive from my friends in healthcare, I don’t understand. That is so much for a human to see. Doesn’t Jesus get it? Doesn’t He care? I know the answer. So do you. There are purposes to His timing. In this isolation I’ve seen reconciliations. Churches rise up in safe ways to encourage the world. People speaking out and lending a hand in ways that lets be honest, wouldn’t have happened otherwise. To us, Jesus is late. But He is right on time. I believe with everything in me that this Easter and Passover timeframe is monumental in heaven and that we will see things on earth shifting. In a good way. I am praying that not only is the virus destroyed with no option to mutate/come back, but that restrictions will lift maybe not immediately, but sooner than the experts are telling us. Because Jesus is right on time. Always. I know it’s odd to share an Easter message about a resurrection and it not be Christ’s. Yet, without the miracles of Jesus during His ministry, we would never comprehend the power of His own resurrection and all that means for us. I invite you to subscribe for free to my newsletter. Confirmed subscriptions receive a thank you digital copy of Entrusted, a contemporary romance with an exclusive epilogue. |
Christians Read 
I am so thankful that we can trust that Jesus has it all together, even when things around us seem to be falling apart. Great message!
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Thank you, Bridget!
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Thank you for sharing, Julie. This is so true that Jesus’s timing is not ours. We have to trust Him.
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So true, Nancy! Thanks for reading!
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