Monday Mercies
Happy Monday, friends! I hope you were able to enjoy Easter with your family yesterday, in whatever form that looked like. For us, we were able to eat with our small family outdoors on the back deck. It was a slow paced day (that we normally do not have between running around to four different homes – Tony’s parents and my parent’s are not together) so I can’t lie and say that I didn’t enjoy a quarantine Easter Sunday! The only thing that is always kind of weird is having church service, especially an Easter service, in the house instead of with our church family. But as always, we streamed it online in our living room, brewed some coffee, cuddled up with the pups and received the Lord’s word in our PJs. Again, I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the PJs and pups part! Haha!
But anyway, Tony and I both said that yesterday’s service was one of the best Easter services we had heard in a long time! Pastor Mike preached on the book of John and focused on Chapter 20 – when we learn that the tomb is empty and everyone sees that Jesus has risen! Pastor Mike took the words straight out of my brain with this service. I’d love for you to watch (or listen!) to it below because he does such a great job, but of course, you’re here for Monday Mercies so I’m going to do a little journal entry for myself as well, here on my little corner of the internet.
I can’t even tell you how many times that I have doubted this story. This STORY. Is it all true? Did Jesus REALLY beat death and rose again after being brutally murdered to save our sins? How does this even work? Never in my 28 years (LOL SO LONG SO MUCH WISDOM HA!) have I heard or read about someone being dead for 3 whole days, was BURIED, and then magically popped up out of thin air all alive and well again. I mean, truly, this sounds insane and totally impossible.
But yall, doubt is NORMAL. Doubt is not a rejection.
You may doubt because you’re hurt. “If god is real, how can this happen to me? How can this happen to a person I love so deeply?” How many times have you asked yourself that? I can’t count the times I have said it. You may doubt because you’ve been abandoned. You may doubt because you feel worthless. You may doubt just because you are unconvinced.
But your doubt and denial does not disqualify you OR your faith. Doubt does not mean that you are disbelieving – it means you’re in this weird place of the in-between of the payment and the celebration that is to come! God GAVE you your brain. He WANTS you to question and look into things. He doesn’t want you to come to church and be a zombie and just listen and believe everything that you hear. But if God can bring Jesus back to life, he can raise you back up from anything. NOTHING is impossible for our God.
Even the people who were closest to Jesus had doubts. Mary felt loss and couldn’t understand how this could happen to Jesus – that he would die. The disciples felt defeated and scared. They hid behind locked doors because they thought they were next to the killing. Peter felt rejected and Thomas felt confused. And these are all people who loved Jesus, was with him every day, Jesus TOLD them that he was going to die and come back and they STILL doubted! So of course we are going to have questions some 2000 years later!
So engage your doubts – start asking “what if” and what does it mean? Do this until you can embrace your savior and see that it IS the truth and he is the best thing that will ever happen to you.
