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The afternoon sun sets early in Oxford this time of year. My little room where I work becomes totally dark just after 4 in the afternoon. I have taken to going on one last little walk about 3:45 just to get out of the house so that I am not too restless inside.
“Open, Please Come Inside” is a sign that caught my eye as I passed the church just down the street from where I live. St. Barnabas Church has been the place of worship for people in this parish neighborhood church since the 1869. Each day, the bell in the bell tower rings every quarter hour to remind us that we are welcome in its walls to find solace and beauty. When we arrived, a young man serving at the church, welcomed us into the neighborhood with a freshly baked loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. “I wanted you to know we welcome you into our neighborhood. Please feel free to come worship in our church any time you want.”
Quietly, I tiptoed inside the quietness, the golden ceiling shimmering in the light of the setting sun. No one else was in the sanctuary except me and God. Sitting a few minutes, breathing in the beauty and giving my heartfelt prayers to my Father, I found the quieting of my soul a comforting reality in the stillness and darkness of the closing of another day. Jesus sits above, reaching out. holding fast as he has through the decades when those in this neighborhood have needed Him. And that day, His love still reached out to me.
As I sat quietly, I wondered at the place that had been a refuge through wars, depression, destruction of the century and a half but had still retained its beauty, its solace, its promise to be there for the next decades of those who would seek God in the circumstances of their lives.
Resilience is the word that came to mind: Resilience:
The capacity to stay faithful, to recover, to restore quickly from difficulties, a quality of being tough.
And I realized that I wanted to be like this sacred home of faith, this sanctuary that held faith, to many throughout the years. Could my life and friendship become a home, a resting place for giving solace, strength, peace-filling assurance of His reality amidst the dark passages of life?
If we look at the combined stresses of the last few months, we are all having the choice to be valorous in resilience in rising above our circumstances or becoming victims to the dark season. Choosing to be resilient is an obedience, a work of a lifetime, a striving to move in the direction of faith and hope. But really, as a “moving toward my 70’s” woman, I have learned to cultivate this attribute over many years, many days where life required strength, to depend on God to carry me through by His Spirit. Practicing resilience means to pick up the pieces of my emotions and questions even more quickly than I used to as a result of growing stronger one step at a time for many years. Perspective and maturity are a whole life process, but the way we respond over and over again will build the legacy of our faith life. .
I have noticed that sometimes faith means choosing to be resilient, not living by feelings. Because I believe God is in my midst and above all the feelings of discouragement and distress, I want to please Him the most. So I get up, write encouragement, pray with my children and friends, seen to be of encouragement out of my love for Christ and my desire to please Him, not because I am some sort of extraverted optimist.
Many times, I have met so many who have lived through seasons of challenges from years gone by, have grown weary, they have not bounced back through the grace of God. What we practice, we grow stronger in, What we water will grow. Manyhave allowed the darkness of the world to wound them beyond repair. Cynicism, doubt, helplessness reflects their lives.
Yet, I do know of women I see holding fast to hope, choosing to model strength. Yet, a part of the integrity of our lives is that we can, by the Spirit’s strength, choose to walk in a manner worthy of Christ—to show in words, actions and choices that we indeed believe He is in still bringing His light, He is still manifesting His strength, He is still on target to redeem the world even when we do not know exactly what is going on, even when our expectations have been disappointed.
Today in the podcast, I have shared some of. my favorite verses that have spurred me on to being a woman who practices resilience as a way of faith. I hope it will encourage you.
Josh. 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
2 Tim. 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Phil. 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Romans 8: 37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Micah 7:8
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
Prov. 3: 5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Though many of us cannot be with our families for Thanksgiving, and we are inside our homes with no where to go for reprieve, and we wish the tumult of the election would go away and that Covid would end, we pick up ourselves, we bring beauty to choose, light to darkness and we breath in the peace that He is with us.
May God grant you peace, encouragement, and hope and resilience today as you seek to be faithful in this time entrusted into our hands. I send my prayers and love for you all.
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