Originally published Wednesday, 06 April 2016.
Do you have the sparkle?
It’s the shine of more. It’s the clean of perfect. It’s togetherness and wholeness.
It looks nothing like me.
I look like tiredness personified.
I look like worry building upon worry.
I look like one who tries to trust – but still doubts.
I look like a battlefield where godliness goes up against selfishness.
I look like a girl trying to fit herself into mold “good mom.”
That’s me. Not so shiny. Not very sparkly. Hardly.
It feels hard to keep the glimmer of Christ existent amidst the grime of this life.
But, what if glimmer was not me – or you? What if the pressure was off? What if glimmer was just a matter of letting God's light bust through our darkness?
What would that look like?
God's glory is always found within our tension points (Romans 5:3). It is a hard thing to consider, isn't it? Usually, we run from these places, thinking they spots sent to inflict pain. Little do we know that sometimes, these exact spots, when pushed are what are going to deliver us to freedom - and to greater mobility to reach the world.
Where we feel pressed, God is working things out, so one day, we land at - blessed.
We shimmer. We shine. We find glory!
Do we believe it is possible?
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces...
(Romans 5:3)
When great joy emerges out of great struggle, people notice. Glory!
When peace is found over hardship. Glory!
When God grants unspeakable calm in the midst of doggone electricity storm. Glory!
When insight speaks into an impossible situation. Glory!
Glimmer! Sparkle! Shine! Power! Light unquenchable.
When we endure and then endure and then say, "No matter what Heaven awaits!" Glory!
We can lean into pain, knowing that God, by his very nature,will always use it - for spiritual gain. In that we can trust.
Is it hard? Yes. Impossible. No.
It is not, because it is also a work of the Holy Spirit – he makes you go about all Tigger-style, abounding in hope (Romans 5:13).
Hope is:
Seeing Jesus constructing mission out of our pain.
Imagining people changed after relational turbulence.
Standing on God's masterplan rather than our personal ones.
Believing that God really is at work to make us into Christ's image.
Going beyond self, to reach the nations.
Thanking God for the new thing he is building in us.
Understanding the cross and all the pain that came with it.
Looking at the captives and depressives and wanting to love them.
Getting a feeling that we have to pass around.
Knowing we found home and longing for the fullness of it to come.
Hope. It is all you need to sparkle, no matter how you feel. Nothing can steal it. No one can rob it of you. It is a knowledge you'll be blessed, even if you straight up land at heaven's gates.
Let it sing in you. Let it rise from you. Walk in its fullness and feel its freedom - then hand it out to all you meet.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 5:13
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