For Easter.
To Those Faking It through Today:
If you’re living in a world full of Good Fridays or Waiting Saturdays while everyone seems to be on an Easter Sunday…
If you’re like me, you’ve been watching several Good Fridays and Easters play out in the lives of those around you. Engagements and babies have ushered in cries of rejoicing and praises to God. Yet, cancer, infidelity, death, and financial hardship occurred uncomfortably close to these joyful events.
…if you’re in the in-between
…the waiting space
…waiting for something to break through —
…for someone to come through
…if you’re broken hearted
with a lump in your throat
and maybe will feel lonely in a crowded room
…if you’re wishing a baby was at your table
or a spouse by your side
or a lost child back in their seat
…if you’re a Mom whose babies are big but have struggles of their own which keep them away
or a sister who is always on the verge of tears
or a grandma who questions WHY
…if you’re a family in the midst of brokenness
whose children are victims of someone else’s choices
whose table doesn’t look how you always pictured
…if you’re suffering from depression and you don’t even want to move from your bed and getting to your family’s house for a fancy brunch or dinner feels like a chore
…if you’re a widow or widower
who thought maybe this day would come
but not this soon
…if you’re someone who will spend today with your stomach inside out
Not because of any meal
But because of your situation
…if you’re motherless, childless, partnerless, powerless, helpless, broken, hurting, crying, have lump-in-your-throat, and faking it: He sees it.
Hagar was a young Egyptian servant girl who also faced some big challenges like many of us. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapter 16, her story leaps off of the page. When faced with difficult circumstances, she didn’t stay – she ran away. And when she found herself seemingly alone in the desert, God sought her out and called her BY NAME. Genesis 16:3 says, “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’”
The same is true for us.
He sees your broken heart
Your childless or motherless table…
The lump in your throat.
He sees your struggle
Your pain.
And your need.
He sees every detail of your circumstance and your emotion.
He sees your real Easter Day, today.
Your name is not broken
Your name is not worthless
Your name is not hurt
Your name is not childless
Your name is not motherless
Your name is not faker
Your name is not lonely
Your name is SEEN.
Today, you are seen.
The empty tomb means that everything is game for resurrection.
Every dead heart.
Dead dream.
Dead relationship.
Shovel dirt on hopelessness today.
He is alive.