He is Risen

I wrote this for some friends a few months ago. Found it again today and thought I'd post it here to remind MYSELF.

We've all been going through some rough times right now. Sometimes it even seems impossible that things will get better and it is easy to despair!

Just like the disciples did on Good Friday...... they were giving up...all was lost. They were distraught. They had no idea that people would someday refer to that day as "Good" Friday. To them, there was nothing good about it. Sounds like where we are.... there is nothing good about anything we all are going through. Jesus had said "It is finished." They believed it... all was finished. To them, they had lost the most precious and sacred person they had ever known. The amount of hurt and pain and betrayal was so much more than anything we all are going through....even though we are going through a lot.

Saturday had to be horrible. Looking back from this side, we know that all is not lost. We know that there was hope to be held on to. But imagine being there... your friend, your savior was just crucified on a cross in the most undignified and horrible of fashions. All that you have been living for is gone. All that you believed must be wrong. There is nothing left. Don't we feel like that? With financial worries, worries about our children, worries about jobs...doesn't it seem like there is nothing left? that what we believed must be wrong?

Imagine now, if you can, in the middle of this darkness and utter despair, you hear a voice saying, "He is risen." He. Is. Risen. Hope. Joy. Relief. He is risen. All of a sudden, in those three words, everything that happened the past three days is erased. Joy came that morning. Abundant, overwhelming joy encompassing all the pain and sorrow. There was hope. All was well.

We are almost there, guys. We may be in the midst of Good Friday or Holy Saturday... we may be believing all is finished or everything we believed must be wrong. But joy is coming. Hope is coming. Relief is coming. Don't give up and don't forget that He is Risen! Even in the midst of all that we are going through, those three words should give us joy.... it means that there is something else coming. Everything looks dark and bleak, just like it did on Good Friday. But when Jesus said, "It is finished" he meant that the prophecies had been fulfilled, our sins had been taken away, Jesus had paid our price, Jesus had done ALL. What might have sounded to some like it was the end, Jesus meant as the beginning.

And what might seem to be the end to us, Jesus is going to use as a beginning. We are on the crux of our breakthrough. We are awaiting the Good News... the News that He is Risen but remember, we have the blessing of hindsight! We KNOW that he is risen and we need to keep proclaiming it! Proclaim it and praise God for our savior! Our Savior... He has SAVED us!! Hallelujah and Amen!! I know that we are right on the brink of Easter morning. We will all be able to see the stone rolled away and the hope that came in the empty tomb. We will get the breakthroughs that we all need and we will all be able to run back to our friends and say, "He is risen" and hear each other say "He is risen indeed!"