I have been editing and rewriting my third book this past week. I came across a scene I’d written, and the significance struck me.
A young man has to walk into a hospital morgue to identify family members. I hate this scene. However, to write a book on redemption, something must be lost. The imagery brought me to tears. I wrote this scene in 2019 without knowing I would need my own imagination four years later. Several months ago, I believed the Lord asked me to give something up. I did — reluctantly. Then I complained and grumbled. I didn’t understand what He was doing. Can I be honest? I still don’t entirely know what He is doing.
Before I began editing, I listened to a sermon on the power of God. The pastor shared how sometimes we think we have a testimony of how God brings us through, but then He goes left on us. He used the Israelites coming out of Egypt as his example. They were delivered from Pharoah, only to be chased by him. With the Red Sea in front of the Israelites, they had nowhere to go. I’m sure the Israelites thought, “This isn’t how the story should go!”
After the Lord humbled me and brought me to my knees, I asked Him if He could give me a task. The Lord reminded me I could pray. So, I began to pray. As I laid down my desire to hold on and fight, the Lord began doing things I couldn’t do. When I was out of the way, He could get the glory. He could show me that His ways are better, higher, and greater.
Now, what does this have to do with my character walking into a morgue? I realized God sometimes leads us right into a place of death in order to show us that God is the God over the living and the dead. There can be no resurrection without something dying. Our wills and desires and our hope in ourselves need to die daily because they’re futile, but God and our hope and expectations in Him can be brought to life. His ways are eternal.
My encouragement to you is to let the emotions come and go and trust the Lord. He knows us better than anyone. If He asks us to let something die, it is for our best. Whether or not He chooses to resurrect it, He wants us to know Him on a deeper level. He wants us to know He is still for us and not against us. If he fought for Israelites and parted the Red Sea, He is still able to fight for us. Additionally, I want to shareRomans 8:35-39:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing we face will separate us from God’s love. He promises to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). God is worthy not only of our trust but every aspect of our lives.
“The Christian on his knees sees more than the philosopher on tiptoe. God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.” Dwight L. Moody
