Many times I have been heard saying, “I lost everything! It felt like my life burned up in a fire!”
In a short time, without even knowing I would not be returning, I lost --my home of 10 years
--all of my worldly possessions, except what would fit into a few suitcases
--my community and daily friendships
--a people and culture that I had come to love
--a ministry that I found fulfilling and meaningful
I didn't even get to say good-bye! [This photo was taken in my absence so my dear ladies could say good-bye to me].
I lost even deeper things than that, some so deep I cannot even write them today.
[As an aside, I find it interesting and relieving that through the years I always had a sense that someday I may have to leave the country suddenly, so little by little I had hand-carried my volumes of journals and photo albums back to storage at my parents’ house. I am so glad I did that!!].
A few weeks ago in my gospel community from church, one of my sweet sisters in the Lord prayed for me, “Lord, thank you that Jessica did not lose her faith through it all, but that her faith continues to be strengthened.”
Of course! Why didn’t I think of that!? It was almost prophetic, that prayer she prayed. It shot through my grief like an arrow of truth.
Providentially, during May 2014 I had been memorizing 1 Peter chapter 1, including these precious words, which God knew I would cling to in days to come:
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1.6-7
How can I keep telling people, “I lost everything!”, as if to gain their sympathy in my grief, when God has told me, “I kept for you the most valuable thing: your faith”?!
My faith, God reminds me, is of greater worth than gold! Do I really believe this?! What if I had lost all that I did, plus my faith? I think I would not have survived.
As I still process grief of various degrees, God continues to pierce my cloud with sunbeams of Scripture light. Oh, His Word is so precious to me!
Just this morning I was memorizing and studying Hebrews 10.34, and there it was again!
“You ...joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.”
How am I going to find joy in grief and loss?
Answer: Knowing that I have something better and lasting!
A beloved preacher said: “When you know that you have a better and a lasting persuasion, you are not paralyzed by loss. If that better possession is great enough, you will even be able to rejoice in loss.”
Some people have experienced even greater loss than I have. I acknowledge that pain, and I would like not to compare my pain (greater or lesser) to any other person.
However, I would like to invite any person who has suffered any loss, small or great, to join me in the journey for joy by hoping in the one thing that is better and more lasting than any earthly pleasure:
“You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16.11
Filling me with joy=BETTER than what I lost
Eternal pleasures=LASTING longer than what I lost
And what is this “better and lasting possession”?
Life, salvation, yes! “You have made known to me the path of life.” [See my last post "A Path to Walk On"].
But read Psalm 16.11 again with me:
“you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
It is not only a what, but a WHO: “In your presence...at your right hand.”
[I must credit this powerful sermon, "The Present Power of a Future Possession" with this insight! I recommend you listen!].
He is the Lord. He is Jesus. The joy is in being with Jesus; the hope is in being called by His Name. If I lose everything on earth, even my own life, and my faith is kept, I gain Christ.
Jesus is worth living for. He is worth more than losing everything on earth. Jesus is worth even dying for.
I remind myself of this truth today, because I know tomorrow I may wake up and feel clouds of grief threatening to rain on my joy.
I am preaching this to myself, and memorizing it, singing it, praying it, whatever it takes to sink this truth into my bones:
“Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73.23-26
Will you join me in praying for more hope in what is better and lasting?
