Even Now

My husband has been so sick with a bad upper respiratory infection, my son is fighting a cold, and we all are sleeping rather poorly at night. I wake up feeling older and exhausted lately. The only one who is spring-like and frisky is our dog, Harry. He seems to be sensing the newness of Spring and feeling his vitality renewed. But even as I cuddle with my blond mop of a dog, I feel two lumps on his back and I feel....concerned. The Vet checked him out a couple weeks ago and said she thought it was nothing serious, but that we should monitor him and bring him back in a couple months for a re-check.

I've been sensing the battle, not for our physical health so much, but a battle over our joy and our ability to rejoice. Winter can wear you out, but there's so much more that also weighs us down. The economic picture hasn't been good lately,and I don't think anybody listening to the nightly news is going to walk around laughing and smiling afterwards. Pressures and concerns are mounting for many people. If you yourself are not feeling a bit unsettled by things, you probably know someone who is.

Next weekend is the Easter celebration. For the Christian, this is the highlight of our year. This holiday is more than just religious or spiritual, though. It affects us physically and emotionally as well. After all, the Resurrection account was spiritual, literal, physical, and it affected the societal and spiritual landscape of that time, and it affects our time, our life, today.

I need some Resurrection power in my life right now. The thing that I've recently been made aware of is that I really can't tell when God is at work in my life. Not always. Sometimes I get circumstantially encouraged or I "see" myself making progress, or I "feel" faith arise in me. And then there are those times when I don't feel a thing happening in me or around me. I don't see progress and I don't feel any breakthroughs occurring. I might even feel like I am lapsing, regressing, or breaking down. But God's Resurrection Power works best in situations where all looks hopeless or bleak. His power is for those who are weary or for those who are "done"- as in, "having done all....stand." (Eph 6:13).

Whether I feel down or I feel depleted is not the critical thing. It's what I KNOW about my situation that matters. I have to know that there is a Savior, and that He saves...continually. Present tense. Present progressive. He will not stop saving me. He will not stop "redeeming the years the locusts have eaten".

I think about that and I get a second wind. I get a touch of what initially feels like Spring Fever, and then I realize it's much more than that. It's His Resurrection Power- and the power has first touched my mind, renewed my thinking, so that even though I feel weak, even though I see....nothing, yet I will powerfully rejoice in Him, as an act of my will, as an assertion of my belief. I will do this, because He is saving me...even now.

Fig trees may no longer bloom,

or vineyards produce grapes;

olive trees may be fruitless,

and harvest time a failure;

sheep pens may be empty,

and cattle stalls vacant--

but I will still celebrate

because the Lord God

saves me.

The Lord gives me strength.

He makes my feet as sure as those of a deer,

and he helps me stand on the mountains.

(Hab.3:17-19)