The Exchange Gift

The rubber band snapped and flew across the room.  She searched everywhere she possibly could, turned over every space and still couldn’t find where it went.  There was no purpose in finding it other than to ease her mind of wondering where it could possibly have gone.  She shared this story with me and then looked to a friend across the room,

“I’m not sure that you remember, but, back when we used to exchange gifts John gave Tom a flashlight.  That’s the same flashlight I got out to use and wouldn’t you know, it still works, it still shines…”

Her eyes instantly filled with tears. 

She reached her smooth, worn-by-time hand over and grabbed mine, leaned in and said “I’m always the crier of the group!”

That moment wouldn’t leave my mind.  And days later, it still hasn’t. 

I have never met her husband Tom.  He went to be with the Lord in the fall of 2006, just a few years before our families’ lives crossed paths.  But what she said about the Christmas gift all those years ago couldn’t be truer.  The light still shines. 

The life of a man I’ve never known greatly affected mine. 

He was the father of our pastor who has been at our side through hard times because, like he says “we’re family.” He was the father-in-law of a friend who has knelt to boldly pray for our lives.  He was the husband to the woman whose gentle spirit and sweet smile has been honey to our souls.  This man I have never known sewed into the Kingdom of God and my family has been blessed to have received nourishment from that harvest. 

The light of this man still shines because the light he carried was the very Light of Christ.

 “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  2 Corinthians 4:12

“The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  John 1:9

How appropriate to think of this example as we celebrate the Christmas season.  In His graciousness, God sent the gift of His Son so that we would no longer dwell in darkness.  This baby king came to conquer every burden, every sting of sin, and every grave to make a way for us to have a life that will not be cut short or ended.  When we bear the light of Christ in our hearts, our lives shine on long after we pass from the earth because His purpose on that first Christmas was to set eternity in the heart of man.  His plan was one that was and is eternal, and when we live according to it, we are part of a greater, grander story that defies the limits of time. 

This Christmas, may we be reminded of the Light that flooded the darkness of our sin-filled world and rescued our sin-filled selves.  May we choose to receive the gift of Jesus in our own hearts and live in a way that shines the Light of Christ long after we are passed from this temporary place.  As we exchange gifts, may we keep in mind to also exchange ones of lasting importance that reflect our Savior and shine His light into the lives of those we love: gifts of grace, of kindness, of undeserved favor and gentleness and of forgiveness.

Because that Christmas night long ago, we were freely given the greatest gift of all:

A Savior who received from us every sin in exchange to give us His Perfect Life that we may live.

Merry Christmas.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of Life.”  John 8:12

Sin-Boots

It had been almost a month since we last saw our new friends.  She came around the corner with a huge smile and bubbling personality and he grinned ear to ear, ready to peel back more layers of the onion he claims us to be!  We introduced them to our son and quickly caught up before the church service started. 

She held out her leg and said “Look!!!” as she pointed to her boot. 

I was puzzled. 

My first thought was that I loved her brown boots, but I wasn’t sure why she was pointing those out to me.  Then she excitedly told us “My big BOOT is gone!  It’s healing!” 

How could I have forgotten?!  Weeks before she had injured her ankle and came to each of our group-study meetings with a huge boot and a limp.  The doctor finally allowed her to remove it and although she wasn’t healed completely, the boot was gone and her recovery was progressing. 

As we worshiped in their church service that morning, I thought to myself that I couldn’t believe I didn’t know what she was showing me.  I had hoped she didn’t think I had forgotten about her injury or failed to pray for or care for her healing in the weeks that followed our study-group ending.  I have prayed, I have been in touch with her, but for that moment Sunday morning I completely forgot about the boot she once carried. 

Then the whisper of God came.  The words my heart has been aching to hear:

You are not known by your limp. 

He called my attention to our pew full of those whose sins I have known, whose hearts have been laid bare before the throne, and who I love and admire.  My heart swelled because in this brief encounter with a friend, God was calling to me and loving me and making sure I understood His Truth without hesitation and without doubt. 

You see, there is an enemy of our hearts who comes to kill our life, and if not kill our very lives, then he sets out to steal and destroy our joy and our hope.  The enemy has a way of reminding us of where we once failed, where we have fallen short and of the things that once left us broken, unhealed and spiritually limping.  He determines to plague our days with guilt and take our trust in order to keep us limping and convince us that we will be known by our sin-boot.

But His Abiding Truth pierces the darkness because the darkness of sin once pierced His flesh.  God saw that we were all in need of a way to heal our broken, crippled selves and that we had no way of escaping sin on our own.  Our Gracious Father sent a baby King to be born in the most unlikely place, to make a way for the most undeserving people, and to die an unimaginable death so that we would no longer be prescribed to stumbling along in our sin. 

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Cleanse me with the hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whited than snow.”

Psalm 51:3, 7

 

That morning my friend explained how although her boot is removed, there is still much healing to take place.  After healing, there will be rehabilitation.  Yes.

Our hearts are much the same.

When we are tempted to believe the lies that are still grasping tight to our heels:

                Addictions.  Depression.  Anxiety.  Anger.  Lust.  Bitterness.  Guilt. 

                Times when a lapse in judgment cost us, cost another.  When weeping endured. 

                When the bottom fell out.  When darkness reigned.  Idolatry.  Adultery. 

    Whatever sin-boot may have once been….

                                                                                     We need to know the Truth.

 “He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17 AMP

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”             

Psalm 103:12

 You are not known by your limp.

You are known by the Saving Grace of the cross.

Written For One

Every child has a favorite place: a fort, a tree house, a back yard, a park, a swing, a pool and while I had many good memories of each of these, my favorite place was my uncle’s lap.  I spent much of my childhood there drawing and learning and listening.  It was there that I’d write books and he would draw in the illustrations.  There was always a way that my story would come to life when he’d draw.  He’d draw the silliest things, people with too-big ears or too-big noses, never the way I pictured it in my mind.  But always just right, always to make my heart fill with laughter and joy.  

 We often don’t notice God’s hand in our lives until we look back. 

Looking back now, I can see time after time when God nourished that seed He planted within me so long ago.  Times when the ground of my heart was tilled and unearthed and the hard-stone was removed to make room for the growing.  Moments of spiritual drought and some of flooding.  Times when the “push through” didn’t come so easily and the harvest seemed lost.  But there was never a time when goodness wasn’t made of the broken, never a time when God’s hand wasn’t faithfully weaving His purpose and guiding my way until that particular seed came to bear fruit…

SHE BLED is a part of my story. 

    A part of my story that I have merely written, but one that He has brought life into.

                …one that I pray will allow others to seek Him in their own story and find life among the ashes. 

    A part of my story that I never expected to look as it does, but one that fills my heart with   absolute joy. 

                …one that I pray will give others the hope of finding joy again in their own messy, beautiful story.

More importantly, it is part of His stories.

The times when Jesus walked this earth and showed us just who He is and what He is capable of.

                …not a painted bright white image, not a religious set of requirements, or a false opinion of a lofty Christian.

   The story of His eternal plan of redemption, one of restoration, that would defy the limits of time.

                …all because His was the greatest act of love ever to be known and it was done with each of us in mind. 

I set out with the promise that I would write this book for one.   Over and over through the months of writing I have reminded myself of that promise, I have picked up and started again because of that promise, but it wasn’t until the book was published and on its way to my door step that I realized exactly what that promise meant.  

I promised to write it for one:   

for one heart to change and find Jesus, find healing, would be enough and would be worth it. 

But I realized my promise all along was that I would write it for ONE:

for the One God to use as He sees fit to reach a world [or one] in need of His Truth.

I have done what I promised to do: I wrote SHE BLED for One.
The rest is up to Him.

I celebrate a dream that has become a reality in authoring a book, and prayerfully more to come.                   

But I am not the real Author.  I am simply a chosen hand to pen these chosen words and walk a chosen path that leads to One.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

“No amount of impossibility can be weighed against His desire to heal His people.” p57

Copies of SHE BLED may be ordered by clicking HERE.

or email arburk25@yahoo.com