Resurrections

Inland Empire Girl gave us our sibling assignment this week. She asked us to "describe a vivid Easter."

I can't really think of one particular Easter that stands out, but thinking about Easter got me thinking about the word "Resurrection", which, to me, is what Easter is all about...the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And I started looking at the "resurrection moments" in my own life, where I was "brought back to life" as it were.

As my brother sat in the hospital in Oregon this past week with pneumonia, it reminds me of my early beginnings, and my first bout with pneumonia. I only know about this through the stories my family members have told me, but, I do know it was serious, I do know I stopped breathing and turned black, and I do know I was close to death. But, through it all, I was resurrected. I was given another chance. This was July 20, 1963.

Fast forward 18 years later, to July 1981. I had just graduated from Kellogg High School. Before I head off to college at the University of Idaho, I went to church camp. While at camp, I was again resurrected. This wasn't a physical resurrection. This was more of a resurrection of my mind, soul and spirit.

In Romans 12:1-2 it says:

¹ And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I was transformed into a new person, and my thinking was changed. It didn't happen on my own. It was the work of God in my life, changing me. My old way of thinking, my old life died, and I was a new person, resurrected once again.

I had never made the connection between the date of my first resurrection, and the day I was married. I almost died July 20, 1963. I was married July 19, 1986. Twenty-three years later, marriage to me was a resurrection of a love in my life I had never known before.

I Corinthians 13 is a popular verse to be read at wedding ceremonies, and it tells us God's view of unconditional love. PKR started showing me what this kind of love was all about, and he still shows me to this day. It has been a learning process, but he has taught me so much about love by the way he loves me each and every day.

Love is patient. He was patient when I would get mad and go into my bedroom and not talk.
Love is kind. He learned how to be kinder after he told me not to shuffle my feet on the golf green, and I started crying, and he realized that wasn't quite the way to handle that situation. I never cried on a golf green again.
It does not envy. He has always been supportive of all that I do.
It does not boast. He has never paraded me around or acted like I was just an object.
It is not proud. He has never acted arrogant toward others about our relationship.
It is not rude. Yes, he has made me mad, and upset me, but has never been rude, or put me down in front of others or humiliated me in any way.
It is not self-seeking. One of the reasons we work so well together is PKR is always looking out for my interests before his own. (I could be a bit more like this).
It is not easily angered. We have been upset with one another, but we are not easily angered. It takes a lot, and, if it gets to that point, it is handled in private. Our children have never seen or heard us in a fight.
It keeps no record of wrongs. I have never heard him say "I told you so", or "remember the time...." Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Yes, be both mess up and do things wrong, but we forgive, and move on, and rejoice in the truth in our lives.
It always protects. I always feel safe, knowing I am in his prayers, and I know he would protect me from anything.
Always trusts. I trust him to always do what is best for me and our family.
Always hopes. He has a way of looking at our future, knowing things are going to turn out for the good, the way God wants them to turn out.
Always perseveres. I know, despite my shortcomings, and not being the easiest person to live with at times, that he will never leave me. It is not an option in our relationship.


Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He has resurrected me many times in my life, and continues to do so....

John 11:25-26

²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"