All of us have “Good Friday” moments in which a stone has been rolled against the door or our despair, our doubts, our disappointments and defeats. No escape seems possible. But thanks be to Christ and his example, we are delivered out of the finality of suffering and death.
-- E. Anne Henning Byfield

Our suffering, our pain, the tarnishing affects of our stuff, won’t last forever – Jesus made that so. When He came to earth, the promises of peace, salvation, forgiveness, and everlasting life were made to us, and that covenant is with us always to grasp and own even when we’re at the deepest, darkest point or our grim and painful stuff.

As Jesus lived His life on earth, He continually showed us definitive examples of how to live, love, and serve so that we, too, can find favor in our Father’s eyes. Amid unbelievers, hypocrites, and persecutors, Jesus kept focus on His purpose and never stopped living the mission set before Him, even when He was in the worst pain imaginable and felt God had abandoned Him.

In His dying, Jesus freed us, made us whole, and gave us reasons to look forward to our tomorrows. When He ascended into heaven, opening its gates for even the most stained souls, Jesus gave us equal access to the Kingdom of God.

So there’s no reason to hold on to the pain. There’s no reason our hardships should keep us downtrodden or define us and our life’s journey. There’s light in the wilderness that shows the clearing that leads to deliverance from the jungles we’d occupied. We’ve been given a way out, up, and over, and so long as we believe with our whole heart, mind, and body; press on despite the quicksand, tangle of wild life, and other jungle weaponry; and reach for even the hem of Jesus, we are destined to overcome, be more than conquerors, and bask in precious victory!

Our wilderness experience is coming to an end. Praise be for deliverance!

Sadiqqa © 2007