Vivit! Vivit! (He Lives! He Lives!)

Martin Luther was once found at a moment of peril and fear, when he had need to grasp unseen strength, sitting in an abstracted mood tracing on the table with his finger the words, “Vivit! Vivit!” (He Lives! He Lives!) It is our hope for ourselves and for His truth and for mankind. Men come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak and work for a season, and then fall silent. He abides. They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and, therefore sooner or later quenched; but He is the true light from which they draw all their brightness, and He shines for evermore.–Alexander Maclaren, Streams in the Desert devotional

Two simple Latin words proclaim the Truth of the Gospel that changes everything about our everyday lives and our eternity--Because He Lives, we too, shall live...Pass It On!

When I was a senior in high school, our youth group performed the 1970’s folk musical “Tell It Like It Is.” It was such a spiritual milestone in my life, standing up for my faith before secular audiences.

It only takes a spark to get a fire going

And soon all those around, can warm up in glowing

That’s how it is with God’s love

Once you’ve experienced it, you spread His love to everyone

You want to pass it on

What a wondrous time is spring, when all the trees are budding

The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming

That’s how it is with God’s love

Once you’ve experienced it, you want to sing

“It’s fresh like spring”; you want to pass it on

I wish for you my friend, this happiness that I’ve found

You can depend on Him, it matters not where you’re bound

I’ll shout it from the mountain top

I want the world to know; the Lord of love has come to me

I want to pass it on

 

The providence of God is like Hebrew words—it can be read only backwards, wrote Puritan John Flavel, referring to the fact that the Hebrew language is read backwards from our perspective–that is, right to left instead of left to right. A component of the Beth Moore Bible Study, “Believing God,” was to complete a timeline of our life in 10 year segments, asking God to reveal to us all the spiritual mile markers in our lives--broken places, hurts, disappointments, accomplishments, and joyful times--to help us see that God had been there all along. His grace is sufficient. To accomplish this task, I discovered a very helpful tool for a “Timeline Template” through Microsoft. It’s free, and it’s very easy to use, the text boxes expand to whatever size you need, and the arrows on the boxes can be moved to any location on the timeline. It really helped my memories come to the surface, and God has used it to encourage me in so many ways.

Looking back at spiritual milestones in my life encourages me. How about you? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box below, I’d love to hear from you!

Linking up with Holley Gerth’s Coffee for Your Heart as an encourager!

absolutely certain...God is with me

Every week when Holley Gerth gives her Coffee for Your Heart prompt for the coming week, I begin to pray, asking God to bring to mind those times when He has revealed His Truth to me regarding the prompt. This week the prompt is, “You’re not alone.”

As I prayed, I was reminded of a question I heard Pastor Andy Stanley ask,

"What would a girl, just like you, do, in a situation just like the one you are in, if she was absolutely certain that God was with her?"  

That question helps me focus on Jesus, and the Truth that I know and believe…His name is Emmanuel, God with us, He will never leave us or forsake us. Hebrews 13:5b Amplified translates this verse in an even stronger way:

”...for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]"

As I prayed, I kept recalling times in my life when our Lord Jesus Christ has used a simple timeline document to help me gain a wide-angle view of life…to help me see that God had been there all along.

As I prayed, I remembered when I first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet" photograph in a book when I was pulled-out for a special class as a child. I then recalled it in a journal entry following a counseling session as an adult. Amazingly enough, just a few days following that, the Lord would remind me of His Presence, Emmanuel—God with us, when I saw this same photograph at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The symbolism was unmistakable to me, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been with me all along—when I was knit together in my birthmother’s womb, when I was chosen, adopted, by loving Christian parents. He was with me when I first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet.”  He was with me when I recalled it in my journal following the counseling session, and He was with me when I turned to look at the darkened alcove to snap a picture of the “Milk Drop Coronet.” He is with me today and everyday into the future. He is with me. He is intimately involved in the tiniest details of my past, my present, and my future.

As I prayed, I remembered being a 10 year-old, admitted to the hospital on the Monday following JFK's assassination in 1963, for a routine tonsillectomy. The orderly came to my hospital room where my Mom and Dad were with me waiting for the time of surgery. He pushed my stretcher down the hall, Mom and Dad clinging to my hands, and telling me everything was going to be okay. Suddenly, we came to the elevator, and he said to them, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait here. You can’t go with us any farther.” I looked at my Mom and Dad, who looked like they were near tears. As I watched the elevator doors close, I felt a sweet peace encompass me, just like Jesus was wrapping His Loving Arms around me. I had received Jesus Christ as my Savior and had been baptized just a few months earlier. I knew Jesus was with me in that elevator, and He would be with me during the surgery, I was not afraid. I woke up back in my hospital room with the scenes of JFK Jr. saluting JFK’s flag-draped coffin on the small black-and-white TV mounted on the wall at the end of my bed in the hospital.

As I prayed, Jesus reminded of how He comforted with me with the song, “Be Still My Soul” on Amy Grant’s Legacy CD, which played on “repeat” the entire time my Mom was in palliative care prior to her homegoing. It begins with a  melancholy guitar solo followed by the lyrics to “Be Still My Soul,” a haunting admonition to leave things in God's hands, culminating with a voice-over by Amy. My heart was so captured by it I wrote every word in the Bible I had with me. Even now thinking about it brings back the flood of warm feelings I experienced during those days, knowing that Jesus was with me in her room…gently carrying her home.

Finally, as I prayed, the Lord reminded me of this beautiful rendition of the song, “Alone Yet Not Alone,” performed by Joni Eareckson Tada. Quadriplegic, Joni, with limited lung capacity due to her disability, had her husband, Ken, pushing on her diaphragm while she recorded the Oscar-nominated song to give her enough breath to hit the high notes.

In what ways does the Lord reveal to you that, “You’re Not Alone”... please feel free to leave your comments in the box below, I would love to know your thoughts.