It's not beyond God....

The past ten days or so have been a hard season of grief.  In our own lives, the Lord has done some hard heart work in us, and around the world about that many days ago, our very dear brother in Christ died.

Nabeel Qureshi, author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, was only 34 years old when he finished his battle with stomach cancer and finished the race of faith and met his Savior and heard the words "well done, my good and faithful servant."   We've grieved this precious brother oh so hard.  (We never met him or knew him personally, only from reading his books and hearing some videos of him.)  We have been and will continue to pray for his beautiful wife and daughter and for all who came to Christ or who have considered Christ because of the testimony and teaching of this man.

Nabeel's wife, Michelle Qureshi, just posted a video (Vlog #44, A More Glorious End) where she processes the death of her dearly loved husband Nabeel.

She shares... "It's not that God didn't listen to Jesus (to His prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane), it's that His bigger plan was to make Jesus' torturous death on the cross the most beautiful turning point in history.  Because He died we live.  Death is even a redeemable thing.  It's not beyond God to redeem.  It's not beyond God to use death for His greater purposes of glorifying Himself and showing His love to the world He created."  

and then.... "I am fully convinced that God will use his death to a more glorious end than we would have seen if Nabeel were still alive.  Nothing has changed about God's character.  He's still sovereign, good and trustworthy.  The whole reason we exist is to bring Him glory.  And when we do so we are stepping into the best life we can possibly imagine.  We just need to ask for the ability to set our minds on things above, not on things that are on the earth."

Words fail us to think of this loss, this grief.....
and also,
words are far too small, far too few, to express the hope and certainty
of Nabeel's eternal joy
Right. Now.

We pray...
Oh God whose ways are far beyond ours, draw us to trust in Your goodness 
and sovereign care and plan.  
Humble us before you 
and redeem this great loss for your glory.   
Redeem this death for your greater glory God.  
And provide for this beautiful wife and daughter...
Our eyes are on you.  
Help us to trust You alone.

Need a shot of joy?

Ever feel like you'd pay just about anything to be able to pull up at a drive thru, make your order and pay your bill and drive away with a fresh top-off of joy?  Like a shot of espresso, but better... a shot of joy?  Or sometimes I feel like I'd even take a needle to the arm if I could get something better than B12 in me.

Well, here you go.

I dare you to try to watch these... just try to sing along...  watch their goofy silliness and listen to the sermons of truth in these happy tunes and try to miss the joy.

Bet you can't do it.  And I know... you don't want to.  I sure want to reap the full harvest of beauty and soul joy and dancing with my kiddos over all this....

I hope you can fill up your souls on the supreme joy, this bold evidence of the grace of God right here.