I used to think the worldly goods we had or received were the gifts and blessings in this life. The more life I live, the more I realize I was so wrong! While those “things” are wonderful to have and can make life “easier”, they are not the gifts and blessings that I now see surrounding my life.
As crazy as it sounds, I have observed over the past decade that great loss is such a gift from our Heavenly Father. When I lost 3 immediate family members in the first 5 years of my marriage, my heart ached. But the Lord met me in each situation and as Pastor Anthony discussed with us a few months ago, the Holy Spirit took me on a journey of learning how to suffer well. He tuned my heart and spirit toward His presence in a different way than when I had experienced past sadness. In this place of deep grief, I found what felt like a gaping hole within would open at unexpected times and create a tsunami of tears and weeping. The vulnerability of experiencing those intense emotions, especially at unexpected times in public places, led me to run to the Father. I found my comfort could only come from the one that I knew held my future and held my loved ones and all the others in the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). This was a blessing.
Those days of grieving slowly opened my eyes to what the Lord wanted to show me. We are taught about leaving a legacy for our children and future generations, but I didn’t understand what that looked like. It wasn’t until the moment we walked through the doors into the chapel at my father’s funeral and saw hundreds of people there mourning with us that I grasped the importance of investing in others and how that creates a legacy. My dad did just that – he invested in those around him. He loved people and he loved doing life with them. He learned that from his parents, who for 2-3 decades had Sunday lunch after church for our entire family and whoever else wanted to join, including every pastor that had come into our lives. The gift of creating community and pouring into lives through time spent with them was passed on to my dad and his siblings, and in turn passed on to me and my family.
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to and encouraging the church in Thessalonica after having left and not being able to return to them. He talks about the sacrifices that were made while he was there to invest in them without being a burden and in verse 2:8 he says, “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.” Later in verse 19 he says, “After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy.”
This life was never meant to revolve around material things, but loving God and others He has placed in our lives. What a gift it is to be able to take a moment and look into my spouse, children, and friend’s eyes and see them the way the Father does. What a blessing it is to walk through different seasons together and suffer, dance, cry, and laugh. And one day, we will see the evidence of how we stored up our treasures in heaven and in turn leave a legacy behind for those to follow.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21
We want to thank Christian Greer for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 