{"id":1077,"date":"2023-03-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perspectiveministries.org\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2023-03-25T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-25T21:11:08","slug":"sufferer-easter-is-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perspectiveministries.org\/sufferer-easter-is-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Sufferer, Easter is for You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Easter is a holiday you can feel in the air. It comes right when the cold weather has made its final stand. Victory! The sunshine and warmer weather has sent those cold, dark clouds back to where they came from (except for in New York, I don\u2019t know when your warm is coming, but it is, right? Yea, it has to, hold on!) Flowers start to blossom, store fronts change from jackets to swim suits, winter snow scenes to spring bouquets\u2014it\u2019s here. For most this is a season of excitement and anticipation, a celebration of new life both physically and spiritually. But for the sufferer, it\u2019s yet another season where the absence of our loved one is felt deep within. Another holiday that we ache to celebrate the joy of life with ALL of our family. Even though I am happily remarried to an amazing man, this holiday hits me especially hard each year. My late husband John-Michael loved Easter. He sang on Easter morning like he had won the Mega Millions, because in light of the cross, he knew he had won. Oh, how I long for the day when I can sing with him again of the triumph of Easter. Don\u2019t you, my suffering friend? How badly do you want to sing knowing that all the bad has been wiped away and that full restoration has finally come?<\/strong> I want it so bad, but here we are, stuck in the middle. Somewhere between the Easter baskets and egg hunts, Lent devotionals, and church celebrations, we\u2019re tired and don\u2019t yet fully feel the triumph of Easter. The winter may have passed, but the final frost on our soul hasn\u2019t seemed to melt quite yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Widow, sufferer, Easter is for you.<\/strong> I know it because the coming of the first Easter must have felt a lot the same for the disciples. They had left everything to follow Jesus. They planted all their stakes and dreams in him. They believed that their season of long suffering would lead to a triumphant victory here on earth. They didn\u2019t expect the cross, they didn\u2019t expect death. They were certain that he was going to break down the temple and rebuild it, in front of their very eyes. Their idea of restoration looked so much different than what God had in mind. Even when told by Jesus that he would die and rise again (Matthew 20:17-19<\/a>), they didn\u2019t understand, thinking that they wouldn\u2019t suffer quite that much, and surely neither would the Son of God. But as Good Friday hit, they were stunned. Jesus died. All their dreams and plans were destroyed. The death of Jesus shook the disciples so much that they locked themselves in a home for fear that everything they believed could have been wrong (John 20:19<\/a>). They had no idea what to do next, this wasn\u2019t the life they thought they signed up for<\/strong>. We can say that again, this wasn\u2019t the life we thought we signed up for.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like the disciples, we cannot comprehend the full meaning of the suffering we are going through. I too have sat in the quiet of my home thinking, sometimes screaming, \u201cWHAT am I going to do next?!\u201d I cannot give you a concrete answer as to why my beloved, funny, young, full-of-life, late husband is not with me to celebrate Easter this year. Even with warnings in scripture that promise suffering here on earth, I couldn\u2019t have fathomed the heartache that could come from it. But, hold on, it\u2019s what happened next in the disciple’s lives that changed the story for them and changed the story for you and me\u2014completely, forever! All the sufferers, and honestly, all the earth, hinges on what happened next. At the moment of complete darkness, complete chaos, and complete hopelessness, enters our Savior\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cPEACE TO YOU!\u201d Luke 24:36<\/h2>\n\n\n\n