Skip to main content

Seeds of Blessing

It's always incredible to me how things we do or read come back later to be of enormous blessing even when at the time it may not seem like it. There have been numerous times in my life where I've read a book on a certain theological topic only for it to become extremely relevant a few months later. There have been times where I read a passage of scripture in the morning only for it to become poignant and real by that afternoon due to what was happening around me. 

A good example of this was the book Surprised By Hope by N.T. Wright. I read this book in the summer of 2015, my very first summer here in Peoria. It's a book all about our hope as Christians and at how much more robust and surprising it is than simply "dying and going to heaven." It speaks a lot about the future resurrection and restoration of creation awaiting the faithful. Truly a good book that I encourage you to check out.

I read the book and enjoyed it. It gave me a lot to think about on an intellectual level. I was reexamining the Bible to see what I had missed and would excitedly call up my mother to talk to her about this newfound world of study I'd discovered.

Then my mother went to the hospital and never returned home. I was devastated, as were so many others. I returned to Peoria in early January only a few days after the funeral to my first ever real snow storm. My apartment had no power. I was cold, alone, and in grief. At that time I thought the world was ending.

As I tried to carry on in life all of a sudden what I had read in Surprised By Hope came flooding back to me. It was no longer a mere intellectual exercise but a real proclamation of Good News to the hurting and weary soul. There was a hope stronger than I could imagine and though I didn't have it all figured out (and still don't) I knew I could trust in Jesus.

This type of thing has happened to me many times in my life. Sometimes it is with books but it has happened with hymns, Bible passages, and even ordinary discussions. These seeds of blessing are planted by God without me even realizing it only for them to bloom when I need them most. 

What seeds of blessing have sprouted in your life? What things have you experienced only for God to use them later to great effect? Reflect upon the many blessings from God we have received and thank him for all that he has done.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

We Need More Images

What is your favorite way to describe God? Is there a particular name of God in scripture that you are drawn to? What images and pictures come to mind when you think of God? These are questions I don't think we ask often enough. We all have an image of God in our heads that we work with. It may not be a literal picture, though it might be, but ideas and concepts we tend to associate with who God is. Some of those images and associations may come from the Bible, but some may not. These things are influenced by our upbringing, Bible reading habits, personalities, relationships, culture, and more. The way we picture God has a dramatic impact on the way we live our lives. For example, if the primary idea you have of God is "Healer," when you hear or read that you are made in God's image you will likely feel called to heal, be it physical ailments or spiritual wounds. But, if your primary image of God is "Judge," that changes things. You very likely might tend to...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Early Middle Ages: Historical Friday

The next segment of history that we are going to overview is the Early Middle Ages. This dates roughly from AD 450 to AD 1100. This is intended to be a very general overview. There are probably historians that would classify some other time period as the "Early Middle Ages" or a more specific time period. For our purposes this will cover the aforementioned time period. This was a very influential period in the history of Christianity. It saw the formation of what we now call the Roman Catholic Church and its separation from what we would now call the Eastern Orthodox Church. Before this time there was only ONE church. There weren't different denominations or groups. It is hard for us to think about in our modern context, but there was a time when Christianity was visibly unified. Brief History The first major thing to happen during this time period is the remaining three ecumenical councils. We discussed the first four several weeks ago. These councils discussed va...
Post a Comment
Read more