PW Blog Round-Up, Link-Up, & Speak-Up Vol 2-#2: Holy Week

Note: I've kept the link-up script from last week, if you'd like to post anything else from March. Also, please comment with any Lent, Passover, Holy Week, or Easter Meditations that you've written or that have spoken to you! This is posted a day early because of the holiday.

Be sure to read :

God Shows Up Right in the Middle of the Ugly (earlier this week)

Holy Week Meditation that really reached out and grabbed me this week, from Stefanie Brown:

"When they were finally tired of mocking him... When they were finally tired..." (read more...)

and

Praying for My Church before Easter, by Sandra Peoples

(also Praying for Boldness & Praying for the Pastors)

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Repost From Last Year: 

Holy Week Meditations from Teri Lynne Underwood:

A God Who Calls Me Friend

A God Who Prays For Me

A God Who Forgives Me

A God Who Catches Tears

A God Who Helps Us 

A God Who Understands Our Pain 

A God Who is Present Even in Silence

A God Who IS 

Please remember to visit and comment on the blogs of your sister PW's, especially if you participate in the link-up! I know they'll appreciate connecting with you and would love to hear your encouragement.
-rg- 

God Shows Up Right in the Middle of the Ugly

Like many, I've been watching the new Bible Series on the History Channel. I always find it helpful to watch certain shows that I know others will be talking about, plus it's always neat to see how an artist will fill in the lines between the lines we all know.

There are conversations you know must have happened (case in point, the argument regarding whether it was legal to try someone at night), yet they're not recorded. There's also the whole angle of how the people surrounding many of the events might have been affected (the scene with Samson's mom, for instance.)

My favorite part of this series, though, is the way God shows up right there in the middle of the ugly. Just as tax collectors are exacting their brutality, He calls out and says, "Mary!"

That may not have been the exact way that particular scene happened, but it illustrates a greater truth. God doesn't wait for the ugly to die down before He speaks. He often doesn't wait until things are calm and we're ready to deal with them. He speaks now. He acts now.

As a pastor's wife, I have in the past been involved in the planning and grunt work that goes into an event. During those times, I've often found myself pushing off any personal or spiritual growth I might receive from the event until later. I like to process after the fact, but many times God is wanting to do His work right then and there in the middle of it all.

I know that Holy Week can be a crazy time for pastors' families, and I encourage you to make the time to slow down, be still, and know God.

But... don't just know God in the slow times. Look for Him in the insane, the busy, the traumatic, and the absolutely crazy.

-rg-

Pastor's Wife: Preparing YOUR Heart For Easter

I've spent the day preparing our home to receive guests after church. As I've worked, I've reflected on how the Israelites would prepare their homes for Passover, and the importance of not only preparing our homes, but our hearts as well.

On that note, I just want to encourage you to take the time in amongst the busy-ness of services and preparations to be alone with God. Even if you're working and can't sit down, make the time in your heart and mind. To reflect. To ponder. To commune.

To pray. 

I know that Easter often will bring people into the church who normally do not come. And there's this pressure to pray hard that something you say or do will reach them somehow...

But that's not what I'm talking about. 

Certainly pray for your guests, yes. But rest in the fact that God's got that part under control. Pray for your sake. Just enjoy God's presence.

And ponder how just like He was there in the darkest hour for the disciples long ago. He is there in our darkest hour, too. We don't have to fear bad news, either. 

⁶ Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
   they will be remembered forever.
⁷ They will have no fear of bad news;
   their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
⁸ Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
   in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. 

(Psalm 112, NIV)

Emmanuel.

Yes, God is still with us.

-rg-