Life at the Beautiful Gate! {Acts 3}
1:22 AM
By Lisa Thayer
Miracles
happen out of what we have. I wish I
could remember who said this. I heard it
while I was driving more than a year ago and wrote it down on a piece of paper.
I
have to admit I regularly struggle with looking at my circumstances and not
being able to see beyond them. Some
circumstances are easier to overlook, while others simply overwhelm me.
I
just love how in verses 11-26, Peter is so bold. I would like to be so bold! There have been times that I have shared the
gospel and the person I’m speaking to simply appears to be deaf. It is just so heartbreaking to see our Lord
rejected.
“It is not the Church’s
business in the world to simply make the present condition more bearable; the
task of the Church is to release here on earth the redemptive work of God in
Christ.” (LaSor)
I
have been frustrated with how we see thousands of people come to know and trust
Christ as we read these chapters, yet as I look around me and few come to
believe. Just like the religious here in
the Bible. It’s a bold move, I’ll admit
to trust something we cannot see. It’s
bold to trust in Jesus, especially when you are not willing to read the
Bible. It’s bold because you have to let
go of what you keep hearing from this world.
Let
me share a leap of faith.
I
have shared several times about my first husband. It’s always fun to share memories of him
because so often God reveals something to me.
Bob had cystic fibrosis and as my sister-in-law reminded me yesterday,
Bob had a tenacious desire to live. CF
is a terminal illness and people suffer with respiratory and digestive
issues. Those circumstances eventually
lead to death. When Bob died, he left
behind an 8 year old daughter, a 5 year old son, a 3 year old son, and a wife
of 13 years. I was 37 years old. Bob had always tried to deal with his
circumstances. He would do everything in
his power to change the outcome of whatever situation. I remember when we were in Loyola and he was
being wheeled into the operating room, he told me that we was not afraid. That was probably the biggest shock to
me. Bob was always afraid! And he was what many people considered a
‘control freak’. But what happened to
him? What made him not afraid to enter
an operating room that could change his circumstances forever? He was getting a 2nd chance in
life. A new heart and new lungs. This would change our lives forever.
What
happened in the next several hours changed my circumstances forever. I remember sleeping in the waiting room along
with his brother and sister and her husband.
As I sat in that chair, Bob came to me and sat next to me. I was surprised he was there, since he had
recently returned from the operating room and was in his recovery room. I said to him, “Shouldn’t you go back to your
room?” What was the biggest surprise to
me was how Bob looked. He was very much
alive! And he was at peace. He was happy!
God had definitely changed his circumstances.
Bob
wasn’t afraid to surrender his daughter and two sons and wife to this
world. He wasn’t afraid to let God
control what we, who were left behind, would do. I know he trusted Jesus. I know he came to a point that the name of
Jesus was the most powerful name to him.
One of the last things Bob wanted to see was his little girl receive her
first communion. Just one week before he
died he did just that! He told me how he
wanted to be there for that because he knew if she accepted Jesus, she would
have all the power she would ever need.
Life
as we know it will always give us circumstances. But the Lord has given us His Word and a
community of believers to look to, to help us get through. God has more to give us than we can
expect. We can be like the lame beggar
and simply expect for people to support us in our present circumstances, or we
can take Jesus by the hand and get up and walk and praise Him for giving us a
life with Him.
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