I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
When Life Turns Sideways
|
Hi Friends, Last week I shared about the Feast of Normalcy… the banquet the Lord sets before us in every moment of every ordinary day. (If you missed it, you can catch it here.) But what about when life turns sideways? What about when the word “normal” sounds foreign to your ears and life is war-torn (for some of you, literally)? I believe that in difficult seasons of life, our need for the feast of normalcy actually increases. Our craving for ordinary—for patterns and expecteds—actually spikes when what we’ve known turns upside down. And that craving for normalcy: even that is from Him. Into the very fabric of existence God wrote pattern. On the most earth-shattering of days, the sun rises in the east. Even when your heart races, “unknown” lurking behind every turn of the hour hand, the sun still marches across the sky at just the same rate, sinks in the west at just the same time. Spring follows winter, summer follows spring—it’s like the world around us is unaware of the grief, pain, or waiting that fills the days for many. It can feel wrong, unfair even, that nature carries on when all else is coming to pieces. But there is One who is actively turning the page every day, changing the scene every season, and He is not unaware. Could it be that even here, He sets a feast before the unsteady heart? Perhaps He is saying, “Even when the whole world falls apart, I never change”. There’s a feast in the normalcy happening all around us. A feast of His faithfulness. His goodness. His constancy and trustworthiness. And just as He lifted up bread and wine on the night before His greatest suffering, lifting up ordinary food and drink always found on the table in that day, He wants us to remember Him. In our eating and drinking. In our sleeping and waking. And yes, even in our trembling under the covers in our greatest hardships as the dark of night surrounds. Because the sun will rise even then, and it comes as a feast to remind us: He is here. –Anna |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, Last week we talked about my kids and their insatiable search for adventure. With childlike eyes, they found it everywhere. Time has a way of growing us up and growing us out of our eager expectation for adventure. Memories of childhood take on a magical aura as we step into the cold, hard reality of adulthood. I mean, filing your taxes will do that to you. But it’s more than just the process of growing up. We tend to begin believing wrong things about God, and in turn we believe...
Dear Friends, Last month, Shawn and I took the boys to see the ocean for the first time. Actually, it was a first in many ways—first multiple day road trip, first time staying in a hotel on the way. They loved it. Everything was the “best ever”. “This is the best breakfast ever!” They said, over their free continental breakfasts of Lucky Charms and re-hydrated scrambled eggs. We spent day after day at the beach, never tiring of standing in the ocean and getting knocked off our feet by the...
Dear Friends, Ever been unable to turn your mind off? The what ifs, the anxieties, the worry? It’s like a record left spinning long after the party’s over. It’s a merry-go-round that doesn’t seem to slow for long enough to step off. Anxiety can be truly disruptive. Let’s talk about it. But first, here are some lyrics I’m singing to Jesus today: You never sleep nor slumberYou are upholding meYou bear the weight I’m underYou give Your beloved sleep Sometimes, when the day is over and the...