Because He Lives

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow...

We were singing this hymn at church this morning. It's one I've heard all my life (and especially love) but today, I was singing with my lips and not my heart. Lately, I've felt like a desert in need of a flood. With a friend in the hospital on the verge of death (thank God she's home now!), non-stop school and activities, and children wanting Mom around the clock, I am parched, cracked, and withering. The little rain that does fall collects in shallow puddles on the surface, but dries up before the soil and plants are properly nourished.

because He lives, all fear is gone...

Why do I continue to let fear of failure and judgment rule my actions? Why am I afraid of loving with abandon, of not being good enough, of losing my joy? Sometimes, it would be easier to stop caring, to stop giving, to stop obeying the call I heard so many years ago.

because I know He holds the future...  

I have to trust that the words of the hymn are true. Like I have to trust that the words of 2 Corinthians 12:9 are true:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

Paul goes on to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

And that is why, I can sing, though ever so softly,

and life is worth the living... just because He lives.

I cannot allow my insufficiency to rule my life. Though there are days when I don't want to get out of bed, or talk to people, or clean, or teach, I hold onto the hope that Christ gives me, because He lives.