I wonder if He felt the excrement that He couldn't clean away drying, and then chafing.
I wonder if His face burned with that one more humiliation, as those near enough to see mocked Him. (The FMF prompt this week is near.)
And then I realize...of course.
Yes to all of it, otherwise how could He be with me today?
To be His Father's glory, Jesus had to live my ugly.
And that is as far as I can go...and, I think, as far as I need to.
Musical accompaniment is from Manafest, with Every Time Your Run.
Please pardon my slow response to comments. I'm doing my best, and your comments are really precious to me.
I'm really not doing well at all.
Still hoping to get the new and improved version of Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart up and running in the near future. Just haven't had the energy to do it yet...but if you would like to read it, please say so in your comment and I'd be glad to send you a PDF (which should fit your Kindle).
I have another blog, "Starting The Day With Grace". The focus is a grace quote from someone you might not expect (like, say Mick Jagger) and a short commentary. I hope you'll join me.
Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.
WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!
And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.
If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.
Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.
What you shared is enough Andrew. Thank you. Love to you and Barb.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Paula, and much love back, from both of us.
DeleteSorry it was a rough experience. Glad you made it through to tell us just enough and inspire us. Thank you for sharing. The fact that you are still willing to post blogs at this time in your struggle inspires me. Be well and as comfortable as you can. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteKaren, thank you so much. I'm so honoured by your kind thoughts and lovely words. It's not easy, but still worth it.
Delete"To be His Father's glory, Jesus had to live my ugly." Praise God He lives my ugly, too! At our deepest, most honest, we're all messy beings, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteSusan, you're so right, we ARE indeed messy...and messed up. I'm so grateful that God isn't turned away by this!
DeleteThan you so much for being here.
It's so humbling to know that Jesus had to go through this to be with me today... Thank you for this, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, it is indeed humbling...and so wonderful that He thinks we're worth it.
DeleteI hear it Andrew. You are weary. You fight hard. He is near you. He is with you. (((xo)))
ReplyDeleteSusan, I'm exhausted, and I don't know how to go on. He is here, and I'm so grateful that you are, too.
DeleteXOXOXOWaggyWaggyWaggyWOOF!!!!
AMEN Andrew! Few words, but I believe some your most profound words too. I think he experienced even worse ugly--all of our sin on that cross. Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Savior and King!
ReplyDeleteOh Jesus! Thank you for being with Andrew! Thank you for working in his life and bringing glory to yourself through his words. I pray that you would comfort him in his pain and suffering as only you can. That you would give Barb extraordinary strength as she cares for Andrew and moves ahead. I pray that you will grant peace that passes all understanding and hope for the future glory that will be revealed after the suffering. We don't understand what you do sometimes or why you do it, but we trust that your way best. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Love you friends!
Christy, thank you so much for your loving words, and most especially for the wonderful prayer. We are so grateful!
DeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeletethe profound revelation I see in your post is this: pride must die. Pride, the sufficiency of self, is the anti-Christ that is in us. That is the curse-that we would be God, instead of be 'like' God. That desire to preserve dignity, to appear as anything more than dust? God is purging us.
Did you ever laugh in immaturity at the sound of the words, "We are but dust..."?? Maybe not, I know as an immature junior high student, we added an extra "t" to that "but" and laughed in hilarity. We didn't know that it was true. We are nothing, but God LOVES us. Only in Him do we transform from cow manure fragments mixed with bits of rock and other granules of matter into a human being in His LIKENESS?!!!
How amazing is this?!
So, you've really hit it on the head here, Andrew. It is the most undignified, unglorified end that comes from the same beginning where we truly bow our knees and confess with our tongues that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Well done, friend. Well done.
Love,
Tammy
(I'm number 34 this week)
Tammy, you're so right. pride and the longing for dignity have to die, for us to live.
DeleteNever added the second 't' to 'but' in 'but dust', but I sure got a much needed laugh out of it now. Thank you!
Carl Sagan used to say that we are 'star stuff', but I think he kind of missed the point...we become, through Christ's Passion, the Stuff of the Star.
Love back, from all of us.
Sorry you're having such an awful time, Andrew. Praying for you that you know Jesus with you- that he cares and he understands.
ReplyDeleteLesley, thank you so much...it is truly awful now, but knowing that He cares, understands, and has walked this road...that's enough to keep me going.
DeleteAnd thank you so much for the prayers.
blessings and prayers for you and barbara today andrew. sad to hear it is such a bad day. there is a better day coming soon! it will make all this seem like nothing. hard to imagine isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMartha, we are so very grateful for the prayers...and yes, even though night is falling, there will be that glorious morning!
DeleteOh brother Andrew, he hears you and sees you. Jesus did endure it all to be near to all of us..in our pain, joy, sorrow etc. It's pretty incredible. He's near my friend, he's near!
ReplyDeleteTara, He is indeed near. On this day, the worst yet, I feel His Presence and Love more than ever.
DeleteAnd His sense of humour; He keeps reminding me that at least I'm not slow, soft, and ugly!
Not nice. Not easy. Not pretty. But real. You credit the Christ, the man of sorrows acquainted with grief. He suffered. We suffer. There's comfort in that like you have aptly said. Still praying.
ReplyDeleteNorma, my friend, yes...He is in solidarity with our suffering, as, on some level, we must be with His, to truly accept His gift.
DeleteThank you so much for the prayers. Worst day yet; not really the kind of personal record I want to keep setting.
The Lord knows our deepest hurts and discomforts. He is all we need.
ReplyDeleteErendira, yes...the world and its desires are stripped away by pain, and we discover that He is truly all we need, and in having Him, we have everything.
DeleteThank you so much for being here.
You are intimately understood and loved and valued - the ugly and the glory of it all. Thank you for being brave and sharing the ugly!
ReplyDelete~lisa
Lisa, thank you so much for this lovely affirmation! An thank you for sharing the journey, and for being here.
DeleteWhat amazing love that Jesus willingly endured it all for us. What a comfort in our own suffering. Praying for strength for you tonight. May you know that He is near, enduring with you.
ReplyDeleteRahel, yes; what Jesus endured for us is just awesome, and that He did it out of love for us as individuals calls us to a high standard; we can never undervalue ourselves without hurting Him.
DeleteThank you so much for the prayers. They're needed. It's getting worse and worse, but I know that the dawn is coming.
That's definitely a question to ponder... Sending you lots of love in these difficult days!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Katha! Love back, and thank you for your inspiring writing. I often return to your posts for comfort, and solace.
DeleteThank you, Andrew. Ugly, but beautiful. May the solace and wonder of knowing He truly was human like us, in every way, yet also the divine King of Kings, Healer, and Lover of our souls, bring great peace and joy to you today and in the days ahead. Indeed, He is with you. Hallelujah! Love and prayers being sent your way.
ReplyDeleteK, I sure appreciate this....and He is indeed with me, offering both comfort and the challenge to keep going, my hand in His.
DeleteLove back, and thank you so much for the prayers, they are really needed.
So sorry for all you are having such a hard time, Andrew. It is good to know Jesus understands all we go through, but knowing that does not eliminate the suffering in the moment.
ReplyDeleteJeannie, you're so right, that the knowledge that Jesus 'gets it' is vital...but our pain is, I think, perhaps a necessity to fully accept His Passion.
DeleteEmbrace the pain, and embrace Salvation?
Thank you so much for being here, my friend.
Andrew,
ReplyDelete...Jesus had to live my ugly. But there is beauty in the ugly when seen with the compassion of God. And you are beautiful! Sometimes we don't need a lot of words. They can get in the way. #70 this week, and still the prayers keep on!
Oh, Mary, thank you so much for this...and please know that you are in my daily prayers.
DeleteAnd thank you for yours, they are really needed.
Psalm 34:18 "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit." You have shared your humiliation with us in this post, and God is near. Ugly never got the better of Christ, but pride He cannot abide. Visiting from spot #68
ReplyDeleteVicki, this is the perfect Psalm, and you're so right...pride and the reach for 'dignity' have to die so that we may live, because they will cast a shadow, and block the Son.
DeleteThank you so much for this! it's perfect.
Marie, I am so very, very grateful to have a God that loves me so...and who can identify fully with every bit of the pain.
ReplyDeleteDon't need a 'healing miracle' for this, because I already have one. My heart's intact.
"Jesus had to live my ugly." Straight to the point. Thank you, my friend. Love and blessings to you and Barb!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much,leigh, for being here to share the journey. Love and blesings back, from both of us!
DeleteWow. What a powerful word. Thank you for sharing. Your message and testimony will live with me this week. Praying for you. Celebrating Christ with you. May you and your wife be surrounded with his grace and peace!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Mari-Anna, and it an honour to celebrate with you.
DeleteWe wish you the full joy and comfort of Christmas, and that the season's hope may be with you every single day.
I was not only touched by your post and fresh perspective it gives for what the incarnation means and the incalculable price Jesus paid to come near to us, but I was also touched by reading so many of the comments posted here and your beautiful response to each one of them. Thank you for sharing your struggles and your story and your confidence in Christ - Hebrews 10:35-36.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, QueenOfQuotes (LOVE that name!). Your comment really made my day, and I am so grateful!
DeleteAnd I won't throw away my confidence in Christ; not ever. I write books (or did), but he is the author of my soul.
Sorry you suffer so much. I used to be religious at one time years ago, (aside from finding the priest's singing in latin at a mass or two quite funny as a kid), but so much has happened to bring me to a new place. I could never accept God sacrificing his son and not himself for Humankind. As a parent, and a human, I would never do this. I think it encourages others to feel their children can be a sacrifice to others. (Abraham?) Have been through endless psychological tests during my life, which can be as tough as any physical challenge. In the end, it seems that love is the answer. Sad, with all God's lessons, most humans still do not "get it." Glad YOU do. Wishing you a pain free and peaceful holiday. Peace Brother Andrew.
ReplyDelete