the grave is overwhelmed

Psalm 116:1-15
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me;
then I called on the name of the Lord "O Lord, Save me!"
the Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion

the Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need he saved me.
Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
For you O Lord have saved my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
...
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints

What do you do when you are too sad to sleep? I know that God's plan is always the best and I praise Him for knowing what the heck He is doing...because I sure don't. The world needs more people like Kelly...not fewer. The enemy has taken such an advanced attack on the people around me...Kelly, my patient from a few weeks ago...the man who killed himself at my work, my co-workers father who killed himself, my classmates little sister who was killed in a car accident and was only 16 years old. It breaks my heart because I know God did not intend for this kind of suffering to occur. He didn't mean for Julien to grow up not knowing how amazing his mother was and the light she brought to everyone she met. the patient, whose pulse I felt and an hour before it stopped, was not meant to be stuck in a body which he had no control over, and then leave this world without his family by his side. The man from my work and my co-workers father; the world hurt them so badly that they saw no other way out...these men had family, children, jobs, hobbies. How strong a hold has he taken on these people. Laura's little sister, she was 16, driving a car for the very first time alone. I know that this kind of pain was not intended for us when God created the world. I think we have it wrong if we believe that death is from God...yes God can stop death from happening but he does not make it happen. The enemy made it happen when he brought sin into this world, when he began his assault on the human race, on God's children.
But here is the beauty of it....
Jesus is stronger than death. When his precious blood fell from his body, he provided us with the hope that it doesn't end when we die. It didn't end when Jesus died! This life, this suffering, this pain, is not the last thing we will ever know if we choose Christ. He rose and he conquered the grave, he conquered death, and he conquered the enemy. My Jesus will continue to do these things and even though the enemy will continue to try, nothing can keep us from the love of God.
I pray that in spite of my own sadness, in spite of the sadness of many families throughout the holiday and for the rest of their lives, the name of the Lord will continue to be praised. I implore you friends, to pray for this in your own lives and in the lives of those radically changed by death recently, that God will radically work in their hearts and their lives because he can and he will. "Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed. Victory is won, he is risen from the dead"
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

final encouragement

Hey friends...just wanted to take a second in this CRAZY time for all of us college students and give you some biblical encouragement because I believe that it is the truest form of encouragement, the hope we have in Jesus Christ. And it's mostly for me too, not to preach but to encourage ok?

Mark 6:30 "then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest"".
As most of us are probably not sleeping at all, getting discouraged and stressed, it might help if we try to remember that Jesus is the remedy; he is our resting place
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" ummm...THANK YOU JESUS!
Luke 8:38-39 "The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying "return home, and tell how much God has done for you" so the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
During finals, its really easy for me to get so caught up in my own little world of pathophysiology and cardiac disruptions and its sometimes really hard to see a way out. and I so often forget to keep praising the Lord for all he has done for me, for giving me the opportunity to study at this school, for cultivating an interest in this material....Philipians 1:3-6 says "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I will always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
And finally John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me"
God's gonna get us through this week ok? Please let me know how I can pray for you all.

not even death

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave is your destruction?"
Hosea 13:14

Today I saw a dead body for the first time. I had passed his room earlier and noticed Cheyne-Stokes breathing...which basically means that he was on his way out. And I watched as a heartless nurse shut the door on her way out of the room and told no one to go in. She shut the door on a still leaving person, someone who is still deeply loved and being mourned over and she shut the door on him. but I know that he was not alone. After he died my instructor made me assess him, check for a pulse that I would not find, listen for a heart that would never beat again, assess for respirations that would no longer exist, open his eyes to check his pupils. And every time I checked something I was hoping that I was doing it wrong, that I would see his chest rise again, that I wasn't listening to my stethescope closely enough.
I don't think that anyone can completely understand the glory of the gospel unless they have a good understanding of death, which until today, I did not. Death, even when it is quiet, "comfortable" and expected, is an awful awful event that I know my God did not originally intend for us to experience. And my God, my savior, my Jesus, volunteered to go through that for me. It's an experience that I could never wish upon anyone, the fate that my sin has cost me. And Jesus, Holy and blameless Jesus paid my ransom and did it for me. He didn't just stop living, he experienced death in its fullest extent, and he conquered the grave. The power of death is shattered by Him who saves and I will forever rejoice because of it.

Lead me to the cross where your love poured out,
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down,
Rid me of myself I belong to you,
Oh lead me, lead me to the cross