Real Resurrection: Part I

An Invitation to Live NEW

We are on the cusp of our greatest shared celebration, Resurrection Sunday, that reinforces why we are who we are, why we gather with others who dare to believe in the same wild possibilities and how we are to live changed by the unchangeable truth that through God all things are possible, including new life, out graves into new reality.

Most believers today are people of purpose. Belief in this unshakable truth has led you right where you are today. If the resurrection wasn’t true, we wouldn’t be free. We wouldn’t hold the positions we do. We wouldn’t serve, lead, preach and teach this truth. Yes, we know all about resurrection, the real rising of the really dead Jesus Christ, into a heavenly throne that nothing can overthrow that not only solidifies Christ’s power and authority but also extends power, freedom and salvation to the likes of you and me when we dare to believe.

Yet, have you experienced it lately?

Have you been awakened, drawn out of your grave clothes and given new life? Are you still seeking, daring to dream of more possibilities and ready to bring them to reality? Are you expecting a real resurrection, ready to be made new again and again?

I remember my first dream of a new reality, my own longing for a new life no longer stuck, flailing and barely able to breathe. I was lying in my bed, late at night, about 8 years old. My mom and stepdad were fighting again. They fought most nights, 29 times one February when I took a tally. They argued, raised their voices, and cussed at each other saying horrible things. They often broke things, like CD’s a 75 gallon fish tank and a coffee table, along with pictures and stereos knocked over in their pushing.

Most nights, the yelling escalated to punches and clothes thrown out into the yard. When I sensed the escalation, I jumped in believing my presence could keep us safe. Night after night of intervention, I began to believe I had a superpower, the ability to actually control things and stop the fury. Yet, I was merely delaying it all for yet another day.

During this constant cycle of waiting for my cue, lying wide awake, I began to wonder:

Is there another possibility?

Unfortunately, seeing what I saw and living the way I lived for most of my childhood led me to believe that fights, name calling and physical violence was what love is so I got my very own abusive boyfriend as a stamp of authenticity, a real grown up relationship. With my own broken furniture, black eyes and beaten soul, my dream resurfaced in the form of a scream: I don’t deserve to live this way.

In order to truly escape from the abuse and the trauma of my young reality, I dreamed of living in a far away place, the land of my heritage where I could just simply breathe. With what can only be described as a miracle, I ended up with an opportunity to spend one year in the Czech Republic, a 70% atheist country, all expenses paid and no need to give them my kidney. Many miles from home and all I had ever known which was toxic abuse and endless people pleasing, three women of faith found me in a foreign land and offered just what a lonely American girl recovering from trauma needed: a friend. Through our real conversations, long lunches and walking everywhere, each revealed to me their very real and present relationship with God. I had never even heard of God relationally back home in my occasional church visits or from my religious grandmothers. Instead, I got the impression God was always utterly disappointed and disapproving. Many miles from home, the abuse and the expectations of others, under the deep, wide Czech sky, I began to realize God was bigger, better and more present in my life than I had ever imagined before. Instead of God far off with hands crossed, wearing a scowl of disapproval for all the ways I had gotten it wrong, I began to see God present, close and madly in love with me even in my darkest days, fear and pain.

What started as a dream of peace, a different and new reality led me to salvation, an awareness and relationship with the God of all creation that dared to care about me, personally.

Where might your bold vision lead?

Whatever your dream may be, there has to be a plan to bring it reality, otherwise it will remain a mere fantasy. I firmly believe that whatever you wrote down and shared with your neighbor, God has a part in its place in your heart. I firmly believe God speaks to us in wild and wonderful ways, whispers that turn into screams in an effort to invite us into a new reality.

New life is what resurrection brings.

Are you ready to live new?

How will you get ready to live new and experience resurrection too?