But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you not think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
– Matthew 26:52-53
“I don’t understand.”
Those three words either:
A. Make me want to hurl
or:
B. Make me want to cry
Sometimes I just don’t understand why things happen the way that they do. I often wish that I could grasp my predicament by the throat and demand cessation. Or simply say “no more” and my dilemma would cease haunting me.
I want to believe that God works everything out for the good, and I want to believe that he has great plans for me, and I want to believe that my future is in his hands. But when circumstances “get hard”, those are the times it’s hard to know that those statements are true. It’s like my mom says:
“Real Faith in Christ is like this: you are a sponge. When times are wonderful, you soak up lots of concepts; whether good or bad, only you can say. But, when times become increasingly hard, you are squeezed, and whatever comes out is who you truly are.”
– The Amazing Mom Patty 🙂
Thus, the past few months I’ve learned this: My faith is defined by the hard moments. My story, my life, is defined by the trials and tears. If I didn’t go through the things I do and if I didn’t feel the feelings I feel, my life couldn’t be crafted and my faith couldn’t be refined. I think of Joseph:
Thrown into a well by his own brothers, sold into slavery by them, and accused of abusing his master’s wife, he was ultimately cast into prison for a crime he did not commit.
After many more turns of events, Joseph actually became second in command to Pharaoh! He ends his story by forgiving his brothers as they come to beg for food during a famine. He says:
“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”
– Joseph, from Genesis 50:20
Thus, I have learned:
Nothing in my life will go as splendidly as Christ has planned if I don’t experience some type of physical, mental, or spiritual pain.
Babies cannot be born without labor pangs. We cannot have a spring without a winter. There is no harvest if there is no cultivation. There is no endorphin that comes unless you look back and see all the perplexing trials and vexatious predicaments that God has put into your life to bring you “that far.”
This week what really made me understand was this: Jesus at Gethsemane
Judas, Jesus’ own disciple comes to betray him. How? With a kiss. He kisses Jesus, saying, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And Jesus, most likely saddened, says, “Friend, why have you come?” What blows my mind is that Jesus still calls him friend. As they bind Jesus, Peter swiftly pulls his sword out of it’s sheath and cuts off the ear of the servant of the High Priest. Jesus responds:
But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you not think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
– Matthew 26:52-53
“How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus?” How could my life be fulfilled if I didn’t have to lose so many friends? How could God write my story if I decided I wouldn’t listen and let go of Instagram? How could Christ show me horses were my passion if I decided it was too scary to get back on after falling off? How could God show me His love for me if I had decided it was too hard to follow Him?
You see, the scary and laborious things in life are the things that shape our lives from child to adult. It reminds me of something that Gandalf said:
Frodo didn’t want the Ring. He hated the Ring, and he tells Gandalf his deep sorrow. Gandalf, (in his awesome Grandpa voice) tells Frodo that our situations are not for us to decide. Basically, we can’t pick and choose what trials and quests (love that word quests XD) we want in life. But, we can decide what to do with the time that God gives us.
One final note:
Three days ago, I was reading a passage of scripture in Matthew about Jesus on the cross.
As Jesus hung there, suffocating, breathing his last breaths, the crowd menacingly taunted him. “If you are the Son of God, save yourself! Look, He saved others, but now He cannot even save himself.”
Recently my folks and I put our home up for sale. We didn’t understand why our home wasn’t selling, and we felt taunted. That day, when I read that, I heard God tell me that those taunts we heard the enemy whisper (i.e. “why isn’t your house selling?”, “if God wants you to move, why hasn’t He sold your house?”), were just like the taunts Jesus received on the cross. But what happened three days later? Jesus rose. And God told me that in three days something awesome would happen with the sale of our home.
Today is the third day. Our house is being offered on.
I was ecstatic when Mom told me! God had made a promise to me, I believed it, and look what he’s done! The suspense was killing me, literally. Ok, maybe not literally, but mentally. XD
All I’m saying, people, is to hold on. Through the fire, the storm, the darkest night, or the coldest winter, God’s got something fantastic waiting on the other side.
Trials do hurt, they can sting, and tears sometimes come, but they are some of the greatest things you can endure! They’ve shaped me into who I am today, and I don’t really know what I’d do without ’em.
It’s like Gandalf said, we can’t decide what problems we want/can handle, but we can decide what to do with the time that God gives us.
All for now, folks!
Namárië,
Emily Greenleaf XD
P.S. Here’s a future cosplay…update…thing XD:
Pirates of the Caribbean Elizabeth Swann! I’m not the hugest Elizabeth fan – I mean, in my eyes she’s overrated. Plus she’s one of the biggest drama queens I’ve ever seen. I wanted to do a combo of Will, Elizabeth, and Jack, but that would take too much work {just kidding}. Anyway, I think her costume in The Dead Man’s Chest/At World’s End is a lot more…shall we say…conservative than her formal gownish contraption she wore in The Curse of the Black Pearl. However, I don’t have all negative things to say about Izz (as Jack calls her). Keira Knightley is downright gorgeous and her British accent is glamorous (and I say glamorous with halos and sparklies everywhere).
This drawing was designed by yours truly and I hope it turns out well…ha…ha…ha XD. I hope to have it done by the time the new movie comes out next year (in July, I think).
I love gifs.
Ahem.
Also, Disney is making a Beauty and the Beast movie that’s coming out in March of 2017! I’m not a huge fan of the original Disney Princess cartoons, but I love the actual films they’ve been making (Cinderella 2015, Maleficent 2014, and now Beauty and the Beast 2017)! Here’s the trailer:
So, I also designed a Belle cosplay for the movie in March! Here’s my design:
Soak it up, people XD – and don’t make fun of Belle’s hands in my drawing. 🙂
Furthermore, there’s Rogue One coming out in December. I’m not super excited about it, but I am excited, so I’ll probably just go to the movies as Rey. I’m not saying Rogue One looks unscrupulous, but I’m not as excited for it as I would be for Star Wars Episode Eight. You feelin’ me?
By the way, what’s with Doctor Strange? I’m just not a fan – Tilda Swinton just looks intimidatingly creepy (with no hair and all), which makes me run away, so I won’t be doing any Doctor Strange cosplays any time soon. I loved Tilda Swinton in Narnia, but again, she was given an ultimately creepy role as Jadis.
Ok, last thing on cosplay: Legolas. I’m gettin’ there peeps…we’re moving, ya know? I hope to get the pictures done THIS MONTH SOMETIME before we move. So, with that being said, I will bid you adieu. Adios, amigos!
Ok, I’m done 🙂
Actually, here’s another poll. Ok, now I’m done.
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