"Suffering Opens the Holy Space in Your Soul" Ezra 1-2; John 19:23-42

1:1 "In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, God prodded Cyrus King of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom." God stirred up Cyrus to permit any willing Israelite to return HOME after 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  I just wept as I read names of clans of over 50,000 people who had been held captive.  There's something in me that is moved when I hear of captives like my friend Cyd who may have been murdered in Afghanistan or she's still captive there.  These 50,000 plus stable people of substance (remember how they didn't take the very poor captive but allowed them to work the land) are on their way home.  Oh my!  Restored physically.  But there already has been a spiritual restoration or they wouldn't come home to praise God like they have!  Ezra 3:11 "God is good; He will never quit loving us."

As we close the book of 2 Chronicles, we find a restored people in the book of Ezra longing for holiness, His Presence.  Something happened to them in captivity---"suffering is necessary until evil is finally banished...suffering opens the holy space in your soul that will be filled only when you're dancing with Me..."  66 LL.  And I'm reminded of Crabb's quote that ended the chapter:  "Don't look for experts to coach you in how to make your life work before you follow elders who will lead you into My Presence."  What are we really looking for in life?  "I want My people to know this:  if even in small ways you live to 'fix your life,' to arrange for your own pleasure in ways that violate holiness, your love for a better life now will eventually corrupt your love for Me."  66 LL.  The question Jesus will ask in about 400 years comes to mind:  John 1:38 - "What do you seek?"  What do I seek this day?

PHOTO: Hey Twins, by the time you are an adult, 21, Mimi will be in Glory. I would have lived 93 years if I had made it. I'm sure I'm gone. I suffered quite a bit throughout my whole life. Most people didn't want to hear it----well, nobody wants you to suffer. So, they overlay it with positivity. Nothing wrong with being positive. It's just this is the story that God wrote for me and I embraced it. And it truly did open sacred spaces in my soul. May all your little suffering be for Him and His Glory. Don't look for experts in your adult years---look for elders. Wish I could have seen your spouses and families that you will raise up. All God's best to you. You were deeply loved from the moment your tiny feet hit this big Earth. Loved from the beginning to the end.