Remember Me by Sharon Garlough Brown

Remember Me by Sharon Garlough Brown

Author:Sharon Garlough Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Shades of light;sensible shoes;depression;anxiety;clinical depression;suicide;suicidal;addiction;opioid;Katherine Rhodes;Wren Crawford;devotional guide;stations of the cross;New Hope Retreat Center;Jesus suffering;companion in sorrow;man of sorrow;Vincent van gogh;art;painting;counseling;spiritual direction;prayer journey;Lent;Jesus journey to the cross;Lenten;sacred art;grief;healing;spiritual formation;spiritual disciplines;spiritual fiction;christian fiction;christian novella;womens fiction
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2019-10-22T12:57:22+00:00


MARCH 3

My dear Wren,

It’s often been the case that whatever I’m intending to present at a retreat has direct application to my own life. That was true this morning as I taught about temptation. There I was, having only just written to you a few days ago about being stripped of reputation or the need to defend myself, and all I was thinking about was how I might need to clarify or explain some of the details I shared last week from my own story. What if someone had misunderstood what I said? What if someone thought less of me because of the weaknesses and struggles I shared? What if, what if, what if.

I told you, I’ll never be free this side of heaven of my desire for control. But—by the grace of God—I was able to resist the temptation and let the words I spoke last week stand on their own. No doubt the temptation will rise again. That’s the thing about temptation. It always seeks “an opportune time.”

As I thought today about all the many ways Jesus was tempted, not just in the desert but during his ministry and at the cross, I remembered the detail of the passersby and the authorities deriding him, demanding he demonstrate he was the Son of God by coming down from the cross. Not only had Jesus refused to defend himself against false accusations, but here he also refused to prove his identity by using his power. What a temptation that must have been! Especially when the religious leaders claimed they would believe in him if he just came down.

But he remained. Thank God.

Their words pursue me tonight: “He trusts God. Let God deliver him.”

I’ve heard a similar voice in my own life and in the lives of others. It’s easy to believe the lie that the only testimony that can lead someone to faith is the testimony of deliverance. We sometimes think the only testimony that will bring God glory is the testimony of victory. We can even use deliverance and victory as a litmus test of God’s trustworthiness. Or—and I have been guilty of this plenty of times—we can use our trust in God as a bargaining chip to obligate him to deliver us. As if my faith could somehow obligate him to serve me on my own terms. Lord, have mercy.

Jesus trusted in God. God did not deliver him from the cross. What a profound and comforting mystery this is, that our suffering, too, can be a testimony that reveals the truth of who Christ is. Our deaths can be revelations of his life and power. Even if it’s harder for others—and us—to see.

I think of his mother, standing there at the foot of the cross, watching her son suffer, and listening to every vile insult hurled at him. I know how I felt whenever anyone criticized or condemned my boy. I know how I felt, watching him suffer and feeling powerless to do anything to help him. And this is only an inkling of Mary’s pain.



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