Radically Happy

Hat tip to Balaam and Shrek

Wake up and smell the Calvary — and rejoice in it!

MIC Check

Today’s Most Important Challenge is…

• Unburying hidden resentments
• So they can be resurrected
• As resilient grace

Angel Approach Memo

Continued from Yahweh Gave Him

I am… aggrieved.

I see Jesus
Riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun

But it is too late
My Heart was already
Torn to shreds
And sacrificed
To resurrect the lawless mercenaries

“Look!”

I say to Him:

“If you had been here
My Heart would not have died”

I gasp:

“For that matter
Brain would not have
Led me astray all those years”

I cry:

“Why didn’t You come Yourself
Instead of sending Angel to kill me?”

Jesus looks to me.

I am shocked to see
Tears in His eyes
As He embraces me
Weeping over me
Like a long-lost friend

I look to Jesus.

He smile through His tears
And says:

“Do you not know
Have you not heard
That my Heart was also
Torn to shreds for you?

I lower my eyes.

He continues:

“If I came back sooner
Or never left
I could have fixed everything
But you would have stayed a child
Instead of becoming My Friend”

Jesus looks around.

He sees the lawless mercenaries
Who have become gracious emissaries
And tells them:

“And you would never
Have had the courage
To come to Me
Had you not first seen a Jackass
You could identify with”

I fall to my knees.

“Lord
Forgive me
I knew not
What You were doing!”

Jesus calls to me.

He breathes on me
Saying:

“Rise up
Friend!”

He points to the horizon
And says:

“The real payoff…”

“Is about to come!”

To be concluded

Reflection

I feel…

• Befriended
• Sent
• Chosen
• Honored
• Understood
• Understanding
• Redeemed

Scripture

When Jephthah arrived home at Mizpah, his daughter came hurrying out of the house to welcome her father home, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child—his one and only. When he realized who had come out, he ripped his cloak and was overcome with grief.
He exclaimed, “Oh no! My dearest daughter, you have torn my heart to shreds! Must it be you I offer? I have made a solemn promise to Yahweh, and I cannot retract it!”
She said to him, “My father, you have made a vow to Yahweh and he has delivered you from your enemies, the Ammonites. Do to me what you promised him you would do.
But please grant me one thing. Spare me for two months and let me go with my friends to grieve. Let me be free to wander on the hills and to lament my sad fate.”
“Go,” he replied, and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. After two months, she returned to her father, and Jephthah fulfilled his vow to Yahweh. His daughter died still a virgin. (This was the origin of the custom in Israel that young women would go away each year to grieve and lament for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.)‭‭

Judges‬ ‭11‬:‭34‬-‭40‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Inspired by Courage to Conquer