My Favorite Day

I could barely open my eyes upon waking this morning.  The sun was pouring into my bedroom like a flood and my heart immediately spilled over with excitement and gratitude.  I can only imagine how the sun shone the morning Christ walked out of that tomb.  The radiance must have been blinding.  What about  the brilliant light spewing forth from the angel sitting on the boulder that sealed the tomb?  Can you imagine how the women must have shielded their eyes?  The power and victory that encompasses this day of resurrection overwhelms me.  The very thought of Jesus Christ winning the battle over death, removing it's sting, and reigning forever in both heaven and in the hearts of those who believe in Him...it literally takes my breath away.

I am thrilled to see how the Fosslings have picked up on Momma and Papa Foss' excitement of holy week, especially the resurrection.  They were taking turns today saying to each other, "Christ is risen!" "He is risen, indeed!"  Those words churn up such adoration in my soul and it thrills my very being to hear it in the precious voices of my children.  When we pulled the egg out of our easter bread today and cried that victorious chant, the Fosslings were jumping and clapping with excitement.  What more could I pray for as a mother and as a child of God, than to watch my family unite and celebrate the greatest victory in the course of history and our greatest hope as believers in Christ.

Nearly 2,000 years ago one Man altered the course of history and holds the heavy weight champion title over an opponent that none other has been able to defeat.  He won the battle in your name that you could never win on your own.  And He continues to fight for you and will win your battles until He rings the final bell and calls the match.  He's never lost a fight and He never will.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And that is why this is my favorite day...ever.

At Rest

Holy Saturday.  It has taken new meaning to me in recent years.  As much as is possible for a pastor's family, we have tried to guard this day as a special day to rest and ponder the "inbetweeness" of Christ's death and His resurrection.  For obvious reasons, this is difficult with all of the preparations that are necessary for Resurrection Sunday services and festivities.  However, we are doing our best to instill in the Fosslings' hearts and our own hearts the importance of each piece of holy week.

Saturday is often lost in the chaos of Easter preparations or neglected because who really stops to think about what happened on this day?  What did happen?  Jesus rested.  And I think I can learn a big lesson from my King on this day.  God rested on this day in creation.  Jesus rested on this day in His creation of a new covenant.  And I too must rest.

Our home was far from restful today.  As much as Papa Foss and I try to create a peaceful atmosphere, with three children aged four and under, it can get nutty at the drop of a hat.  Today was no exception.  Then, I embarked on a foolish venture.  I went to Walmart the day before Easter.  Foolish.  At any rate, there I was and it was chaos.  I made quick work of my list of two grocery items (the two most important ingredients for my Greek Easter Bread!) and back home I dashed.  I won't bore you precious readers with all the details of my to-do list, but let's just say it runneth over today.  Still, in the midst of busyness, my heart kept coming back to the thought of where my Savior was on this day.  Between the vice grip of His past, brutal betrayal, beating, and burial and the glory of His coming redemption and resurrection, Christ lay in waiting, resting.  And I found myself caught in the suspense of an action packed thriller.  I have mourned the death of my Beloved Lord and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to celebrate the victory of His resurrection!  What a very strange and wondrous "waiting room".

When I lay down to rest for the night today, I will have butterflies in my stomach and fall asleep in the excited anticipation of waking to a new dawn...one that brings the greatest victory and hope my heart could ever long for.

Consider the Cost

Many people in my life have taught me the value of generosity and the importance of sacrificing personal comforts and wants for the goodness of others.  And I feel indebted to those people for the way it has shaped my life and my desire to be more selfless.  Although, I honestly admit that it is a daily struggle for me to not think of myself first.  I find incredible joy in giving to others, even when it costs a great price.  Because I have been on the receiving end of others’ sacrificial generosity and felt the indescribable blessing that comes over me upon receipt of such love and kindness.  And every day we are showered with sacrificial generosity, but often we are too busy to see it.  Sometimes we notice it, but neglect to express our gratitude.  Perhaps it’s right in front of us, yet we cannot even begin to grasp its height, depth, or width.


The interesting thing about generosity and sacrifice, if you actually stop to think about it, is that it’s never really deserved.  If it was deserved, then we would call it a reward.  Generosity and sacrifice are gifts.  The value of a gift is found in its worth and what it cost the giver.

Today of all days, I am left speechless at the very thought of a gift that was given to me before I took my first breath, before I was a twinkle in my parents’ eyes, before the foundation of this very earth.  There was a gift being prepared.  But, this was a gift unlike any other ever given.  It was hand crafted and perfectly made for a recipient who was, knowingly, ungrateful and undeserving.  The gift came from a heart overflowing with mercy and grace to a heart crusted and clogged with deceit, selfishness, and anything ugly that you can possibly imagine. 

To think that Someone would endure rejection, ridicule, hatred, physical beatings, emotional distress, spiritual turmoil, social embarrassment, and degradation in order to pay the ransom for a person who desperately needed to be saved and shown mercy, yet never asked for it…it’s mind boggling.  How can I reason, in my finite mind, that Someone would leave a place of perfection and live in a place filled with hatred, sickness, and rebellion in order to save the very people who spat at His face, nailed His loving hands to a brutal wooden cross, hurled insults at His perfect soul, and took His earthly life in a gruesome, torturous manner.  It’s “love so amazing, so divine” that it “demands my soul, my life, my all.”

My heart has been wrapped around these living words all day.  I pray that they bring you comfort, conviction, compassion, hope…whatever God may use to reveal Himself in a fresh way.

Mark 10:45

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Romans 6:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

James 1:17

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Isaiah 53

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

just a few pictures

Baby Fossling hits the Cheerios jackpot!

The middlest, littlest Fossling paddling in the "pond".

The oldest Fossling swimming on her own!

Hope ~ Joy ~ Grace
(what each has brought to our family and what God has given to each)

An Easter Prelude

I'm not sure if anyone really reads this blog.  But, for those who happen to stumble upon it, my prayer is that God uses my simple words and meager thoughts to feed you a morsel of encouragement or shine a glimmer of hope on your day.  I can see that it's been many months since my last post, but I'm not one to write for the sake of having a blog post every day or every week or every whatever.  I'm one to write when it's written on my heart.  And today my heart was lavished with goodness from my Sustainer.  So I pass it on to you...

As I grow in age (I hit a new decade last month!) and hopefully mature in my faith and walk with Jesus, I have gained an ever greater appreciation and love for the Easter season.  In fact, it has blown Christmas out of the water for me.  (Before you go criticizing my theology, I am fully aware that you cannot have Easter without Christmas...I got that.)  But, my entire hope as a believer in Jesus Christ lies in the fact that He looked death in the face, took it by the scruff of the neck, and laid it back in the ground where it belongs so that we can say, "Death where is your victory?"  No other person in the course of history has gone head to head with death and been named the Champion!  My hope and joy every morning when I rise from my bed is that one day I will rise to a Son who has prepared a place of perfection for me beside Himself.  And it's never going to end.  Can you begin to wrap your mind around that?  I don't even know where to start!

I took the two oldest Fosslings to preschool this morning, and as I drove home I threw the ipod on shuffle.  And this is what I cranked at 80 decibels while driving down the road.  I hope it brings as much hope and empowerment to you as it did to me. (Do yourself a gigantic favor and crank your volume.)

"King of Glory"

A Very Merry Christmas

Short and sweet...from our family to yours...we wish you the merriest of Christmases, a bright and blessed New Year, and pray that you find the love and goodness of Christ in every step of your path.

This will only hurt for a minute...

I just took the youngest Fossling to the pediatrician for her checkup.  It's so hard to believe that she is six months old.  I desperately miss the newborn stage already.  (For those of you who are thinking what I know you are thinking...nope...our quiver is full!)  In her typical fashion, she was all smiles and coos throughout the visit.  After the doctor examined her, we playfully looked at the pictures on the walls and I bounced her on my knee while singing songs.  Then the nurse returned with two little "stingers" filled with immunizations.  Before laying her on the table, I calmly told her, "It only pinches for a second."  Then, I lovingly smiled at her while the nurse administered the shots.  Not a peep for the first, but oh did she ever get red-faced for the second!  My heart broke.  I gently offered her a pacifier, rubbed her forehead and kissed her nose, and then held her close in my arms while  whispering, "Momma's here.  It's all done.  You did a great job!"  Within ten seconds she was smiling again and her face was as joyful as always.  Even I was shocked.
I have lost count of the number of times that life has merrily been rolling along when out of the clear blue sky, the thunder and lightning of painful circumstances invades a perfect summer day.  The loud crack of thunder from the shocking call of a friend who's marriage is falling apart.  The frightening flash of lightning when death steals a loved one.  The torrential downpour of rain when you realize that your family is crumbling.  The dark, black cloud that hovers overhead when financial burdens cannot be shaken.  These storms of life can come without warning and shake the very foundation beneath our feet.
It's incredibly difficult, near impossibly really, to think that our pain will not last forever when we are found in the middle of such circumstances.  Pain is real...it really hurts.  It can take our breath away.  And it's hard to think that what seems like eternity is merely a moment in the eyes of the One who sees your pain and carries your grief.  Because, although fear can force us in on every side, we are not crushed by it.  Our pain perplexes us, but we are not in despair.  Persecution encamps us, but we are not abandoned.  Hard times strike us down, but we are never destroyed by them.  We have no reason to lose heart.  Every day we are being renewed.  And our (momentary) troubles are achieving something greater than we can imagine.  If you don't believe me, check out what my dear friend Paul once wrote in one of his letters. (2 Corinthians, chapter 4, to be exact.)
My little baby trusted me enough, through the stinging pain of her shot, to know that she was going to be fine.  She doesn't see it now, but later she will know that I allowed that brief amount of pain to come to her, so that she wouldn't receive a greater harm from a potential disease.  I never left her side.  I held her in my arms.  I comforted her with my words.  I assured her with my promise.
I am amazed at how my daughter, who is only half of a year old, taught me something incredible today about how God loves me.