Blessed Are

The Beatitudes

Onward are the poor in spirit. There is a woman in my church in Florida named Terri, who was paralyzed from the neck down in August, 2013. She was living an active life, and one day she got dizzy and fainted for no apparent reason, and when she woke up, she was lying on her kitchen floor and could not move. Terri had to wait there nearly two days before her co-workers started to worry and called for help.

Terri’s recovery was very difficult and she had to undergo of lot of emotional healing before she could get to a place where she felt blessed. In a recent blog post, she wrote,

“Although I couldn’t see it at the beginning, so much good has come from my injury. Writing this blog has changed the course of, and outlook on, my life. Where I felt completely worthless in the early days of my injury, I now feel confident and equipped to encourage others. Hard times are meant to strengthen our faith.”

Terri is a beautiful example of a woman moving onward through such a trial, and you can be inspired by her blog posts here. When you read them, you will see for yourself : Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom in heaven.

Onward are those who mourn. When I think about my own periods of mourning, all of which I wrote about in my memoir, Stars Upside Down, I feel very differently about it now than I did when I was going through it. I can see my path even with enthusiasm that – although I would not wish to face the loss of another loved one, nor would I wish it on anyone – God has not only comforted and healed me through these trials, he has helped me to stand. He helped me to move onward to face life with enthusiasm and courage.

I think of my friend Anna, who lost her 12-year old son, Jack, eight years ago. She would not have wished for this loss and would not wish it on anyone. But God has comforted her, and strengthened her, and she is now keeping up with a charming toddler after an unexpected pregnancy at age 46. How kind God is. You can read about her story on An Inch of Gray or read her wonderful book, Rare Bird to see the power with which God has been working in her life even through her grief.

I think of Guy Hammond, who started the ministry Strength in Weakness. He lived an active homosexual lifestyle until he was 24 years old, when he became a Christian. He married a woman named Kathy and they had 27 years together before she died from a brain tumor at the end of last year. If you see his video here, you will see just how much he is still in mourning.

He said, “Grief is a bear… I have been just so sad. You just happened to interview the saddest and loneliest man you’ve ever met. I am really struggling through life. ”

But you also see his strength. You see how he’s getting up again – how he’s moving onward. And this inspires us to wish deeply for his comfort, to be enthusiastic for his victory, anticipating the day not only when he will be comforted on earth, but also when he will be reunited with his best friend Kathy, and his Lord in heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Onward are the meek. I think of my friend Marjorie, who lives here in France. When her children were younger, they hosted a birthday party, and her son invited a friend from school. The child was disobedient and wild and did not respect the rules Marjorie had set out for the kids, particularly in regards to using the trampoline. He broke his arm, and instead of the parents apologizing for their son’s behavior, they decided to sue my friend.

Marjorie was angry at the unfairness of it, but she decided not to give herself over to bitterness. She did not tell the other mothers in the school about the infamous behavior of this parent. She did not allow her son to shun the child. And although she needed to hire a lawyer, she trusted Jesus that his will be done. She moved onward and it’s so inspiring. What’s a small court case compared to the entire earth after all? Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Onward are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. I think of Sabrina in our Paris church, who lives in Normandy. She gets up at 5:30 every Sunday to drive to church in Paris so she can get there early and be ready for fellowship. She didn’t know God at all. She has five children from different husbands, and her lifestyle was more geared towards going to the clubs than it was attending Sunday service.

But there was Samuel who came back to church, looking to be restored after he had fallen away, and he had been dating Sabrina so he brought her. He was restored in the faith, but unfortunately only for a short time before he fell away again. Sabrina, however, stayed and became a Christian. In fact, she also reached out to Samuel’s ex-wife, Kelly, who also used to go to our church. Kelly came back to church and was restored in her faith. And Kelly brought Laurent, the man she had a civil contract with (not quite married but there is a legal agreement). And he became a Christian and was baptised at the end of December.

Sabrina’s faith inspires all of us. She’s zealous, would not miss church for anything even if she throws her back out or gets sick (both of which happened). Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Onward are the merciful. I think of Priscilla, who writes at Toddling Faith. Seven years ago, she lost her child and her parents on the same day when her mentally-ill brother murdered them. This is an excerpt from her post entitled, Forgiveness.

As time went by my prayers started to change. As my understanding of the Gospel and Christ’s sacrifice deepened, forgiveness became possible. Instead of “God help me to forgive”, I started to pray, “Father, what does forgiveness look like?”

Priscilla decided to forgive her brother, though it was not easy. If you read her blog, you can see that she still struggles, but her walk onward honors God. I can imagine Jesus standing at the right hand of God, like he did with Stephen, amazed at her faith expressing itself through an abundance of mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Onward are the pure in heart. I think of Orion’s mother. Orion is a brother in our church here in Paris, who is Chinese. His parents are Buddhist and, until a couple years ago, their house was filled with Buddhist shrines, and his mother burned incense to them every day. He had talked to her about Jesus, but she never listened until one day when she was complaining to Orion about the problems she had in her life, and his response was : “Maybe you should get rid of all the idols. That’s what’s causing your unhappiness.”

The same day, his mother threw them all out. She studied the Bible for a couple of months with her son, his wife, and another brother in the church whose words they translated for her. Here was a woman who was over 80 years old, half deaf, could only speak Cantonese though she lived all her adult life in Paris, and she made the decision to get baptized. She was willing, on the advice of her son, to give up her idols and live for Jesus. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Onward are the peacemakers. I think of Jason and Delphine who go to our church. Jason is Australian, Delphine is French. Until a year ago, they lived in London and were part of our church there. They decided to come with their four boys to live in France where Delphine’s family was. Recently, Jason did the welcome message in church (translated by his wife) and shared that they moved to a new house and were very excited about the new location.

Not long after they moved in, a neighbor came to complain about the noise and said he was not the only one who was made unhappy by it. Jason said his first reaction was to start spouting all the French laws that would protect their right to make noise in their own home within reasonable hours. They did, after all, have four boys.

Instead of reacting on his first impulse, he and his wife decided to throw a huge party for the entire block. So this family invited all their neighbors to meet them and their boys (who dressed up and walked around with plates of appetisers). And now they have built several meaningful relationships in the community and have also been able to share their faith. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Onward are the persecuted. I think of Nalini. I’ve written about her here in one of my posts on our trip to India. She lives in Chennai and is only a little older than me. When she was 18 years old, Nalini, who was Hindu from the Brahmin caste, decided to become a Christian.

Her parents and her brothers were furious, and they persecuted her heavily. Her brothers dragged her out of church by her hair and beat her in front of everyone. But the culture did not allow any of the brothers and sisters in the church to intervene. They locked her in her room for an entire month, forgetting, by the grace of God, that she had a Bible in there. It only served to strengthen her faith.

Nalini is still faithful today, with her husband who was also a former Hindu of the Brahmin caste, and they have been strong leaders in the church and in for the charitable organization, HOPE worldwide for almost 40 years. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And what about you, friends? Have you been poor in spirit? Are you mourning? Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? Do you feel meek?? Have you been called to show mercy, to be pure in heart, to be a peacemaker? Are you persecuted?

Sometimes we feel oppressed, as if we were so small and insignificant. Sometimes we feel ineffective. Sometimes we feel like a failure. But this is not how God views us. He will guide us n the straight path. We can be enthusiastic as he leads us onward.

We are blessed.