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DEAR<\/strong> friends, my recent post Off Into the Night<\/em><\/a>\u00a0ignited a flurry of letters unlike anything in the past. I am so deeply grateful for the letters and notes of love, concern, and kindness that have been expressed from all over the world. You have reminded me that I am not speaking into a vacuum, that many of you have been and continue to be deeply affected by\u00a0The Now Word.\u00a0<\/em>Thanks be to God who uses all of us, even in our brokenness.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of you have thought that I am leaving ministry. However, in the email I sent out and the note on Facebook, they very clearly state that I am taking a “pause.” This year has been tumultuous in many respects. I have been stretched to my limits. \u00a0I am a bit burned out. I need to recalibrate. I need to put the brakes on the incredible pace of life I’m in. Like Jesus, I need to “go up the mountain” and take time alone with my Heavenly Father and let Him heal me as I expose the brokenness and wounds in my life that the pressure cooker of this year have revealed. I need to enter into a real and deep purification.<\/p>\n Normally I write to you through Advent and Christmas, but this year, I just need to take a break. I have the most incredible family, and I owe it to them more than anyone to gain my equilibrium. Like every other Christian family, we too are under attack. But already, the love we have for one another is showing itself stronger than death.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOT THE WIND NOR THE WAVES<\/p>\n And so, I have one last parting word that was on my heart two weeks ago, but I couldn’t find time to write. I need to now, because so many of you have expressed how, you too, are suffering the most intense trials. I am convinced that we have now entered perhaps the greatest trials the Church has ever faced. It is a purification of Christ’s Bride. That alone should give you hope because Jesus wants to make us beautiful, not leave us wallowing in dysfunction.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether it is the Great Storm of our times or the personal storms you are enduring (and they are becoming more and more linked), the temptation to let the winds and waves break your resolve and mine are intensifying.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. (Matt 14:22-24)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n What are the waves that are tossing you about right now? Do the winds of life seem to be totally against you, if not God himself (the wind is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit)? Instead of telling you right now to “live in the present moment”, to “just pray”, or to “offer it up”, etc. I simply want to acknowledge that the winds in your life are real to you, and the waves really are overwhelming. They may truly be humanly impossible to resolve.\u00a0<\/em>They may really have the capacity to capsize you, your marriage, your family, your job, your health, your security, etc. That’s how it appears to you right now, and you just need someone to tell you, yes, you are really suffering and you feel alone. Even God may seem to be nothing but a phantom in the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. \u201cIt is a ghost,\u201d they said, and they cried out in fear. (Matt 14:25-26)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Well, if there ever was one, is this not the moment of faith that both you and I are now facing? \u00a0How easy it is to believe when we feel consolation. But “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not<\/strong> seen.”\u00a0<\/em>[1]<\/sup><\/a>Hebrews 11:1<\/span><\/span>\n
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