Remebering Haman-hardship to Purim-celebration

     Well, our Bible study just wrapped up for the year as we finished with the wonderful book of Esther.  What a story in which God used a Jewish exile named Mordecai and his niece, an orphan named Esther (who was, remarkably, married to the Persian King Ahasuerus--long story) to thwart the wicked plan of an evil Persian commander named Haman.  Haman convinced the king to issue an irrevocable order to allow the killing of every single Jew in the vast Persian empire.           And it's incredible, but out of all that fear and despair and seeming hopelessness, when it appeared as if the Jewish race would be utterly wiped out, God used Esther "for such a time as this" to courageously intercede and save her people from annihilation. And thus, out of the most potentially horrific of circumstances comes one of the most joyous of Jewish celebrations--the Festival of Purim.
   That's a drastically abbreviated version of the book of Esther--but if you haven't read it, go find Esther in the Old Testament!  I'm telling you, the Bible is filled with amazing stories of real people, just like you and me. Ordinary folks just living their regular old lives...but in the midst of their day-by-day living, God uses them in extraordinary ways. Because that's the kind of God He is.
     But I digress...something new and different.
    Here's what I was thinking about--isn't it remarkable how God takes the very things in our lives that seem so discouraging or disastrous or disappointing and uses them in ways that unexpectedly and ultimately bring hope and joy and blessing?  It may take a while.  A long while.  But, boy, God uses those hardest, darkest of places in our lives in ways we cannot possibly see or imagine at the time.  Perhaps, just perhaps, that frightening or seemingly impossible thing in your life right now might one day be your Purim--when you'll be able to look back and rejoice at what the Lord incredibly did...how He used, that most challenging or frustrating or even bewildering of times in your life for remarkable good.
     I was reminded of this again, because I just saw two pictures that took me back.  One was of Mary Norris and Matt when they rushed to be with us after Janie's accident.  Janie lay in a coma-- unconscious and unresponsive--and had developed a high fever and infection that required us all to don hazmat-like suits to go into the ICU to be with her.  But even then, God gave us the gift of His presence and, incredibly, hope--

     We had our thumbs up because we were waiting and praying...waiting and praying....that Janie would somehow, someday awaken and give the doctor's the "thumbs up" in response to their efforts every hour, round the clock, to awaken her.  The nurses and doctors would yell each time:  "Janie wake up!  Janie wake up!  If you can hear me, give me a thumbs up!"  Day after day, night after night, nothing.  Oh such painful waiting.  She never woke up...until one glorious day, nearly two weeks later, those eyelids flickered and there was the tiniest, almost imperceptive movement of her left thumb.  Oh thank You Lord!   This picture just brought it all back--the waiting and praying and hoping and fighting constant dread and fear with faith.
     And then, this picture from just a few weeks back when Mary Norris and Matt came through Chapel Hill, and a couple of us got together for a little dinner and dessert at their favorite spot--"The Yogurt Pump."   A good study break for Janie...and a good reminder of God's faithfulness for us--

     God took a terribly dark and scary time in our lives...and brought unimaginable blessing out of it.  Many folks came to know Jesus as their Savior through all this.  We came to know trust and gratitude in ways we couldn't have imagined.  And through it all, God was mightily glorified.
     I say all this simply to remind you--if you are in the midst of that hard, tough place of waiting or longing or suffering or struggling, God is still on His throne.  He is working and moving in ways you may see and cannot imagine.
     And sometimes, you simply have to trust Him in the darkness.  Because He will always, always, always somehow or other, bring light out of that darkness.  He's promised.  "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."  (John 1:4-5)
     Might you see the Light of the World in the midst of your darkness...and trust.  He may, even now, be turning your Haman-like hardship into a Purim-like celebration.
     To God be the glory.