Dry Bones

We have a family of cardinals in our yard.  I have yet to see the babies but Denny has seen them hopping around on the ground.  I love cardinals.  I love how bright they are against the lush green of the trees.  Just this morning I was sitting at the kitchen table reading my Bible when I looked up through the windows to the top of the trees.  There I saw a beautiful cardinal, sitting in the tree as it waved in the wind.  Cardinals became precious to me after my friend Brittany used them to depict Lucas and Lorelei in a portrait she painted.  That portrait sits in a place of honor on our mantle.  I love that God had a family of cardinals find their home in our yard, the yard that we envisioned Lucas, Lorelei and Trey playing in.  Ever since I received that amazing painting from Brittany, I think of my babies when I see cardinals, especially when I see two playing with eachother. 

There’s a song called “Resurrecting” by Elevation Worship that we have been singing in church lately.  The bridge always speaks to me.  It says “By Your Spirit I will rise from the ashes of defeat.  The resurrecting King is resurrecting me.  In Your name I come alive to declare Your victory.  The resurrecting King is resurrecting me.”  This is what God is doing in me. I am rising from the ashes of defeat.  I love the picture of my resurrecting King resurrecting me.  In His name I have come alive.  I have a new passion to declare His victory. 

I recently met with a friend who was struggling with loss.  She is sitting in the pain that I was sitting in only a few months ago.  She was filled with despair and I was filled with hope and passion.  I couldn’t help but overflow with how God had gotten us through this experience.  I shared what we had done to celebrate the lives of Lucas and Lorelei and in celebrating we found joy again. I remember her response to one of my suggestions.  She tearfully said “I’m not there yet”.  I felt terrible.  How could I, who had felt her pain, overstep my boundaries and push her to what she is not ready to do? I failed to meet her where she was.  I deeply wanted to encourage her and show her that there is life after the death of a child (or two in my case).  I wanted to show her the hope we have in Christ.  I’m afraid that my passion rolled over her like a bulldozer. 

Every morning I pray for Trey.  I also pray for Lucas and Lorelei- not that they need prayer because they are in Heaven where things are perfect.  I pray for the ministry that Lucas and Lorelei inspired.  I pray that I will have the words to say to those that are hurting both in my blog and in person.  I pray that my passion will be reined in appropriately so that it can help and not hinder the power of the story God has given me to tell.  God has awakened a passion in me, one that bursts out of me.  I’m fueled by it.  I’m energized by it. 

One of my favorite passages of scripture since losing the twins illustrates this perfectly.  It’s a long one but stick with me.  It is powerful.  Ezekial 37:1-13

The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.  He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor.  They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.  They he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” 

“O Sovereign Lord,”  I replied, “You alone know the answer to that.”

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look!  I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!  I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin.  I will put breath into you and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

So I spoke this message, just as he told me.  Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley.  The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.  Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones.  Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man.  Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds!  Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies.  They all came to life and stood up on their feet- a great army.

They he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel.  They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones--- all hope is gone.  Our nation is finished.’  Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again.  Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.  When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am Lord.  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land.  Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said.  Yes, the Lord has spoken.” 

Did you picture this story in your mind’s eye?  Really picture it.  This is a CRAZY story!  A valley of dry bones- piles of them.  Ezekiel saw nothing but death and destruction.  The Lord is present with Ezekiel and tells him to speak life into the bones, and he does, out of obedience.  Deep down he probably thought it was crazy too. But his obedience and the words of his mouth meant life to those bones.   Then there was an army of skeletons.  The Lord says to speak breath into the dry bones. Again, he is obedient.  Then he speaks HOPE into those beings.  He speaks promises that the Lord is making to his people. 

We might be facing death and destruction in our lives.  That could be anything: mental illness, death of a loved one, a failed marriage, the death of a dream- those are dry bones.  But God calls us to obey when it seems crazy.  He calls us to speak life into the dry bones of our lives- and the lives of others.

When I saw the cardinal high up in the tree this morning, I couldn’t get outside fast enough.  I ran out to the porch and stood far below the treetops.  It was my own little valley.  I thought of this passage and how God whispers to his people to speak life into the dry bones.  How he uses the obedient to help Him resurrect the ashes of defeat into His victory.  I thought about how Lucas and Lorelei are my little cardinals of inspiration.  I pictured God whispering to my little cardinal up high in the treetops, “speak life into your mama so she can speak life into other mamas”.  I had a dream to write long before they came along.  When I lost them, I finally allowed myself to pursue that dream.  Through their loss, God can use me to speak life into others.  That is where I have found my hope and my passion.