Oh, my dear friends — so many have written or called this week to ask how we feel as the oil moves closer to Pensacola Beach. Many, many answers. Depressed. Grieving. Angry. Hopeful???
It has been a rough week in the ongoing pursuit of the ever-elusive mother-and-wife-of-the-year-award. Not only have I blown it pretty big time with my husband and children, but I have been aching with the pains of a friend’s illness and the sorrow of hearing the latest oil scuttlebutt. It is heavy stuff. So where do I go? Many places, but one place that centers me is Heidelberg, question #1. It’s not magic, nor a mantra. These words proclaim the story I believe. Listen to them, say them, fill in the blanks for where they meet you with the story of God’s sovereign grace in your broken world.
What is your only comfort in life and in death:
My only comfort in life and in death is that I (my friend, our beach) am not my own, but belong body and soul to my faithful savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins (every unkind word spoken, every unkind thought thunk) with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head (not a drop of oil can touch our land??) without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things (broken bodies, broken relationships??) work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
So, how am I with the oil? Ready. We head to the beach this afternoon for our yearly summer week there. I will sit high above, watching from the balcony, and instead of just searching for signs of oil, I will search for signs of hope. Hope for restoration. Hope for shalom. Because I believe it is really, really true.
