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In 2010, Hannah Jaco Justice was born. Her conception was a surprise and we didn't find out we were pregnant until 8 weeks in.
In 2012, Hope Avery Justice was born. Her conception was a surprise and we didn't find out we were pregnant until 6 weeks in.
In 2013, we hoped and waited and prayed for a surprise. And hoped...and waited...and prayed.
These are the resources that gave me comfort and peace during the hoping and waiting and praying.
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The best obedience of my hands dares not appear before Thy throne, but faith can answer Thy demands by pleading what the Son has done.
-Hymn by Issac Watts
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He restores double to those who trust Him amidst the suffering:
And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (Job 42:10 ESV)
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. (Isaiah 61:7 ESV)
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. (Zechariah 9:12 ESV)
Lord I need you, Oh I need you, every hour I need you.
-Chris Tomlin
Father, to thee I look in all my sorrows.
-Hymn
Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
1 Timothy 4:4, 5, 7, 8
That it is my duty, out of a sense of emptiness, to go to Christ, posses, enjoy his fullness as mine...To this end, O God, do thou establish me in Christ, settle me, give me a being there, assure me with certainty that all this is mine, for this only will fill my heart with joy and peace.
-Valley of Vision
Matt Chandler on Luke Chapter 19:
Now most of us, because we’re Bible Belt men and women, don’t have the courage or the eternal security to go, “Forget You altogether, Jesus,” and run. We don’t become atheists and agnostics. Because we’ve been taught since we were born that there’s hell and we really don’t want to go there. So we can’t just go, “Forget it. I’m out.” So this authority game plays out a little different among Evangelicals. We don’t want to tell Jesus He has no authority; we just want to redefine what His authority is:
1. Jesus wants me to be happy. He wouldn’t ask that of me.
2. Somehow, God requiring you to be obedient to what He commanded you to do in Scripture is somehow ungracious and unmerciful. The new mercy and the new grace is you doing whatever you want and God dealing with it.
3. You believe that whatever God has called you to or from is somehow not that big of a deal, so obedience to it isn’t that big of an issue.
- You felt the pressure of the Lord saying, “Do this,” and you go, “I just don’t think I can do that. So at that moment, there are two things that begin to happen. The first thing is we’ve said no to the Holy Spirit, which is going to begin to deaden our ability to hear and respond to Him. Not only will our no begin to deaden our ability to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit, but we will then try to make up for it in other areas.
- You have been lead by the Holy Spirit that you need to deal with something, but then it becomes easier to not deal with it. And then we begin to feel guilt about that, so we begin trying to add it into other places. It’s not a scale. It doesn’t work that way.
- Obedience to Jesus Christ lines us up with how He created things to be and increases our joy, even in our sadness, even in our difficulty, even in pain, even in sorrow.
- Disobedience where we somehow try to alleviate the guilt of that by increasing spiritual activity in another place just insures that that increased spiritual activity is futile. Because anything God would lead you to do out of it, you’ve already proven that you have no intention of doing. So you saying, “I’m not going to do this, but I am going to spend some time in the Word or I am going to tithe a little more,” all you’ve done is negated the spiritual power of whatever you decided to act. So now you’re back on the treadmill. You’re running but not going anywhere.
- And those of you who think you’ve perpetually been in the desert for fifteen years, I think that if you might stop and pray and bring some people in on it, what you might find out is that ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, God said “Go left,” and you said, “I can’t do that, but what I will do is go right harder than I would have ever gone left.” And then for some reason, prayer has dried up in your life, affection for God has dried up in your life, the ability to risk has dried up in your life and you think, “Oh, why does God have me in the desert?” when God’s going, “I don’t have you there. You walked out there. I was actually trying to take you to a pool of water of which you can’t imagine the crispness, clarity and depth. And you decided that sand was better. That’s you, not Me.”
1 Corinthians 6:12
God has seemed sensibly near, in such a supporting and comfortable manner that I think I have never experienced the like . . . Request earnestly of the Lord that I may never . . . faint under this his severe stroke . . . O I am afraid I shall conduct myself so as to bring dishonour on . . . the religion which I profess.
-Ester Burr, Jonathan Edward's daughter
It was during this time that I was led quite providentially [to the truth of living by faith in future grace, and] . . . God's grace and the power of His Spirit . . . [opened] a door in my heart through which I could behold the wondrous beauty of God in Christ Jesus. This beauty has helped me better apprehend the purpose for which I was created: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever! Through it all, God's grace has sustained me; and even more, has strengthened me that I might joyfully "lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." This joy has permeated my heart and mind and has overflowed onto my husband, daughters, clients, and church...
-John Piper (about a pastor who wrote into him)
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread,
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
-Hymn by William Cowper
I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
Psalm 40
Piper on Romans 4:
Without the birth of Isaac, the promise to Abraham will have failed. But Isaac does not exist, and humanly cannot exist. His Father is ninety-nine years old. His mother is ninety and barren all her life. Human works and resources have been tried: a concubine named Hagar and a son named Ishmael. But God says, No. The promise will be fulfilled and guaranteed not by my cooperation with your human resources, but by my sovereign grace to do the humanly impossible.
Isaac was born by a miracle of the Spirit; you are born by a miracle of the Spirit. He was brought forth from deadness; you are brought forth from deadness. His faith was called into being out of nothing; your faith is called into being out of nothing. That is the meaning of grace. And that is why grace guarantees the promise. It does what human resources cannot do.
When you trust God to fulfill his promises to you—to work everything together for your good (Romans 8:28), to be with you to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), to help you and strengthen you and uphold you (Isaiah 41:10), to meet all your needs (Philippians 4:19), and to bring you safely to heaven (Philippians 1:6)—when you really trust him for all this and more, it will profoundly affect the kinds of sacrifices you make for him and the gospel in this life. You won't be taken up with security and comforts and treasures. You will seek the kingdom and take risks in the cause of love - and that will make the glory of God shine all the more brightly (Matthew 5:16).
Christ died for our sins and fulfilled a perfect righteousness;
we saw it and believed;
we were justified by this faith; the righteousness of Christ was imputed to us;
the enmity between God and us was taken away and there was peace;
we entered through that peace into a sphere and reign of grace where the infinite power of God no longer works against us, but for us, so that the promise is guaranteed - grace will reign unto eternal life (Romans 5:21), the justified will be glorified (Romans 8:30) and therefore
"we exult in the hope of the glory of God."
-John Piper on Romans
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19
-John Piper's 3rd favorite prayer in scripture
We don't just DO SIN. We ARE SINNERS. We are of Adam. The gospel is designed to free us from despair. Most sin in the world, after the awaking of conscience, is birthed from the despair of never being good enough. The gospel is that CHRIST is good enough. The issue of being saved is to REST in Him.
-John Piper on Romans 6
Prone to wander, oh I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
-Hymn
If this be so, our God whom we serve IS ABLE to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and HE WILL deliver us out of your hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known to you, O king, that we WILL NOT serve your gods (control, diet, exercise) or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:17, 18
Piper on Romans 6:
1) In Christ – that is, in our union with Christ that God established, according to verse 5 – we are dead to sin, meaning this: In our truest position and our truest identity we are completely and finally dead to sin – both its guilt and its power. This is decisive, unrepeatable, and unchangeable. This is the foundation for all our warfare against sin, and all our progress in holiness.
2) The Christian life is an already and a not-yet experience of this sinless position and identity in union with Christ. What happened to Christ Jesus historically and finally and unchangeably – and to us in him – is applied to us not all at once in its fullness, but some now completely, and some now progressively, and all fully in the age to come. We are already fully forgiven and acquitted and declared righteous and justified in our union with Christ by faith alone. And we are already delivered from the slavery to sin, that is, from the power of sin as the defining direction of our lives. And we are already able by faith to grow more and more triumphant over sin in our daily life.
But we are not yet perfected in our daily, earthly experience. We must fight the fight of faith and become in experience, by faith, what we are perfectly in our union with Christ. Paul put it like this in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." You see the already and not yet. Christ has laid hold of Paul for perfection and everlasting blessing. That secures Paul. Now Paul confirms that great work of God in Christ by laying hold of that for which he was laid hold of by Christ.
By God's doing you are in Christ Jesus." Literally, "From him you are in Christ Jesus." He creates the union by his grace. We embrace it and experience it by faith (Galatians 2:20). If you are in Christ, by God's doing, Christ becomes for you "wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." To become who we are in Christ is to believe these things. Believe that because you are in Christ all your needs will be met. Believe that because you are in Christ you will never be separated from the unfailing love of God.
-John Piper
And don’t miss this: sometimes what God is preparing you for is mainly himself. As God says in Acts 9:15, Paul is “a chosen instrument of mine.” Not every bad thing works out with some amazing silver lining. (“Oh, I thought it was bad that I didn’t get in to med school at UNC, so I went to Elon. But that’s where I met my wife!”) God does often use our bad circumstances for some specific good, but it may be that God simply wants to prepare you for himself. He wants to strip you of your idols, to purify your heart, to bring you to the place where you treasure and trust him above all. Because what God is doing in you is just as significant as what he is doing through you.
-JD Greear
As the Lead Pastor, I thought I would briefly share a few things that would delight my heart to see. In other words, here are a few ways that I would deem my ministry a "success" as a Pastor. If my people were: seeking and enjoying Jesus, were operating Biblically within marriage, demonstrating and declaring the Gospel in their homes to their children, living on mission in their community groups, suffering with hope, making disciples, impacting their neighborhoods, being set free from bondage, able to defend their faith, and generous with everything God has given them to steward.
-Ryan Carson
So how do you fight and win this battle? You can see already, I hope, that the battle is not a surface battle as if you could just say no to a list of unrighteous acts. The battle is far deeper than that. It goes beneath acts to desires. And it goes beneath desires to the power of sin. And it goes beneath the power of sin to union with Christ. And it goes beneath union with Christ to what Christ did in history on the cross for us, and what happened to us in him.And the big issue is not just what acts you do or don't do or what desires you give in to and which you don't. The big issue is Who is king? Who reigns? That is the issue as you leave now: Who is your King? Who reigns in your life? Who are you submitting to? Sin or God?
John Piper on Romans 6:11-14
But you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.
Psalm 102: 27-28
O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 20:12, 15, 17, 21
...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12, 13
The delay in your answer has been just as much, if not more of a fulfillment of my prayer and hearts desire as the fulfillment...when it comes.
-Streams of the Desert
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 128
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 113
7 barren women of the Bible:
Sarah
Rebekah
Rachel
Samson's mother
Hannah
Michal
Elizabeth
The Nature of Barrenness in the Hebrew Bible by Joel Baden, PhD Yale Univerity