It's Wednesday of Holy Week...Be Reminded that Jesus Loves You

As we walk closer towards the Cross, my mind is flooded with the pains of family, friends, and the Church around the world. 

So much hurt. So many different trials. 

Yesterday, Katherine fought her nap so hard. Her little body was exhausted, but she refused to give in. It was like an hour long wrestling match. A wrestling match that left me in tears and left Katherine finally giving in to sleep. She couldn't fight sleep any longer, and I couldn't fight keeping it together any longer. I asked God to please let her learn to sleep well, to take away whatever wakes her so often. And even in the midst of my prayer I had to fight off guilt. Guilt that told me I shouldn't let this sleep struggle get to me because there are much bigger things going on in the world. If this is the toughest thing my sweet Katherine has to deal with than I can only be grateful. I can be grateful, but I can also admit it's hard. 

I had to remind myself, even though people all around the globe are dealing with a variety of issues, in that moment Katherine's sleep struggle was what I was dealing with and it was hard. And it's okay for me to admit that. And my God wants me to cry out to Him. He doesn't want me to compare or convince myself that I shouldn't bother Him with such a petty thing.

He loves me.

This week reminds me that He cares. He cares about it all. 

Holy Week is such a sacred, special time for the people of the Cross. It reminds us of the Gospel. It brings us back to what our faith is all about. Holy Week invites us to steadfastly gaze into the eyes of our precious Savior and see the beautiful abundance of love and grace, mercy and compassion looking back at us. 

As our precious Savior journeyed closer to the Cross, He journeyed to the Father's heart in prayer. In prayer for His people, for us. He was gazing into a gruesome death, but still thought of us. Loved us. Cared for us. In those agonizing moments of waiting for the Cross, our Great High Priest interceded for us. 

"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do no ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.'"

-John 17 (ESV)

Jesus prayed for us before taking on our sins on the cross. He called us His own. And He prayed for the perseverance, the sanctification, the unity of His own, of the people of the Cross. And after He ascended, He continues to intercede for us. Our precious Savior conquered sin and death and sits enthroned in heaven. He sees. He knows. He hears. He cares.

He loves you.

Whatever your sorrow is, your sorrow will turn to joy. 
Whatever your pain is, your pain will be redeemed. 
Whatever your trial is, your trial will be used for God's glory and your good. 

Press on, brothers and sisters. 

This week reminds us that Jesus has gone before us and He walks with us. His finished work on the cross gives us the strength to carry our crosses. His defeat of sin and death gives us powerful freedom to live in grace, in holiness, in joy, in peace, in hope. And our hope in Him does not disappoint.  

His grace is sufficient and His faithfulness is sure. His presence is peace and His love is unending. 

You are not alone. You are deeply loved.

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with you. When you face tribulation in this world, He takes you by the hand and whispers into your heart that He has overcome the world. When you are wounded, He points to the cross and shows you His wounds that have healed you. When you are so very weary, He invites you to come and find rest in Him. And when you hold your sleep-fighting little one, He is holding you both and singing over you. 

May this Holy Week remind you of the simple, yet profound, truth that Jesus loves you.

Jesus. Loves. You.