Happy Easter everyone! I can’t believe it has been over four months since that terrifying night during Thanksgiving week, when my husband and I lived through the horrific auto accident that probably should have taken our lives. Since then, God has graciously provided a wealth of life lessons and nuggets of wisdom ~ Wisdom from a Wreck ~ that I hope have been a blessing to all of you. From those moments frozen in time as I lay waiting for someone to pull me from the wrecked car, all the way through the challenge of our slow-healing bones and aching bodies, God has not stopped speaking and saying, “Mary, I have a purpose in all of this!”
During these long months of recovery, God has reminded me time and time again that above and beyond everything else, God wants us to seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4) When I was trapped in the wrecked car, unable to move and barely able to breathe, He said “Seek Me. I’m here.” When I was lying flat on my back those first two months after the accident, He said “Seek Me. Be still.” As I now begin moving back into life coaching and ministry, I hear Him saying “Seek Me. I’ll guide.”
That one critically important nugget ~ Seek Me ~ reminded me of a story I shared in my 2011 Easter JoyNews newsletter after visiting Italy for the very first time. I thought perhaps a portion of that message might be a blessing to someone who needs to hear it this Easter.
Excerpt from Joy News Newsletter, April, 2011
As you can see from the photos below, Italy is a place of incredible beauty; rich in the arts as well as Christian heritage and history. Where do I begin to tell you about our adventure there? I could give you a “travel log” style recap of our trip, recounting all the interesting things we experienced throughout each leg of our journey. But what we saw and did was only a shadow of the things God spoke to my heart along the way…
…What did God speak to my heart in all of the picturesque and historic places we visited? What did He want to teach me through the magnificence and the ruins? What did He impress on me as I learned about famous artists like Michelangelo and Botticelli creating works of art dedicated to the life of Christ and God’s people? Perhaps some of the words I scribbled in my little prayer journal during the trip may explain it best.
“Lord, I can finally take some time now ~ out here under these massive ancient sculptures in this noisy, crowded piazza in Florence ~ sitting on steps of a building that probably dates back to the 13th century! People have come here from all over the world. For what ~ to see famous works of art? Michelangelo’s David, or Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and so many more, everywhere you turn ~ all depicting pagan gods and goddesses as well as the One true God! It’s amazing to me that after Jesus came, not only did people turn by the thousands to worship this Jesus ~ a poor carpenter ~ but all of history changed! Art went from a means of giving form and shape to the gods and goddesses of human imagination, to a way of honoring and worshiping You ~ the God of creation!
Lord, You changed everything. And you still do, for every person who chooses you! To the thousands of people here in this ancient city today and to every beating heart you say “Look! Don’t you see? All of these masterpieces were created to turn your eyes to Me. Seek Me! Find Me! Look past the images of saints and apostles, past the gilded gold and ornate decoration to the Person this art was created for! Me ~ your Savior!”
And Lord, as tens of thousands of people descend upon Rome to celebrate Easter, oh how I pray that they will look past the excitement and anticipation of celebrating Easter at the Vatican, and see YOU ~ the One who died for them ~ the One whose grave could not hold Him ~ the One who conquered sin and death and Who, once and for all, sits on the throne of Glory! Our only High Priest ~ our one mediator between God and man. The only Holy one! The One who changes lives, one man ~ one woman at a time.
Oh Lord – all over the world this week, as people celebrate, each in their own way with their own traditions, let us all look past the church walls, past the songs, past the liturgies and the customs ~ to YOU God ~ Who came to us in humility, as a simple Jewish carpenter. Even as you made your final entry into Jerusalem just a few short hours before your death, you rode into the city not on a chariot or a majestic white steed. You made your “triumphal entry” on a donkey ~ with none of the pomp and circumstance of an earthly king, but with all the majesty of a servant God! Why ~ to teach us humility? Yes, and to show us that for You it’s not about the external trappings of riches, splendor or power. It’s about internal transformation! If God came to us riding on the colt of a donkey, how dare we come to Him any other way than in humility – in simplicity ~ not in gold, silver and marble, but in simple, pure, holy awe of a mighty and glorious God!”
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zechariah 9:9 NIV)
There I was, in the “Eternal City”, completely awed by the beauty and majesty of the cathedrals, the famous works of art, and the wonder of ancient ruins. But I walked away hearing Jesus whisper to my heart, “Seek Me!”
Everything we use to remind us of God, whether a massively ornate cathedral or a tiny one-room church, a gold plated crucifix created by a famous artist or a simple wooden cross on my dresser, either points us to Him or distracts us from Him. We must let nothing ever get in the way of seeing Jesus! Nothing we create to remind us of Him can compare to God Himself! We, fallible humans, can come to depend so much on the things that remind us of God (good things ~ a breathtaking cathedral, a crucifix, great Christian music or yes, even our Bible) that we miss the One who these tangible signs represent! But if you close your eyes and listen, you will hear God’s “still, small voice” whispering, “Seek Me. Find Me.”
You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV)
I pray that each one of you have a Blessed Easter, and that in the midst of Easter services, Easter eggs, Easter hats, Easter outfits, the Easter Bunny and Easter candy, you are able to hear the voice of the Savior, calling out your name, saying, “Rejoice! I have risen! Seek me!”
I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will live…” (John 11:25-26 NIV)
Happy Easter to you all!
Mary Sorrentino
