For the Love of Sunday

I love Sundays.  I especially love Sunday in my home; it just feels like Christmas day to me - festive and a joy-filled day!  In my home, Sunday represents a day that the family spends together loving each other and loving on the Lord.  For the longest time, my family was not able to worship together because we never had nursing coverage for Malachi during the day on Sunday and it’s too much of a challenge to take Malachi to church every Sunday.  So, Maurice and Joshua would attend the early (7:30am) service at church Sunday morning, while I cared for Malachi.  Once they returned home, I would go to the 11am worship service at church.  Currently, we have weekend day coverage, so technically, we could worship together as a family, however, Maurice and Joshua have become rather fond of the 7:30am service and I of the 11am service.  Additionally, I really like the image of my men-folk attending church together; it strengthens their father-son bond. Sunday morning, everyone in my household is preparing their body, mind and spirit for church.  Maurice is in the shower singing in his best baritone voice, what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms.... It’s off-key and Josh and I have a good laugh, but I am happy that my husband is not ashamed to joyfully express his love for God.  Joshua is holed up in his bedroom working diligently on tying his tie by himself.  And Malachi is eager to have his daily devotion read to him and his Veggie Tale movie complete so that he can get to the Disney movie of his liking.  

Sunday morning promises the aroma of bacon frying and stacks of fresh blueberry or apple-cinnamon pancakes doused in pure maple syrup for breakfast.  Some mornings, Maurice will peel white potatoes and chop onions and make hash browns with scrambled eggs and cheese – and a big ole’ glass of orange juice to wash it all down.  YUM!  

Sunday morning, we are all dressed in our Sunday best – our best clothes, our best attitude and our best energy for God. Sundays at church is always an awesome worship experience!  The music ministers deep in my soul. Prayers are poetic and heart-felt. Church just feels like a family reunion every Sunday!  Some folks I see from week-to-week, but we hug and kiss like we haven’t seen one another in months.  Other folks I may not see every week, so we play mini-catch-up at church.  The preached word is always relevant, inspiring, powerful and personal. Even if I came to church low, I leave out on a holy high!  And returning home from church feels like a continuous beat –smooth, steady and uninterrupted.  Sunday afternoon in my home is relaxing.  My men-folk are HUGE football fans, so football is on every TV in our home.  And football “atmosphere” is in full force too!  We have donned our church attire and traded it in for sweats and football jerseys.  There is lots of hoopin’ and hollerin’ and chips and pretzels amidst the cheers coming from the television.  And in between, I am digesting bits and pieces of the sermon or Maurice may be humming a song he heard the choir sing.  Church is physically over, but God remains in  the spirit of my family.  Maurice and I often quiz one another at some point in the day – “How was church?” he says, or I may ask him, “What did pastor preach on today?”  We attend the same church, but often the preached word is different for each service.  I love Sunday in my home because it’s the one time during the week when the prepared meal feels like a holiday feast.  During the work week, we have to be quick and creative with the meals we prepare because everyone is on a crazy schedule.  But Sunday dinner is different – it’s special because it is prepared with special love and care.  The juicy, flavorful, tender, oven-roasted chicken tastes like love. Homemade macaroni and cheese prepared to perfection.  And crisp, buttery asparagus is so divine! Just one example of a typical Sunday dinner at my house. Sunday in my home is like no other day of the week; Sunday is in a league of its own.  In my home, Sunday is a day of rest.  We are resting from working and worrying; we are resting from cleaning and complaining.  We are honoring the fact that even God Himself rested on the seventh day from all of His work of creation.  We are honoring His command to rest and honor Him.  I love Sundays in my home because it sets the tone for the remainder of the week.  We are entering the week fully charged with rest; fully charged with full bellies and renewed spirits; fully charged with the embrace of a loving family; fully charged with His promise never to leave nor forsake us.

The best way I know how to thank God for Sunday and Sunday at my home is to honor Him with this song of praise and thanksgiving:

 

Bless the Lord, oh my soul

And all that is within me,

Bless His holy name.

Psalm 103

QUESTION OF THE DAY:  What do you love about Sunday?

Blessed Assurance- written by Maurice Chapman

There was a song we sang in church when I was younger called Blessed Assurance, perhaps you know it. http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Blessed_Assurance/   It’s an upbeat song that declares,

 “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, Heir of salvation, purchased of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood”.  The words I could always sing without reading the words were, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the daylong”. 

I must admit, I never really appreciated or understood what those words meant until I lived a little longer…

As many of you well know, in 1999, our youngest son, Malachi, was diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA,) Type 1.  We were informed that SMA is the leading cause of death for children under the age of two from a genetic disorder.  The most optimistic prognosis for Malachi was about 2-3 years!  But, his quality of life would be severely hindered; he would never walk, talk or move on his own, they said.  He would never live without his ventilator, which is essentially life support for him.  The doctors were vague enough to say that with new technology, we may have to write history if Malachi were to survive.  My wife, Dena rolled up her sleeves and led the charge to learn the clinical skills to manage Malachi’s care and she made sure that I and all of Malachi’s care providers not only learned his care too, but also honored the standard of care she put in place.

We were blessed with devoted nurses in the hospital.  We were encouraged by the outpouring of love and support from our faith community, as friends and family learned to care for Malachi.   Some folks prepared meals for us, while others offered to spend time with Joshua, our oldest child.  But for those first two years, Dena and I went through an extremely dark, scary and lonely journey of uncertainty, fear and grief.  Emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and mentally, we were preparing ourselves to lose a child!  We were never given permission to dream of a positive future for our youngest son, and that hurt like hell!

The initial years at home with Malachi were very difficult on us as a family, and especially for Dena and me as a couple.  Skilled high-tech private duty nursing was (and still is) sparse.  The complexity of Malachi’s case intimidated many nurses, and we had to adjust to strangers in your home as frequently as they were.  The truth is that many nights we had no nurse, so I would stay up until 2AM, and then Dena would stay up until 7AM when a nurse arrived and then, I would go to work – exhausted!  During my “shift” of caring for Malachi, I would often fall asleep.

One night on my shift, I had a dream.  I dreamt that Malachi had come off the ventilator and the alarms did not sound- or I slept through them...   In the dream, I “woke up” and ran into Mal’s room and realized that his trach site was healed, and he was off of the vent!  Well, the shock of the dream awakened me, and I checked on Mal and everything was fine.  I drifted back to sleep on the sofa when this time I heard a voice.  It was a clear voice, but I was unable to determine who it was speaking to me.  The message was profound, prophetic and pronounced… “Malachi is going to be fine.  He’ll be here a while. You must take care of yourself and each other.  Don’t worry about Malachi.”

Okay, you have my attention now.  I sat up on the sofa and thought about my dream.  It was with great apprehension that I shared my dream with Dena, because I didn’t want her to scoff at me nor did I want to “jinx” my dream. 

More than ten years later, I can reflect on that dream and acknowledge with unabated certainty that God spoke hope into my spirit.  He literally entered my consciousness to offer a “Blessed Assurance” of our miraculous future with Malachi (Messenger of God) Maurice Chapman.  Our family is so much richer today as a result of the “echoes of mercy and whispers of love”. 

·         I have learned that it is important to pray to God for our needs, and to thank Him for His many blessings, but it is more important to be still and listen.  Despite the promise that was whispered in my ear, I had my doubts and fears. Yet, I NEVER dreamed of Malachi becoming a teenager!

·         I have witnessed adversity making me stronger and strengthening my marriage, but we both struggled with the discomfort of stress, fatigue and doubt.  We just never quit!  Today we are breathing in the joy, hope and strength of one another’s love.

·         I have learned to take a moment to be grateful for what is divine, true and pure.  We live in the midst of a miracle every day!

I have learned to strive to live by Philippians 4:8-9 which states,

” 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Truly, I know the meaning of “Blessed Assurance”.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Francis J. Crosby

This is my story, this is my song!!!

Question of the Day: What blessed assurance has God shown you?  What can you dream about that you couldn't before?