Glory to Glory

As I look back over my journal from this summer, I'm reminded of the vastness of our Father. His infinity and wisdom. His love and goodness. His patience and kindness. In the midst of trials and confusion, I wasn't always able to see what He was doing. And even now I still wonder. But He has allowed me to see a picture of the past three months, and I'm amazed.

"They said to Him, 'Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.' But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. . . whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many'." Mark 10:38-39, 43-45

When Jesus asks, are you able to drink the cup that I drink, what do you think He meant? In the Garden of Gethsemane He asks, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).

That cup, I think, is the cup of His blood, the cup of ultimate sacrifice. The disciples didn't understand. They wanted to experience Jesus' glory, but they had no idea what it would take to get there. They had no idea the kind of pain and suffering that comes with drinking from that cup.

It was a cup of crushing and pressing, but through it came new wine and new life.

God stripped me of so much this summer, but it forced me to rely completely on Him. When I had nothing, I still had everything. When I poured myself out day after day, He continued to refill me. He never left. My dreams and hopes had to die, along with parts of me. It was refining through fire, bringing forth gold. Even in the misery, even when I didn't understand, I had to trust. I had to believe that He is always good.