the brew*crew adventure

Hanukkah is a season of miracles. It's a memorial of God's redemption and salvation. Here's an excerpt of an article that I read recently, which so beautifully enunciates what we've found to be true as we've begun to study, understand and celebrate the Biblical Feasts of Adonai. As we remember the great miracles of the past that happened there, we are encouraged to trust Him for the miracles that we need, or hope for, now... and in days to come. It is a fun time of worship, remembrance and expectation.

When God designed the world, He designed a cycle of seasons, focusing on the planting, tending and finally the reaping of crops (later, He designed a cycle of feasts to celebrate the various key times in this cycle of seasons). With exquisite creativity He designed each season, and even every nuance of each season, to be a physical picture of the spiritual world, with each season reflecting various spiritual principles. Just as surely as spring is the season of natural rebirth and growth, winter is the season of miracles!

Hanukkah is the winter festival. Nothing grows "naturally" in winter. The season of winter, after all the crops have been gathered and the fields lie dormant and bare, is a season of austerity; a time when the ground becomes hard, cold and unyielding. The landscape in winter is bleak and barren, and the land produces nothing. Through winter seasons we depend totally on our Creator to sustain us. This is the season of Hanukkah, the season when the great miracle of restoration occurred in the time of the Maccabees. This is the season of miracles!

As winter descends on earth, it is the time to open our hearts in anticipation of miracles of restoration in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. It’s a time to draw ever nearer to the "Ner Tamid" (Hebrew for "eternal flame") that brings warmth and light to the world in a dark season. That eternal flame is Yeshua HaMashiach. Yeshua said in John 8:12 - "I am the Light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light which gives life". He refers to Himself as "the Light" again in John 12:35.

Those of us who have the Ner Tamid of Yeshua burning in our hearts can expect to experience miracles during Hanukkah! Yeshua tells us in John 14:12 and 13: "Yes indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. In fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son." Hanukkah is the time to pray for the restoration of your hope and the miraculous resolution of hopeless situations. The season of Hanukkah is the time for miracles!

~ Season of Miracles

I am delighted to be able to tell you all that this year... during this Season of Miracles, we have a very special Hanukkah miracle of our own to share. I had thought to wait on telling this, but I'm terrible about waiting... and it just seems like the right time to tell it, with this lovely, quiet season of remembrance and great expectation upon us.

As I'd mentioned the other day, we are remembering the life of our baby Judah as we enter into this Hanukkah season~ the time when he/she would have been born. And so, I've anticipated that it would be a somewhat sad time for me, for us... this year especially. And yet, our Lord has blessed me with such peace and joy really, a relinquishing of everything- all my expectations- to completely trusting in Him... an acceptance of His timing, in all things, and overall a deeper appreciation of His sovereignty in my life. This is how I was feeling, thoughts that I'd been mulling over, when I received a letter (a real, snail-mail on paper letter!) from a dear, treasured friend of mine. She'd written choice words, and included a few Scriptures, with baby Judah, and our loss, in mind. One in particular did specifically minister so to my heart when I read, and re-read, and re-read it again last week;

Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You.
For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

~Psalm 139.12-14

Yes, that one, that concept... trusting completely in His Sovereignty... Darkness and light are alike to You.

In the midst of tragedy and despair, our mourning... The darkness and the light are the same to Him... how paradoxical, how utterly beyond my comprehension He is. I can trust in His orchestrating of all things in my life.

And little did I know... that even as I read that Scripture, and pondered His forming of that child we loved so much and lost... the profundity of light and darkness, miracles and mourning, spiritual concepts I am reaquainted with every Hanukkah... that even the night is as bright as the day to Him (and Lord, make it so for me, give me the faith that I lack)... that concept, the Truth of that reality, His working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose... the deeper realization that even in the midst of darkness, tragedy and the unknown, in our mourning, there is HE, He sees all, His promises of hope and of a future are there in the darkness... though we may not see them, and in light.

Even as these ideas and more were flooding my soul with such peace as I entered spiritually into this particular Feast of Light... the knowing that HE IS IN CONTROL, no matter what, and I can trust Him, and I DO trust Him... as I read that Scripture, I just felt such a peace and such a release as I wept one last time for Judah... contentment as I let that Scripture and my friend's gentle words wash over me... as I thought of all that Hanukkah has come to represent to me over the years... of our blessings, His miracles in our lives, healings as I rededicated my heart and mind to trusting His Way...

Even then... yet unbeknownst to me... I was already expecting... another miracle. Yes, I just found out last weekend, that we are expecting our own very special miracle! Our Hanukkah baby, Judah, is no longer with us, as our Lord chose to take him, or her, home so very early... but in the midst of the darkness of feeling that child's loss, we have been granted with the light of this new hope, this precious child. ~ smiles~ This little one that I carry now is due on August 21st, I'm only 4.5 wks. along yet, but I feel good. I haven't spotted at all either, whereas with baby Judah, I'd been spotting for over a week at this point, so I'm confident and hopeful that all is well... I'm just plain exhausted though (but glad for it!).

What mystery, and depths of perfection... His timing, in all things... our very own Hanukkah miracle... Through a friend He sent the Word that the Lord has used to help me to hold it all close to my heart in... to see it for what it is, to tell it to others. I'm holding on to all of these Scriptures now, as promises, for this child... for whom our Lord made the way.

Chris was weeping and smiling at the same time when I told him last week. We're praying for the safety of the baby and I. We plan to tell the kids tonight in a creative way. hehehehe I can still hardly believe it myself!

Judah was our first reversal baby, and this little one is our second miracle baby... in so many ways...

Click here to see a short Chanukah Miracles presentation.

Trackback URI |