Jericho

Never in my life have I been so drawn to miracles as I have been this past year. There has always been something special and empowering about moments in the Bible where God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things. But this year, the miracles I’ve been drawn to have been different. It’s the moments all throughout scripture where logic and reason say to do one thing, but God does something completely different. It’s the moments where people can’t do anything and the odds are completely stacked against them, but God shows up in the final moments to claim a visible victory.

The other night, I was reading a chapter from the Jesus Storybook Bible to Nora, and we started reading about Joshua and Jericho. Earlier in the night, we were all together as a family with my parents and my sister’s family, and Morgan commented that, “feeding the kids when they’re together is like walking around and around the walls of Jericho”. And on any given day together, it’s pretty common for Grammy and Colton and Nora to march around the house in a line singing “we’re following the leader”. So it felt very “on theme” to read that story with Nora later that night and something stood out to me.

[God’s people] looked at Jericho. At the big, giant, scary, walls all around it. At the tall towering ramparts. At the heavy iron gates bolted shut. At each other.

What would they do? No one knew. But God knew.

So Joshua gathered his army together. They had their swords and spears and shields. They were ready to fight. But the plan wasn’t about fighting; it was about trusting and doing what God said.

Joshua’s army went marching, marching, marching around the city. Day after day. “They’re too scared to fight!” the people in Jericho said. But they were wrong. God’s people weren’t scared - they were waiting. Waiting for God to tell them what to do next.

And for those who aren’t familiar with the story, those massive walls came tumbling down and nothing was left of the city but dust and rubble. Read the book of Joshua for more details.

When we first heard about Colton (my nephew’s) Leukemia diagnosis last September, I kept sensing God’s prompting to “get eyes on the miracle”. Month after month, others who were praying on his behalf would also share dreams or messages or encouragements that the Lord was giving them. And time after time we’d be given hope for healing. Not massive amounts of hope, but enough to sustain our family to continue to do life and press on and continue believing. But two weeks ago, when we found out he had relapsed again and there weren’t really and clear medical options, I began to question all that God had been showing us over the past year.

To be honest, I still don’t fully understand except that even in these hard and confusing days, I’m still drawn to the miracles. I’m drawn to the stories of others where God miraculously showed up in the final hours and did something that no one saw coming. I’m drawn towards testimonies of angels fighting and seas parting and walls falling down. And though there is a lot about this current situation that feels unknown and scary and sad and overwhelming, I’ll continue to believe that miracles are possible. I’ll fall asleep every night praying and championing on Colton’s behalf. I’ll ask the Lord to give me glimpses of His plans in my dreams. I’ll believe that God is good and kind and can be trusted and that God withholds nothing from us. Because, as we read in Joshua’s case, “the plan wasn’t about fighting; it was about trusting and doing what God said.”

In the remaining weeks before Advent, I’ll continuously prepare Him room, not because I’m promised a perfect outcome if I do, but because I don’t know any other way to navigate all the unknowns except to place my trust in something much bigger than medicine and wait for God to tell us what’s next.