Tuesday's Trust - How Do We Have Hope without Despair? - Part Two

The LORD is there to rescue all who are discouraged and have given up Hope.

~Psalm 34:18 CEV

Tuesday's Trust

How Do We Have Hope without Despair?

Part Two

Despair is fleeting; Hope is eternal. 

~Angie Prince

~~~

We cannot appreciate The Light without first being aware of The Dark. 

~Rollin Prince

~~~

Despair haunts me at times. Especially when I get into a place of emptiness and purposelessness.

At those times, I don't know who I am; I don't know what I am capable of doing; I am challenged emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and in strength and endurance. Grief and Trauma are depleting in and of themselves. It doesn't take much more impetus to lose my way and plummet on down into Despair. 

Then when I go before my God in prayer, I immediately feel regret that I have so little to offer Him as I know He sacrificed everything for me.

But then my LORD Jesus comes to me in compassion engulfing me with love. Of course He knows the despair that comes in the fight with Death and Evil. Of course our Father God knows the despair that comes with Child-Loss. 

With such sweet understanding and compassion coming my way, the tears begin to flow, and I am reminded that ALL of this suffering is because of Love for my Child, and that Love matters.


After all, what is our God? God IS Love.

Then I begin, again, to recognize: My suffering has meaning. My suffering is not for naught!

Why did our God allow Himself the suffering of Child-Loss? Why did our LORD allow Himself the suffering of Death? ALL for LOVE. ALL for LOVE. ALL for LOVE.

Why do I grieve my Child? ALL for LOVE.

My Hope returns. Our God values us and our suffering so much that He declares in His word,

"God draws close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit." 

Psalm 34:18

~~~

 "God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." 

Psalm 147:3

Why is God so attendant to the brokenhearted? And why would He store our tears in a bottle?

YOU keep track of all my sorrows. YOU have collected all my tears in YOUR bottle. You have recorded each one in YOUR book.

Psalm 56:8

Why would He collect our tears in His bottle?

He knows all of it... the tears, the suffering, the agony, and the depletion, is because of LOVE, Love for my child. 

He understands, and He embraces me.

It was because of God's love for us that He willingly gave up His only Son to die for us so that we might live, eternally, with Him.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting LIFE.

John 3:16

The world wants to shame me for my weakness and helplessness. They want it to go away, and for me to "move on" away from my suffering...

The LORD understands my suffering. He suffered too.

The Bible clearly tells us it was because of Jesus' love for us that He laid down His life for us, that we can live again, forever with Him.

This is how we know what LOVE is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.

1 John 3:16

And by His suffering, we also can heal. The Bible even tells us,

"By His wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5 

Our Heavenly Father calls us to be like Jesus, take up our cross, be willing to suffer. Suffering has meaning. Suffering... because of Love.

And that is exactly who God says He IS… God IS Love. 

He suffered for Love. And we will suffer for Love.

God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example and you must follow in His steps.

1 Peter 2:21

But His Love gives meaning to our suffering, restoring our Hope…

I begin to understand anew the value of my suffering. Even though it depletes me, my suffering has Meaning. 

And God begins pouring His hope back into my heart...

And Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His Love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

Romans 5:5

~~~

May our LORD touch you and fill you with His joy and peace along with His Hope…

Graphics, thanks to

Psalm 34:18  Lani Stites  ~Pinterest
Psalm 34:18 CEV 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/315252042636410337/

Jesus Loves Me!   Julie K. (God's Girl Jul)   ~Pinterest
"God Knows" - Matthew 6:8

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/29977153739779547/

Psalm 34:18    Lani Stites   ~Pinterest

Psalm 34:18

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/315252042636614236/

Psalms   I am His child   ~Pinterest

Psalm 147:3

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/520728775635544052/

The Word    Patty Berry   ~Pinterest

Psalm 56:8
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/96616354479550752/

God's Word   Addie Sutherland   ~Pinterest

John 3:16

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/180918110002164248/

God's Word   Addie Sutherland   ~Pinterest

1 John 3:16

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/180918110002359042/

Jesus Loves Me!      Julie K. (God's Girl Jul)   ~Pinterest

Isaiah 53:5

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/29977153739900020/

Jesus Loves Me!      Julie K. (God's Girl Jul)   ~Pinterest

1 Peter 2:21

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/29977153744508094/

The Word   Broaddus Shamblin   ~Pinterest

Romans 5:5

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/154952043401509700/

Jesus Loves Me!   Julie K. (God's Girl Jul)   ~Pinterest

Romans 15:13

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/29977153739879570/

Tuesday's Trust - Does Being a Christian Mean Grief Hurts Less? ~Angie and Tommy Prince

Tuesday's Trust

Does Being a Christian Mean Grief Hurts Less?

~Angie and Tommy Prince

Last Tuesday, I began our post with the first quote below. We think it is such a profound statement, we wanted to address it further in this week's post:

I heard a message once that faith does not make the grief hurt any less, and I appreciate the honesty of that because I think we do people an unspeakable disservice when we assume that faith somehow ought to make it less painful of a road to walk. 

~Alina Sato

And, what if we were all to conspire to work together to always present a positive image even to the very negative experiences of life, never showing the underbelly of the pain and tragedy we've undergone and the dilemmas of our faith that must be worked through, over and over and over, after Child-Loss? This person says it so well I think:

Whatever is unnamed, undepicted in images, whatever is omitted from biography, censored in collections of letters, whatever is misnamed as something else, made difficult-to-come-by, whatever is buried in the memory by the collapse of meaning under an inadequate or lying language - - this will become, not merely unspoken, but unspeakable. 

~Adrienne Rich

What are our churches hoping to gain when they attempt to reach the lost by carnal means even as they are hoping to produce a spiritual result? It simply does not work that way! The Bible itself, God's Word, does not mince words about the real issues and sins and tragedies that were going on in the lives of His people - the very people whom He had called unto Himself. Are we then to mince words regarding our very real pain and tragedy so that the lost will more likely be drawn into the "Victorious Life" of a Christian?

Much of the Christian theology out there these days suggests we are exempt from tragedies happening if we are a child of God. It's like double trouble being a Christian:  

A) Tragedy is not "supposed" to happen to a Christian.  

B) If it does, then it's not supposed to hurt! 

Tommy and I have actually been accosted by a well-meaning, but incredibly naive, Christian friend of ours when he crossed our paths about a year (only a year, mind you!) after the loss of Merry Katherine, who, the same age as his daughter, went to church together, went to school together, and were friends and fellow-athletes with one another. Evidently shocked that we could still be grieving one year after our great loss, he very uncomfortably asked us, 

"Well, isn't it supposed to make a difference that you have God?!"

Much of the feedback I have gotten from Christians who are not child-loss grievers is that my writing is too "dark." So where does that leave us child-loss grievers who are forced to be honest with our pain (which, yes, is ofttimes "dark,") or we will not heal? 

As Christian, grieving father, Dennis Mansfield commented on his Facebook page that to deal with our grief, it is important that we keep our hearts soft so that we can process through our grief. (See his quotes below.) I agree with him. How would we be able to process through our multi-dimensional grief if we were always feeling the need to play pretend, as if our version of theology were to create a myth of magical freedom from pain in order to protect God Almighty's reputation? 

And if we do not write about our pain, are we denying many thousands of parents the truth of our pain, and therefore the truth of their pain, to cover it over and whitewash it in order to "look" better. That is even more of an offense to our Lord, to not think He can handle His own reputation in the long run, that even though it may look sullied in the short term, it simply is the case that we do not have all the story while we are here on this earth. 

Thankfully, God does not ask us to mince words with our pain. He encourages us to be real, and to reach out to other broken hearts like ours.

Dennis Mansfield's Facebook comment (evidently) to someone's disclosure:

"Each of us has difficult times in our lives. Most of us simply keep it inside. May your hard spot be softened.. for that's the only way to heal. I know this to be true."

Mansfield goes on to introduce the excerpt to his new book about to be released in March, 2013, in which he addresses the loss of his oldest child to drugs:

"This is an excerpt from a chapter that captures the initial deep question that (was) posed to ourselves (or better yet, was thrust at us; and against which we were forced to respond.)

"Though deeply and profoundly sad (a sadness from which I wondered at times if I could ever survive.)"

In his excerpt, he refers back to his deep question…

"At 27 years of age, our beautiful, beautiful boy, Nate, was dead apparently because of drugs. My mind stopped. My heart nearly did, as well. How had our family come to this? I was a leader in the national pro-family movement. I loved my son. What happened to our intentional, planned and purposeful parenting? All the family legislation and marriage conferences we worked on, suddenly seemed to amount to nothing; all the home schooling, all the summer vacation bible schools, all our parental warnings of the outside world and all the energy in constructing a godly Christian barrier to that world, seemingly amounted to nothing. 

"Why had all our efforts not worked?"

Dennis Mansfield's book, Beautiful Nate: A Memoir of a Family's Love, A Life Lost, and Eternal Promises is to come out in March, 2013. Thank you Dennis for your contribution to the bereaved parents' journey.

Tuesday's Trust - Thrown to the Ground...

Tuesday's Trust

Thrown to the Ground...

Babygirl, amidst your crash, you were thrown to the ground...

Amidst our prayers for you and our acts of tough love,

Who knew that the way Up for you would be Down?

Our Heavenly Father heard all our cries and took you Above.

And now Babygirl, Mommy, too, has been thrown to the ground...

Like a kernel of wheat, buried in that ground with you that day.

And yet... I live, seemingly to stumble around,

Trying to heal, as if there were any way...

God has His plan; It obviously is not my own~

He allows our disability, our abject weakness

To remind us Who should always be on the Throne

While we are left aground to deal with daily duress.

And yet He reminds me, there is a way, only one ~

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

I have told you these things that IN ME you may have peace."

(Peace?! Living a life when I've lost my baby girl?!)

And yet, I am to live for there is work to be done,

But His words encoded clue me in; it's only IN HIM I'll find sweet release.

I must allow myself to "be like the kernel of wheat" . . .

Only when allowed to be thrown to the ground, will I find His sweet peace!

"IN ME" you may have peace . . .

~ NOT A TROUBLE-FREE, SUFFER-LESS LIFE AS SOME PREACH ~

But an obedient willingness to suffer amidst the world's worst grief

Enables God to have His way, for many souls ~just like you~ for Him to reach!

This world is not my home; I must allow Him to show the way

To prepare me for Heaven with hard-fought treasures to be stored up for that Day!

Babygirl, amidst your crash, you were thrown to the ground...

Who knew that the way Up, for both of us, would be Down?

~~~~~~

Jesus: 

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me."

~John 12:24-26 NIV

Jesus: 

"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

~John 16:33 NIV

Jesus: 

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

~Matthew 6:19-20 ESV

Picture, Wheat being scattered to the ground, thanks to FotoSearch
Poem - Thrown to the Ground... - Angie Bennett Prince - 09/09/2012
Scriptures: NIV = New International Version; ESV = English Standard Version

Tuesday's Trust - Coming Out of Our Spiritual Train-Wreck ~Tommy and Angie Prince

God may show you the way, but you still have to make the journey. It is not always easy, but you will arrive at your destination. Have faith in HIM.

Tuesday's Trust

Coming Out of Our Spiritual Train-Wreck


~by Tommy and Angie Prince

What is it about...

"In this world you will have trouble/suffering"

that we don't understand?

Look at Jesus' life ~God's own Son~ and you will see suffering. Even He was not exempt. Why then do we somehow think we are exempt?

Predominantly, what's being preached from behind today's pulpit is "blessings-and-prosperity," and "trouble-and-suffering" are treated as just minor inconveniences. There is a mindset ---  

"If you do everything right, you will be exempt from suffering, and all will turn out well," 

where it could be argued that the apostle Paul and the disciples looked forward to suffering. It is what happens when we stand against evil. 

The "normal" for the disciple of Christ then is suffering; the abnormal for His disciple is the absence of suffering.

If they listened to Me, they will listen to you. If they hated Me, then they will hate You. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you. (John 15:20)

There is also a mindset in today's church that many of us Child-Loss Grievers have come up against that can be so completely demoralizing on top of our already considerable angst, and that is that 

"Any bad experience that might occur is one that should be overcome quickly and with little suffering, and 'victory' declared within a few months at most."

Child-Loss-Grievers' lives then become an anomaly that needs to be pushed into the shadows for no one to observe as our burden of grief is viewed as if it were an affront to God, as if we were one "cursed," certainly not blessed.

But God Himself says,
"Blessed are you that mourn for you will be comforted."

When fellow brothers and sisters in the faith avoid us, He Himself comes alongside to enter into our depth of pain, to ensure that we have His comfort.

If indeed "Normal" is defined as trouble-and-suffering for a child of God, in what then do we put our Hope?

If it is in our circumstances alone, then it follows we are in trouble spiritually as "we are of all people most to be pitied..."

1 Corinthians 15:19

... If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. ...

But Jesus says,

In this world you WILL HAVE TROUBLE, BUT be of GOOD CHEER--- (Why? Because Jesus declares,) FOR I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

HE is our HOPE ~ not circumstances...

~~~~~

Scriptures:

John 16:20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

New International Version (©1984) Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

John 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. (Root in WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 12:12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer; (WEB)

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory; (See NIV)

2 Corinthians 6:4 But in everything making it clear that we are the servants of God, in quiet strength, in troubles, in need, in sorrow, (BBE NIV)

2 Corinthians 7:4 My words to you are without fear, I am full of pride on account of you: I have great comfort and joy in all our troubles. (BBE NIV)

2 Corinthians 12:10 So I take pleasure in being feeble, in unkind words, in needs, in cruel attacks, in troubles, on account of Christ: for when I am feeble, then am I strong. (BBE)

Galatians 5:10 I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. (WEB)

Galatians 6:2 Take on yourselves one another's troubles, and so keep the law of Christ. (BBE)

Ephesians 3:13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory. (WEB BBE)

Colossians 1:11 Full of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may undergo all troubles with joy; (BBE)

1 Thessalonians 3:3 So that no man might be moved by these troubles; because you see that these things are part of God's purpose for us. (BBE)

2 Thessalonians 1:4 So that we ourselves take pride in you in the churches of God for your untroubled mind and your faith in all the troubles and sorrows which you are going through; (BBE)

Hebrews 10:32 But give thought to the days after you had seen the light, when you went through a great war of troubles; (BBE)

James 5:11 We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end. (BBE)

1 Peter 5:7 Putting all your troubles on him, for he takes care of you. (BBE)

1 Peter 5:9 Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith, in the knowledge that your brothers who are in the world undergo the same troubles. (BBE)

Revelation 2:9 I have knowledge of your troubles and how poor you are (but you have true wealth), and the evil words of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a Synagogue of Satan. (BBE)

2 Corinthians 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; (KJV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Thessalonians 3:4 For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. (See NIV)

2 Timothy 3:12 And indeed every one who is determined to live a godly life as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (WEY DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (See NIV) 

Revelation 12:11 They overcame (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

New International Version ©1984 by Biblica

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Scriptures, thanks to Bible.cc
BBE = Bible in Basic English

Friday's Faith - The Lament: A Cry of Protest Schooled by our Faith in God

Friday's Faith

The Lament:

A Cry of Protest Schooled by our Faith in God

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes,
or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

~Psalm 13:1-4

"Our willingness to expose our pain is the means God gives us to help identify and respond to evil and injustice. For creation is not as it ought to be. The lament is a cry of protest schooled by our faith in a God who would have us serve the world by exposing its false comforts and deceptions. From such a perspective one of the profoundest forms of faithlessness is the unwillingness to acknowledge our inexplicable suffering and pain. ...

{Then, Hauerwas quotes the following from Brueggemann:}

"[Lament] leads us to the dangerous acknowledgement of how life really is. [It leads us] to think unthinkable thoughts and utter unutterable words. Perhaps worst, [the psalms of lament] lead us away from the comfortable religious claims of ‘modernity’ in which everything is managed and controlled. [We believe] that enough power and knowledge can tame the terror and eliminate the darkness. But our honest experience, both personal and public, attests to the resilience of the darkness."

~Walter Brueggemann

"We have a problem. Too often, we jump forward to the solution in an effort to avoid the full seriousness of our predicament. Too many attempts to discuss suffering end up making light of it, by making it merely a means to a beneficial end: it will teach us perseverance; it will build our community; it will chastise our faults; it will enable us to minister to others who suffer; it will bring glory to God. Any or all of these may be true - or true at least some of the time - yet any attempt to make positive outcomes into the purpose and meaning of all suffering is cruel. And it makes God cruel. There is no need to justify suffering through recourse to a 'greater good' that is served by it. God may bring from it greater - or lesser - goods, but these are not its meaning.

"So let us first simply acknowledge that it hurts and is wrong, and let us lament and protest. The God we worship 'is not a God who needs protection from our cries and suffering.'

"I cannot promise readers consolation (re: say, the sufferings of innocent children), but only as honest an account as I can give of why we cannot afford to give ourselves explanations for evil when what is required is a community capable of absorbing our grief."

~Stanley Hauerwas, Naming the Silences: God, Medicine,

and the Problem of Suffering (Eerdmans: 1990), pp 82-84, xi

Friday's Faith - Refined By Fire - Really???!

Friday's Faith

Refined By Fire - Really???!

My brother (handicapped since birth, and the sibling closest to me in my family), sent me a precious Christmas present this week, a new book by Randy Alcorn,

90 Days of God's Goodness: Daily Devotions that Shine Light on Personal Darkness.

The quotes (other than mine) in today's post are from this wonderful little book. Thank you Rick!!!

*****

I pray every day, first thing in the morning, and many times throughout the day,

"Lord... I can't make it through this day... without You."

~me

*****

"The Master Artist chose us, the flawed and unusable, to be crafted into the image of Christ to fulfill our destiny in displaying Jesus to the watching universe."

~Randy Alcorn

*****

This morning as I woke up, I looked around my bedroom in my sleepy stupor and saw the abject messiness everywhere, and I said to my God,

"Lord, I just don't 'fit' into this world."

And all of a sudden a peace came over me, along with goose bumps pervading my system,

"I'm not supposed to feel that I belong in this world as I am to long for Heaven, my true Home!!!"

~me

*****

Jesus knew, from a tender young age, the angst of living in this world, with its animosities directed right at Him, even as a helpless newborn baby in a manger. No wonder His heart goes out to all of us who are down-and-out, feeling like misfits in this upwardly-mobile and often hostile world. He has been there, many times over Himself. (Read Matthew 2 below where King Herod was trying to find the Babe who was prophesied to be the newborn King so that he could... kill Him... As a newborn baby, Jesus had to flee along with His parents to another country, into Egypt out of Israel, to wait out King Herod, until Herod died, before they could return to safety!)

At a time when I am suffering the worst loss ever, the loss of my 19-year-old baby girl, God takes me even deeper into the angst of the world, into the lives of innocents molested at tiny ages by the villainous of the world. You would think a human's heart could only go so deep into the despair and agony of this world's pain, but with God, it seems the deeper He takes us, the deeper we can go... when He leads the way.

So many therapists have turned these blessed ones away, these blessed among men, women, and children for they have the attention of their Savior's presence, the ear of their Savior's attentive love and compassion, and the tears of their Savior's breaking heart. He invites me to join into His pain, into His heart breaking over the devastations wreaked by the hands of the heartless, merciless Enemy. He invites me to cry with Him, to love with Him, to reach out and be present to His hurting children along with Him. What a blessing. What a sacred trust. What a sweet use of a mother's broken heart...

*****

C. S. Lewis said,

"God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks in our conscience,

but shouts in our pain;

it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

*****

David Livingstone, Protestant missionary to Africa who died a martyr, once declared,

"Without Christ not one step, with Him anywhere.

"Suffering can help us know God and prepare us to trade a shallow life not worth keeping for a deeper life we'll never lose."

A father who lost his three little girls in an airplane accident uttered,

"After suffering this loss, we know that the only important things now are the ones that will last for eternity."

*****

Matthew 2

Today's New International Version (TNIV)

The Magi Visit the Messiah

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Photo of blacksmith at work in the refining fire, thanks to FotoSearch

Scripture from the TNIV, Today's New International Version of The Holy Bible