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Change Springs Forth

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By Gregg Zimmerman

Over the last few weeks, I have really been enjoying the weather and the changes in nature that it brings. Spring is definitely here!

Spring has always been one of my favorite of the four temperate seasons. The constant gray of the Pacific Northwest winter shifts to sunny skies mixed with life-giving rain. Leaves emerge and flowers sprout. Birds return and mammals give birth to their young.

Just a few sentences into God’s Word, we see mention of the seasons: “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:14). Literally from the very beginning God denoted the separate seasons. The changing seasons are a reminder, something to help set a rhythm and pace.

Springtime often symbolizes new birth, fresh starts, renewal, and growth. At times that all sounds very cliché, but there definitely is something about spring that brings forth the excitement of what is ahead. The natural changes that spring brings is always something I love seeing, and as God’s creation it is a small reminder of part of His character. Hosea says, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:3). Even in the midst of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God’s faithfulness is as sure as the spring rains that water the earth.

As with all of God’s creation, springtime is a beautiful masterpiece, but the Creator Himself is even better! “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). The psalmist writes, “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:10).

Hebrews declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He does not change with the seasons. We give God thanks during all seasons, but the changes around us are a reminder. Just as we move into the new spring season, we also move into this next season of Elim’s history. Let us pause to look around and enjoy the beauty of the changes God is doing all around us.

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Failure Isn’t Final—It’s Fragrant

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by Jeff Foerster

What is the fragrance of your failure?

Failure feels awful. Anxiety, panic, shame. What if I missed my deadline? What if I didn’t pay my bills on time or, worse yet, didn’t have the money because I spent it on impulse purchases? What if I got a bad grade on my test? What if I shared a secret I wasn’t supposed to or lost my temper with a loved one or a stranger? What if I broke my promise to God? Quite frankly, at our best, we’re still a mess. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). We all fail. Sometimes these are moral failings, sometimes these are mistakes, sometimes these are poor decisions rooted in some variety of fear.

As bad as it feels to fail, it feels even worse to admit failure. It’s a declaration that I’m not enough. I am not the captain of my ship nor the driver of my destiny. Circumstances and outcomes are not firmly within my control. My desire is to hide failure, even from myself, if it were possible (Garden of Eden, anyone)? But hiding is simply a place of darkness.

By admitting failure, I am presenting the facts before court and entering my weakness into evidence. I plead guilty. That’s a very vulnerable place to be. At that moment I have placed myself in the hands of a judge. Mercy or condemnation is coming, but in recognizing and admitting my failure, I have submitted control of the outcome. No defense, only an admission of weakness or guilt.

I would feel all alone in such a courtroom, but for this fact: I have a friend in Jesus, my Advocate before the Father!

We don’t enter into the presence of the Lord with shouts of victory and triumphant success. We enter through sorrow, through failure. When we fail, when we admit it, we enter into a position of humility. And that is a great place to be—a fragrant offering to God. It’s a place of mourning, of sadness. A place of blessing.

So, what is the fragrance of your failure?

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The Family Name: Who Are We?

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By Jason Comerford

Here at Elim, we’ve been asking ourselves some big questions over the last two years. As we embarked on the pastoral search process and prepared to enter a new season, we tried to discern who we were, our gifts, and how God had made us as a church. It was a time of serious introspection, getting at the heart of who we are underneath all our familiar traditions and practices.

There were some common answers. Elim is a warm and welcoming place. We pride ourselves on our hospitality to the new and old alike. We care about families and children. And of course, like any good church rooted in the Protestant tradition, we value the Bible. As one of the oldest churches in Washington State, we have a long and significant legacy.

Honestly, I’m happy to call Elim my home. And I know the same is true for others. But though I’m happy to be surrounded by such a wonderful spiritual family, I’ve remembered something sobering in recent weeks.

It would be really easy to look at Elim in the last 10–15 years, including our hospitality and other traditions, and take this on as my identity as a Christian. “This is who I am,” I might say. “I go to Elim, and we’re good at hospitality. We care about families, and we value the Bible.”

And that would be a mistake.

Aside from not everyone experiencing Elim the way I’ve described, it’s also not actually at the center of who we really are.

We’re marked not by Elim and its history, but by the work and purpose our Lord Jesus (Galatians 2:20) We are not merely a hospitable church; we are servants extending our Lord’s hospitable kindness (Luke 9:11). We are not merely a people who care about families, but we are a new spiritual family with Christ at the center of it (Matthew 12:46–50). We’re not just a people who love studying the Bible; we are a people who know our Lord personally (John 15:15) and seek to trust and obey Him (John 15:7–8).

So why does that matter?

Because the things we have in the past loved most about Elim as a community have come from earnest hearts seeking to serve the Lord, to trust His guidance, and to obey Him. And as this next season presents us with new and uncomfortable challenges, I think we’ll be helped in remembering where all the best parts of Elim have really come from—in loving, trusting, and obeying Jesus wherever He leads us.

Hang in there, friends. The Lord is, as always, doing a new thing.

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Easter Has Passed, but Redemption Is Forever!

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By Jean Mooney

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8a, NIV)

I remember so clearly a time in my life when I thought that nothing from my past would ever impact my future. I remember thinking that if I could forget my past and try to calculate or somehow plan my future, then things would be okay, or at least better than they had been from my childhood. If I could just land that perfect job, or have the right opportunity for school, have the perfect car, or meet the perfect girl, etc., then everything would be all right, and my past would be forgotten.

Well, I succeeded with at least one item on my list—I met the perfect girl. And to this day I would not change that for anything!

For a while, I thought everything was going great. I had control over my job, I was excelling in what I did, I met the perfect girl (Geneva), we were starting a life together, and I thought I was forgetting my past. (And most of my friends here at Elim know that I had a very dark past.) Now, everything seemed perfect . . . at least for a little while.

Geneva and I moved in together and started a life. But our pre-marriage “honeymoon” did not last long. Shortly after we moved in together, things got a little bumpy. We conceived a child.

At first, I was extremely excited. This was a new opportunity for me to start a new family and move on from my past. But then the conversation began. I had thought I was happy about the pregnancy, but it soon dawned on me how it would impact our lives. And I was scared. On the one hand, I had no idea of the ramifications of having another child; and on the other, I knew that she did not want to go through with the pregnancy.

We were both trying to save face. I did not want to lose her by pushing to have a child, and at the same time I did not want her to have to face her parents and tell them that she was pregnant out of wedlock. So, I chose to conform. I gave up the fight, and we had an abortion.

There are so many times we find ourselves in a position of not being able to explain where we are at in life or what we are feeling. This easily puts us in a place of compromise: What should I choose? What should I say? What decision should I make? Will I conform, or will I fight? And if we do choose to persevere and fight, how long will we last? How much fight do we have in us? What are our chances of survival? And what are we fighting for?

We so often tend to forget that this is not only “our” fight. We have the greatest Warrior of all time, right there with us. And the fight begins with our choices: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11). Paul tells us not simply to be strong, but to “be strong in the Lord.” We don’t put on our OWN armor; Scripture tells us to put on GOD’S armor.

I don’t know about you, but I do not picture God as a very small guy! Yes, I am made in His likeness, but I personally think He is a lot bigger than me. So that makes for a LOT of armor. But God tells us that it’s okay for us to wear it. How empowering! Nothing is too big a fight for God, so if I just accept His will and choose to wear His armor, then nothing can be too big a fight for me.

I look back to 2003 and I do wish that I had never made the decision to conform. For a while I lived in regret and for the most part tried to forget. Then in 2007, after we were finally married, we did try to conceive, but then we had a miscarriage. I thought, Am I being punished? Maybe my sin had caught up to me! The fear and doubt started to take over: How big of a mistake did I make? Will I forever be punished by God for what I did?

But shortly after this, we had Talyana, which was one of the most joyous moments of my life. God’s grace was lavished on me.

I only recently looked for redemption and forgiveness for the choice that I had made in 2003. In our moments of weakness, He is made strong: “But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).

For me, there is no greater story of redemption. My weakness gave way to death. But I can still be redeemed and blessed, and His power can still be made perfect. I have a God who loves me even though I turned my back on Him. I gave up the fight, and Jesus picked it right back up for me and continued to fight for me. He wants to save even me.

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The “Unknown God” Revealed

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By Geneva Mooney

Sometime in 2003, I accepted Jesus into my life, but my heart was not following Him yet. I was broken and I still am. I first needed to invite Him into my journey of life, then I had to learn to walk with Him, as we all do. It was a journey through the desert, a journey to fight, a journey to trust, and a journey to love as He first loved us. This is a journey with Him by my side, no matter how dark or joyous.

Like many others, this journey is redemptive and continues to be. As I walk more closely with my Father, I’ve learned to love Him and desire to do what is right through His Word and Holy Spirit (“If you love me, you will obey me” [John 14:15, NIV]). But it has not always been that way, because I loved myself and my emotions more. We can be conformed to this world, the thinking of this world and the judgments of this world, and not even know it.

In 2003, I also made a decision out of fear—fear of being judged by my parents and judged by Christians. At the time I was conformed to this world, but now as I walk with my Creator I am continuing to be transformed by the renewing of my mind (“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” [Romans 12:2a]; “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” [2 Corinthians 10:5]). Today, through repentance and obedience, my Father has made me whole again.

In that moment of fear and brokenness, 18 years ago, when Jean and I were not yet married but living together, I chose to have an abortion. My healing journey then began several years ago when I chose to be open and honest with my parents and ask for their forgiveness. I then had to go to my Heavenly Father and ask Him for forgiveness, as I had judged my parents and did not honor them at the time of my decision because in my childhood, I decided in my heart that they were unsafe and not worth honoring. I also needed to ask my Heavenly Father to forgive me for sacrificing my own child out of fear, judgment, and shame.

I then forgave Christians (my fellow brothers and sisters) and asked my Father to forgive me for harboring judgments against them for being unsafe and not loving me where I was at, a sinner. I had to dismantle the lies, judgments, and vows that were seared into my heart and mind. This journey of sin in my heart and mind has taken years to build and years to dismantle, because it was only several weeks ago that I realized I had judged Christians 18 years ago.

We can’t overcome anything until we know Jesus. And until we know Jesus, we will create “unknown gods” to fill His void. That unknown god for me at the time was fear, judgment, and shame. I have had many other unknown gods that have needed to be dismantled and destroyed with the help of my wonderful, loving Father, through His Word and the Holy Spirit. I know I will yet have other unknown gods that will need to be dismantled as He directs me and guides me, but I can sit on my Father’s lap and soak up His love for me, and I do not have to do anything to deserve it. I just need to climb on His lap in truth, trust, and love for Him and His life for me.

While most of our unknown gods are actually false gods or idols, Scripture tells us about one unknown god who revealed truth and love and beauty to those who sought him. In Acts 17, Paul noted that amid all their detestable idols and false gods, the Athenians had set up an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. In verse 23, Paul told the Athenians, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” Then he began to teach them about Jesus and His Father! As the unknown god became known to these Athenians, they began to abandon and dismantle their idols and false gods.

Any idol or unknown god will always require a sacrifice. Our Father in Heaven only asks us to be living sacrifices (“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” [Romans 12:1]). I believe through the sin in our hearts we build altars to unknown gods that block our view of our Father’s loving lap. When we are willing to take our sins to Jesus‘s feet on the cross and lay them there, we can be forgiven. God becomes known, and unknown gods can be torn down.

What is taking the place of our Father? What lies are we believing, or vows or judgments are we harboring that keep us from loving well and from sitting on our Father’s lap and soaking up His perfect love for us? What unknown gods are blocking you from seeing and experiencing the love of our FATHER, the one true God, and His Son Jesus Christ?

If you’ve had an abortion, you are pregnant and scared, or if this topic upsets you, know that the emotions are real, and you don’t have to navigate this journey alone. Jesus is right there with you—and I would be delighted to walk along your side, as well.

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