Suddenly
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. —Malachi 3:1 Thursday morning, after eight months of patiently waiting (and one month of not so patiently waiting), Kristin called to me from the other room to tell me that labor had begun. Five hours later, I was holding my baby girl. Thankfully, everything had been prepared, and we were ready. After all the longing, praying and waiting, suddenly she was here. It seems so much easier to wait on a baby than to wait for God. We long for God to come and right the wrongs, to heal the wounds, release the captives, and bind up the broken hearted. We long for the tangible proof and expression of our faith. At communion we all declare "the mystery of the gospel" that "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again," but it is hard to live o