But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We areafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’sake, so that the life of Jesus also maybe manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written,  “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we  look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. for while we are still in this tent, we grain, being burdened– not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 

2 Corinthians 4:7-5:5

In his commentary on the book of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Mark Seifrid writes, “The eclipse of the old covenant by the new does not mean that sin, death, and condemnation have been left behind. They remain with us as long as the present, fallen world continues.”

Even as earthy as the 2 Corinthians description of our lives before we are made body and soul, whole, I am particularly interested in the way this works out in the every day. It is without fail that each new morning mercy provides new opportunities to ignore, change, or redefine my brokenness and sin, subjected to death and deaths all along the way ~or~ lean into them as a means of grace. Sometimes, something useful is born. Other times, I pray for the ears to “see” the Gospel and perseverant hopefulness that whatever I encounter in me or in the world is redeemable.

I desire to write about these things– cross-carrying, as-truthful-as-I-dare life experiences that whisper– this too shall pass, you will not be consumed. Because of the cross in light of the empty tomb, resurrection is coming. I need to see its shadow here too.

I am most simply a woman loved by God held safe in grace, plunging the depths and learning more of the truth of the Gospel as it takes hold of me. Come along with me! Let’s link arms as we walk this way toward Home.