joy comes in the morning

On June 12th, 2022, I kept the nursery during my church's Sunday morning service as a substitute for a friend, so I had to miss the sermon and watch it later that evening. While I certainly prefer to hear the sermon live, I didn’t mind going back later and watching it on my

own; after all, I do take better notes that way anyway. However, because of a seemingly

random experience as I walked to the children’s building, I knew this sermon was

meant for me.

On my way to the children’s building from my Sunday School class, I passed

through a glass hallway that I have known all my life. I grew up at Mount Olive, and I

have passed through this very hallway countless times without thinking much about it.

However, because my sister and I had both aged out of the Children’s ministry, I had

not passed through this hallway in several years. Outside of the hallway, there is a set

of stairs leading up to a rear parking lot. This was where my parents and grandparents

parked when I was little. That set of stairs is the last place I ever saw my papaw alive

on October 4th, 2009. The very next day, he had a heart attack and passed away while mowing. My whole world turned upside down, and my innocence was shattered. I

was only nine years old.

As someone who has had four foot surgeries, stairs are inherently not my friend, but I

never expected that a set of stairs could have such an intense emotional effect on me. I

stopped briefly in that hallway and stared at the concrete stairs where Papaw had

handed me a Lifesavers peppermint before Sunday School for the last time. Then, I got

back on track and continued on to the four and five year-olds’ classroom, and I

pushed it out of my mind for the rest of the day. At least, I did until I went back to

watch the service.

During the service, my pastor said he doesn’t believe in coincidences, and I

agree with him 100%. To say that two events happened similarly or at the same time

purely by chance is to ignore the reality of God and His plan for our lives.

Nothing happens by accident; God and His plan are too real for coincidences to be a thing.

Then, my pastor shared that the auditorium used during camp the previous week

was the same auditorium in which his father’s funeral had taken place fourteen years

earlier, and he explained that he had been able to find joy in the very same place that

had once held so much pain. This part of the sermon was so similar to what I had

experienced that morning that I knew God intended for me specifically to hear it.

I have had this type of thought before; after all, Mount Olive Baptist Church was

where Papaw’s funeral was held. I’ll never forget when the section of stairs in front of

the sanctuary stage was removed to make a spot for the silver casket that held the

body of my hero. I’ll never forget how full the sanctuary was when all of South

Knoxville came to pay their respects to the legendary Coach Maxwell. I’ll never forget

how I cried when I had to leave my hero behind so that his body could be loaded into

the hearse that would bring him to his grave the very next morning. There are many

painful memories of what took place that horrible week within that very church

building. However, as time passed, the happy memories began to outnumber the

painful ones.

On Easter Sunday 2010, I was baptized in that sanctuary, delighting in the hope

Jesus gave me that I would see my beloved papaw again. Just a few years later, my little

sister Madison was also baptized in that sanctuary, and we got to celebrate that both

my sister and I will spend eternity with the Lord. I have attended several Christmas

Eve candlelight services in that sanctuary and sang along to Christmas carols at a few

SoKno Christmas concerts. On August 2nd, 2020, my boyfriend Bradley was baptized

in that sanctuary during the nightmare of the COVID-19 pandemic that seemed to have

no end; I will never forget how my hands shook as I tried to record it while grinning so

much that my face actually hurt. Lately, we have welcomed new member after new

member after new member in that sanctuary as our church continues to grow. So

many wonderful things have happened in that sanctuary that once held so much pain

for me and my family. My pastor had the same realization about that auditorium

where the next generation of Mount Olive Baptist Church was worshiping our risen

Savior.

This sermon focused on taking our sin to God, the Divine Surgeon, so that He can cut that sin out like a tumor and forgive us for our transgressions, just like David in Psalm 51.

We have a desperate need for the grace of God, who is known for extending His mercy to repentant sinners. No matter how broken we are, when we take our sin to God and ask Him to remove it, He will. When we believe in Jesus’s sacrifice for us on the cross and that He rose from the grave and trust Him as our desperately-needed Savior, He gives us a new heart, a “spiritual heart transplant,” and we get to know the joy of forgiveness and salvation. At the end of even the darkest of days, we get to know that there will be light and overwhelming joy again because our God is a merciful God.

The week that my papaw died was undoubtedly one of the darkest weeks of my

life. The walls of the sanctuary at Mount Olive Baptist Church have seen far more of

my tears than I would like, but in the last thirteen years, those same walls have also

witnessed the indescribable joy that comes with a relationship with the God of the

universe, the same God who forgives the most wretched of sinners (which, let’s be

real, is every single one of us). Both my experiences with our sanctuary and my pastor's experience with that auditorium reflect the hope that we get to have in Jesus, and I want that same feeling of hope and joy for you, too. Jesus wants that for you. No matter what sins you think you are hiding, no matter how terrible they may be, Jesus wants you to bring them to Him today. Lay them at the cross and receive the salvation Jesus has already purchased for you. Where there was once death, there will be life. Where there was once pain, there will be joy. Where there is hardship, there is also hope.

"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a

night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5.

Lindsey Maxwell is a friend of Leslie's and is a University of Tennessee English alumni. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Education and has been following Jesus for years.