After Epiphany
Yesterday was Epiphany. In some parts of the global church – The day of Epiphany celebrates when the Magi visited Christ, and also Jesus’ first physical appearance to the Gentiles. But what happens after epiphany? Thinking about it, of course, took me back to my epiphanies to take notice. I am surprised by fresh discoveries.
The word itself has an understanding of its own. Definitions for the word epiphany include a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) often simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure.’ Merriam Webster
It’s a moment of revelation that changes us.
Two days after a severe beating, I discovered that I was not dead. Twenty years after – epiphany! God had wrapped himself around me, and because of that, now I can put down my sword.
I jerked, panicked at the sudden movement in my belly. I was pregnant with my first child, but I was sure an alien was moving in my belly. I felt powerless and terrified. At his ten-year birthday – epiphany! Life is a miracle and it was God who kept him alive!
Finally realizing my mum was not ever coming back at 24 years old – Jesus took her, and it’s been almost a decade; breaking down in tears – epiphany! It is ok not to be ok.
Contemplating suicide at 28 years old – Jesus came to me and said, “I am your hope, I paint the skies for you,” I smiled and chose to live.
Sitting in a humid and hot church in Central America, weeping from a broken heart, Jesus Christ came to me saying, “I have first right of ownership to you, everything you need is in me” epiphany! All I literally need is Christ Jesus. I believe Him.
What I am trying to say is after every epiphany, it is necessary to act on that revelation. We must do something. We either armor up or yield in faith, trusting that we are held in complete love; the same love that moved God to rescue humanity from sin and death and the same love that moves him to reveal to that humanity that hope is on the way. Faith follows every epiphany. Faith that what you now know is true either positively or negatively. I loved it when James, the brother of Jesus, said that faith without action is dead. Put steps into what has been revealed to you and trust that God means whatever He says.
I hope and pray that in this new year, you and I will resolve to live differently, not driven by the pressures of ‘oughts’ and ‘shoulds’ (my favorite) but founded in the kindness of God’s revelation to us and fueled by grace and love.
Have you ever had an epiphany, what now?