Easter Pie

READ: ISAIAH 53:1-5; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:8-18; 1 PETER 5:6-11 The pastor spoke through the laptop sitting on a TV tray in my living room. It wasn’t the typical way I spent Easter Sunday. I took a few steps and opened the blinds, mimicking how the shades opened during service at my home church. My mom laughed, and I returned to the couch to listen to the Easter message. Several days earlier, I had an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit removed from my abdomen. The sixty days before the surgery had been filled with confusion, anguish, and debilitating pain. Unsure of the root cause at first, I spent weeks scheduling tests with doctors until the cyst was finally found. Even after the doctors found the cyst, I had to wait another month for the surgery. That month was one of the hardest months of my life. Chronic pain and fatigue, while trying to teach a class full of rambunctious first graders, made me question why God was allowing this in my life. Those sixty days were hard,...