Sometimes, this road of life can be really lonely. We can be surrounded by thousands of faces, one person in a giant massive crowd, and still feel like we're all alone. And in tough times, it can be easy to feel like that loneliness will last forever.
But in those times, it's so important to stand on the truth of what we know, what has been proven as steadfast and unchanging. Today I went to a new church (Center City Church, it was absolutely amazing!!) and the pastor said something to me that really struck me to my core.
He was talking about the power of Jesus Christ, and how when Christ went out, he didn't go to the masses, the masses came to him. There's something to be said for the fact that they recognized His power and would come from all over just to sit on a grassy knoll all day long to hear him preach. Pastor David spoke about the leper that Christ healed, and how in this life, sometimes God heals - and sometimes he doesn't.
It was the doesn't part that struck me. I've shared hundreds of times, it feels like, with you about my battle with melanoma. And as a Christian, the attitude that I've come to adopt is that I have to embrace this challenge and run with it. I'm not going to blame God - a lot of people choose to do that when they're missing a valuable opportunity to instead turn TO him and learn who he is in the midst of their crisis. And besides, what right have I to be angry? Job in the Bible lost everything - everything. His children, his wealth, everything was taken from him - and this was a blameless man. I'm not blameless, I frequently make mistakes and even though I'm harder on myself than anyone could ever be, I know that I still have it better than Job. Or John, who was given the gift of healing and yet lived his life with a painful physical affliction that consistently bothered him. The healer who wasn't healed.
So even though life may not seem so great all the time, we still have SO much to be thankful for. I remember a pastor once said "Who are we to assume we have a right to know what God is doing, or why he's doing it? We have no entitlement to the works or reasoning of Jesus Christ." And he was so right - we don't have any right to ask God what he's doing or ask him why he has or hasn't given us what we want. It isn't about us, and if you think it is, you may need to go and re-examine your heart. This world isn't about us doing what we want, it's about living a life focused on Jesus Christ, loving the lost and sharing the news about this savior who's in love with us.
He won't leave.
No matter how nasty or mean or irritable we are, he won't leave. Sometimes in relationships we push the people that we care about the most, away, in order to see if they'll stay or if they'll leave. But the ones who really care don't budge. They stick by your side even when you (and probably everyone else) knows you don't deserve it. Jesus is the same way - except that because he's perfect, he really won't leave. Humans are imperfect and make mistakes, we hurt each other, we fight, we say things we don't mean, but Christ is blameless and he won't ever hurt us in those ways. So as you go through trials and tribulations, remember that no matter how much you scream and yell and pound his chest, Christ is still going to stand in front of you, wrapping his arms around you and wiping away your tears. That's the kind of God he is, the kind of God he has been, and the kind of God he always will be.
I hope, friends, that if and when there are times when you feel as lonely as the leaf in the picture above, you remember the Savior who waits for you to turn to him. You're never alone, no matter how much you feel like it or how undeserving of his love you feel... and don't ever think otherwise! If the creator of the universe spent time to knit you together in your mother's womb, characteristic by characteristic so that you were unlike anyone else... you're worth more than you could ever know.
Parting thought:
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me - 2 Cor 12:9.
Talk soon.
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