What a week! My girls went back to school. Hard to imagine I am old enough to have two daughters in high school. Funny, I don't feel old!
This has been a hard week... There are several people I am close with that have experienced tragedies in their lives this week. I am talking about things that just rocked their world. I have a good friend who has an employee in his company who lost his mother to a violent act by his step-father. Another dear friends parents were involved in a severe car accident and spent several days in the trauma unit. (God has already begun miraculously healing them). For me, the thing that I am struggling with the most this week is the death of a child.
This family came into our lives about 12 years ago. Through circumstances, Ame and I had a chance to minister to the dad and the two kids, a son and daughter who were probably about 6 and 9 or so. They essentially became part of our family and it was that way for several years. About 6 or 7 years ago the dad and daughter moved to Indiana. Monday night his daughter, a little girl who I watched grow up for several year died peacefully in her sleep. I have wondered all of the standard things... Why, How, Really? How selfish. I cannot imagine losing a child at 18, just after graduating, already moved into her dorm room for her first year in college. It breaks my heart.
But see, God is bigger than all of these tragedies. God is in control, and for those of us that have a relationship with the king of kings, we know that "we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." As I have prayed for all of these families and others this week I am reminded about the suffering of Christ on the cross. He suffered and died as an atonement for our sin and arose on the 3rd day. What an incredible act of love! He continues to love each of us today. Even (and especially) during difficult times. He desires for us to run hard and fast to Him! Will you?
I am reading in Romans this week and I read through one of my favorite passages. It says this in Romans 8:
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In other words... NOTHING can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus... NOTHING. Are you living under this promise today?
Waiting on Him,
ML
