Passage from Strength in Faith by Dawn Love
God has a design for each of our lives, an individual and unique plan laid down since the beginning of time. He has chosen to be our companion on this rugged road we call life. I know what those pitfalls and potholes look like all too well.
Loss can be a host of things, children leaving, a house, relationships, marriage, job, money, death, pets, the list goes on. It can feel overwhelming, depression wants to lock hold, BUT we have God! I have been known to enjoy working with clay, so I identify with the illustration of being molded and shaped by the Creator’s own hand. He is referred to as the Potter and we are the clay. Isaiah 64:8, “Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.” When life brings us to hard places, like loss we are not alone. We have been created to be victorious as our loving God takes our mess and makes it our message!
There is a passage in Isaiah 52 that tells us to Awake and arise, for we are a child of the mighty King! Put on your strength, shake off the dust and be loosed from what binds you! These are words of strength spoken to a woman grieving the death of a loved one who committed suicide, it speaks to the woman who went through a divorce, and to the single mom as she returns to school. I have been all these women and now it still speaks volumes to me! We are all in this together, experiencing similar things. The memories of what the Lord has done acts as a reminder He brings us through difficult times. However, we want to go forward in life and focus on what He is doing in your life now and what lies ahead. The Lord has delivers and restores and that is where we want to set our thinking rather than the difficulty we had to endure!
Even in our brokenness God has a design for each of us. Just as a master potter carefully crafts his creation molding and shaping to be what he intends, so does our loving Father. Yet, this life’s twists and turns can take us on quite a journey, so let me pose a question. Where do you get your strength?
Only the Lord can take hurt and fears and help us to find our strength in faith. The journey through difficulty can result in times of healing, joy and love.
After my brother took his life the prayer of my heart was, “God, take this horrible circumstance and somehow turn it around for good.” The untimely death of my brother points to the mercy and grace of a loving Savior! Whether death of a young person or someone later in years, the grief can be great.
As I pen these words, I have just buried my father. It is a different sorrow, not as catastrophic as my brothers, yet still an ache in my heart. In a visit to the graves a peaceful realization swept over me, as they are in the presence of the Lord. You gather the memories and hold tight to the Lord, when strength seems faint it is on Christ the rock that I stand. We can have peace by faith in the One who carries us!
“Now to him Who, by the power that is at work within us, is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that we ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]. To Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
(Ephesians 3: 20-21).
photo by Noah Jongko
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