Have you ever felt afflicted? Perplexed? Persecuted? Struck down? Well if so, you are in good company! Our precious Lord, Jesus Christ was all of these and more........for us! Each one of us and the good news gets better: We are NOT crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, or destroyed when we suffer! Why not? Because of Jesus! Read 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 and see what I mean..........
We have the most incredible gift with Christ: Eternal Life! Eternal means forever....without beginning or end....lasting.......timeless!!! WOW! If only we turn to Him and trust Him with our whole hearts..........Have you ever thought of looking forward to spending Eternity with GOD? The Creator of the Universe? That is quite a concept to wrap your head around as we say in today's day and age. ETERNITY.........whew! It blows my mind and fills my heart with awe and wonder.......and immense gratitude.
Why this topic? Why this night? Well, I felt a little bit of affliction, perplexity, persecution and being struck down tonight as I discussed some "old" issues with my son about his dad. Today is his dad's birthday and despite the fact that we have been divorced for 13 years, I still get a little melancholy around his birthday. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to get back together with my ex-husband at all for any reason, but I was totally committed to the man for 19 years. And, sometimes, it still hurts...........I really wanted to be married to one man for my entire life - I wanted to beat the odds and have a marriage that other people said: "Wow, they have really got a great marriage!"
Well, that obviously did not happen. Divorce happened instead. And, while God's incredible grace has sustained me throughout this ordeal, I have grown an enormous amount over the past 13 years! But, I still regret the fact that I am divorced and that my son had to be the brunt of the disaster and learn skills I never dreamed I would have to teach him on how to cope with separated and divorced parents. There were a lot of tearful days and nights when we first split and for that I have regrets.......
Trying to be the mediator between my son, his grandparents on his dad's side and my ex is quite a feat! Listen to this story: Over the years, I have stayed in touch with my son's grandparents because
I did not want Matt to miss out on having both sets of grandparents because his own parents could not get their act together. So, in trying to be nice and invite my in-laws to KC from Ohio so that they might see Matt play baseball this summer I extended the invitation. Then, in an effort to be open, honest and direct with my ex, I sent him a text to let him know I had offered them to stay at our house if they came for a visit. Well, guess what??? The ex and his girlfriend got all bent out of shape and made a fuss thus creating havoc for my son with his dad. UGH! What is that saying: "You can't win for losing????" Well, in dealing with this matter, it happens to be true! And, to boot, I was made out to be the bad guy in trying to make my ex look bad! Go figure..........I am perplexed!!!
Does anyone see how persecution goes??? And, this is the minor leagues compared to what Christ went through!!! So, in coping with the after affects even 13 years later, it feels like I am being struck down once again. Defeated by trying to be nice. Destroyed because I wanted to extend an invitation for the sake of my son. Can you imagine how God felt when Jesus was betrayed??? Whew.........it humbles me to the core of my being.
Again, the GOOD NEWS is this: We will spend Eternity with an amazing, wonderful, glorious God who loves us even when we mess up or are perceived to mess up by others!!!
Isn't that amazing??????? It is to me and so, I stand in awe of an Amazing God, Amazing Son and Amazing Holy Spirit who saves me from all of the destruction of this world.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!
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