Monday, October 17, 2016

Reminders

I’m quick to think of worst-case scenarios.

Seriously, if you need to find out what could go wrong while walking into the grocery store, or how a simple vacation could turn into a tragedy, or how tying your shoes could kill you, I can help.

I really need to work on this, especially in my line of work.  I was explaining a medication to a patient the other day and was telling him he would not be going home on this particular medication, “unless something happens and you have a stroke or something.”

No, Kendall.  No.  That patient wasn’t worried about having a stroke.  He is now.

I don’t think I’m alone in this (at least, I hope I’m not).  As humans, we’re trained to expect the worst – the worst out of people, out of governments, out of the media, out of the weather, out of life – and it’s the rare and beautiful human who rises above and unfailingly expects good things to happen.  (Please tell me I’m not wrong.  If I am, I might need professional help.)

But, child of God (speaking to myself, of course)…  Don’t you realize that nothing will ever ever ever ever ever happen to you outside the endless love of Jesus?

Don’t you remember that He has made plans “not to harm” you (Jer. 29:11)?

Don’t you know that the whole world can spin out of your control, but it won’t ever spin out of His?

And no, His thoughts aren’t your thoughts, dear one, His ways aren’t your ways (Is. 55:9).  He may act in a way that does not feel like love.  He may work in a way that seems like harm.

But it is love.  His way is always love.  He works all things for your good (Rom. 8:28), though it does not say that He works all things for your good right away.

God is good.  God is in control.  God loves me.

I was told once that fear leaks in when our belief in one of those things fails.

But when all three are engrained into our hearts…what peace.

Everything can go wrong.  An earthquake can shatter the entire country.  An election can turn life upside down.  An unexpected diagnosis or a shocking betrayal or a fatal accident or a failed friendship can rock your heart, but it will not rock His love.  Though the mountains be shaken, His love will not be (Is. 54:10).

After all, the goal of life is not to never experience pain or loss.  It is to experience the love and presence of One who has prepared a place for us, one where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and He Himself will be our light (Rev. 21:4, Is. 60:19).

"'As the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you;' and a higher degree of love we cannot imagine. The Father loves His Son infinitely, and even so today, Believer, doth the Son of God love thee." -Charles Spurgeon

Jesus loves you as much as the Father loves Jesus.

What a thought to simply be in for a moment.  And what a thought to be in when worst-case scenarios become more than silly exercises in creative thinking, when they become real fears or even real events.

This post isn’t terribly deep.  There are no new thoughts here, nothing others haven’t said before, nothing I haven’t said before.

But my heart so often needs a reminder of His love, come what may.

And perhaps yours does too.


"I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize that He is able to carry out His will for me. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is for Him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions He will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones His grace is sufficient." - Hudson Taylor