Listen close, lean in. I want you to understand something; I want you to get a glimpse of God’s unrelenting love even in the midst of trials, as I too want to understand it, own it, live it, breathe it in and exhale with the most blessed assurance that God has not left, he has not abandoned, but rather he is working in our lives bringing us out in order to bring us in. please know God is not punishing you with that diagnosis, he is not a violent angry father ready to use the belt and abandon his kids who mess up or who may have messed up, he is not getting even for that thing you did years ago or said weeks ago. He is not punishing you with that unfaithful spouse or that boss that just fired you, or the child who betrayed you. I want you to consider something. If God was truly angry with you He is well able to eliminate you. He has been known for instantly removing the life breathe from an individual who has truly offended him. He doesn’t play games, like we do and he doesn’t manipulate, he doesn’t have to; He is God and he can accomplish anything he wants without our permission or intervention. And if he wanted to judge with a damning judgment, he is able to consume you in a moments time. If he rejected you its likely that you wouldn’t care because Your hard heart would be numb to the back of his head. If your concerned that what you’re going through is God’s punishment than you haven’t rejected God but rather you are seeking to understand Him, and he would never in a million trillion years walk away from a child who is trying to understand ; that is what we do as flawed sinners, not what God does as a Holy and perfectly Just Father.
God is an artist; that’s how I see him. Artists make things, and in the process of making things that really matter; they both take things away from their masterpiece and make changes all for the purpose of beauty and truth. God disciplines his children but not with senseless abuse. God disciples us, he works on and in our lives, he walks beside us, he comforts us in our pain, he weeps with us, he teaches us and strengthens us when we need strength. Perhaps if we are suffering it is because the master is working on us, shaping, cutting, changing and adding. Perhaps His fiery self has drawn strangely close and we are feeling the flame, but he is making significant improvement preparing us for the kingdom Halls.
God loves his children with an everlasting love … all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. john 1:12
God would never turn away from his children who are turned towards him, even when their hearts are imperfect and their flesh is full of sin and unrighteousness. If we receive him and believe in his name then we are his children and his love towards his children is everlasting. Sometimes we need to repent, sometimes we need to endure but we never have to worry that God has banished or punished us.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us
Romans 8:18
my faith place 