No matter what you’re going through, you are not too gone, too lost, or too broken, for the perfect love of Christ, to mend you back together.
Not in the pain. Not in the grief. Not in the rejection. Not in the depression. Not in the regret. Not in the shame. Not in the memories that haunt you. Not in the fear. Not in the overwhelm.
The truth is, you are dearly loved by a God who knows you deeply, sees you, and is eager to show you WHO He is.
He is love. He is healing. He is forgiving. He is the giver of peace. He is the restorer of souls. He is the redeemer. He is the righter of all wrongs. He is.
And, ALL that HE IS, is ALL that YOU NEED.
I can say this confidently to you today, because He has been there for me, in my suffering, time and time again. Through this, there is a deep knowing that I am held.
It was the summer of 2020 when God revealed something astonishing to me. An answer to a question that I had pondered for the entirety of my life.
“If You are a good God, then why did you allow such deep hurt and suffering in my life? Where were you in the events that have led to my suffering?”
You see, while most think of 2020 as the year of the pandemic, it was for me, the year of deep reckoning, but also deep healing. It all began with the first week of January that year, when I suffered a trauma response that was so severe, I knew I needed to get professional help.
Thankfully, God, through His mercy, allowed a situation to trigger me so deeply, that I was finally open to the help I needed. In his goodness, through that therapy, He was also preparing me for the upheaval in the world that would soon come.
That though, is a story for another time.
Through prayer, He led me to a Christian counselor, who agreed to walk the path of trauma work, alongside me. The night I recounted my most painful events, she prayed over me, holding my hand in her office, and reminded me through her words to God, that I am not alone.
As the year went on, and the deep work to move on from trauma continued, I felt God’s presence like never before. In fact, one night, as I cried out to Him, “where were you?”, I sensed the Holy Spirit reveal this to me;
“I was there WITH you. I was THERE. “
And as my mind began to recall each haunting trauma of my past, I felt a strong peace come over me. In that moment, a deep knowing assured me that He was there with me, through each moment.
Though so much of my past is painful to recall, He assured me that I was never alone, even in my loneliest hours. No, he never left my side.
Jesus never stops interceding for us, in big ways and small.
I realized then, that He had protected me from further harm, and has carried me through in ways I could never understand.
He reminded me of all of the times that I cried out to Him, and assured me that He was there in the aftermath too. He has been there all along, and He is there still.
I didn’t feel angry, or abandoned. I felt a strong sense of peace, that with it, lifted the weight of sin and pain, and it set me free.
And in that moment, he assured me;
“It was not for nothing. I will use it for good.”
And He will, because that is His character. What the enemy intends to destroy us with, God will redeem for His glory.
As the story of Job teaches us, and so many other accounts in the Bible, God does allow suffering in this life, it’s true. But at the same time, it is also true that He won’t abandon us in that suffering.
No, you are not alone. The God who IS love, is loving you still, no matter what, and He is the only one who can love you back together.
Not even in your deepest brokenness, or the trauma you’ve suffered, or all that intends to destroy you, are you now, or were you ever alone.
He was there, and He is there still.
Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
