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If I am still breathing, I LIVE

Just yesterday I received bad news. It so crushed me, I slumped to the floor in tears. It felt as if a hand had slid inside my chest, squeezing life from my heart. “Don’t you have any words of encouragement for me?” I asked my husband.

“I don’t know what to say. But, I can read the Bible to you.”

He opened to 2 Corinthians 4. “…The One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainlyDSC_0106 raise us up with you, alive.” (verse 14, The Message)

If God could give Jesus breath again, he can make us live again. Of all the things I have learned about suffering, this one is the simplest – if I am still breathing, I LIVE… And if that is true, there is hope.

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That “NEVER” Word

Never? Yes! “The one who trusts will never be dismayed.” (Isaiah 28:16) God is quoted again in the Bible, but it is slightly altered. “The one who trusts in the Lord will never be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:6)  Shame shows our sense of moral inadequacy, of feeling that we have royally failed. Dismay shows our sense of DSC_0192 emotional inadequacy, of feeling overwhelmed by things happening outside our control. We might have messed up, or life might have messed us up, yet when we trust in God, when we know that He is in control, not us… His indisputable NEVER takes hold.

In the midst of being forced to work for my father I felted utterly dismayed. I couldn’t change it. I  also felt shame at not having the strength to fight him. God never judged me for my seeming failures. NEVER. He held my hand and led me out.