Recently, when I was visiting one of our homebound members, I was reminded of the importance of those basic promises of God.
It is so easy to have a strong faith when we are young and nothing much has happened in our lives. When we go to church a lot and all the world seems to be going our way. How much more difficult it is to keep that faith when everything falls apart.
I have had the unusual opportunity to experience these challenges earlier than most. And there are many times when faith is not an easy walk in the park. Or if it is a park, it’s Jurassic Park and we are definitely not walking.
In those moments when the floor falls out and I feel so alone that even a crowded room seems empty, I hold onto the most basic promises of God. The ones that have been there from the beginning and will be there through to the end.
The first is that God loves us with a steadfast love that is tenaciously faithful beyond our imagining.
The second is that there is no place in all of creation, within the known universe or even beyond it that we can go where God cannot find us or get to us. Nowhere God will not pursue us out of that same love. We are never alone. Even in those moments when Jesus, part of God’s own self, felt alone in this world – he was not alone. We will never be left or forsaken, even in those times when it appears to be just us on our own.
And that gives us the strength and courage to carry on. Even when it feels like we’re done. Even if it just means taking the next breath – we do it. We keep moving until our time on this earthward journey is through. Then we move on to the next great adventure, and maybe then we’ll get to see everything we had to miss.
The writer John once talked about how we love because God first loved us. What we forget is that the same is just as true about faith: we have faith because God first showed faithfulness to us. It is a gift. One that keeps us going when all else seems lost. And that is what we will be talking about this weekend.
Blessings, Pastor Janie
First Welcoming All 