A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas
God prays for me.
What a revolutionary thought that is to me.
We think of a friend praying for us, a parent, or even a child, but do we every really consider that God prays for us?
My world was shaken yesterday when a dear friend told me she didn’t believe anymore, she had lost her faith.
What a different response my heart has because God is my strength, my refuge.
My daughter had to read a story for her English class called, Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang. The bottom line was that a man that didn’t believe, but was trying to (because his wife had gone to heaven) tried all different ways to love God so he could be reunited with her. In the end, he "believes" beyond a shadow of a doubt, because Heaven has revealed itself to him, but he is sent to Hell. Not only would he not be reunited with his wife, but he would be separated from God, the one he had come to love above all else. His separation from God was his Hell.
I can’t even imagine what this world would be like if God was not a part of it. People wonder why God can allow horrible things, but I wonder if they consider how much turmoil and chaos He is already shielding them from? What would a world truly absent of God’s influence look like?
A line from a story called Footprints whose author is unknown:
“…my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
Jesus tells the parable of the one lost sheep. (Matthew 18; Luke 15)
The Shepherd cares so much about his flock that the Shepherd will leave the 99 that he has accounted for in search of the one who has gone astray.
Evil is the horrible thing. It twists, it perverts, it sucks the soul right out of people. It deceives. It makes people think that there is no hope, no light, no other choice.
Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:32, “But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon (Peter),
That your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers” Peter went on to deny Jesus three times in public.
God is praying for the “one” to come back to Him.
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