"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." -- 1 Peter 5:10The above verse has a lot of meaning to me. Aside from the absolute truth in what it says, it's also become words to live by. Several weeks after my wonderful wife, Teresa, passed away and joined our Father in Heaven, I was cleaning out one of her purses when I came across a small piece of paper folded up in the pocket of the purse. I opened up the note and written on it, in my wife's handwriting, was this verse. It was as if she was sharing it with me right then. I had been deep in grief at the time, and discovering this note, with this specific verse on it, struck me so strongly that I was completely overcome with emotion, and I cried and cried. They were tears of joy, because I knew she wanted me to hear these words. The Lord is and always has been with me, throughout all of my experiences, and he was with me then, even if I didn't realize it at the time. Knowing that, after I went through this period of mourning and suffering, He would be there and bring me back to health and restoration. How could I not be overjoyed by this message?
That said, I still go through these periods of depression. I know that He is with me, that Teresa is with Him, and that despite these moments of doubt and suffering, he will restore me. He is an awesome God! I just wish I was able to shake this feeling of sadness that occasionally comes over me, sometimes completely at random it seems. The past few days have been that way, though I am feeling much better today. I know my faith should be greater. I need to trust the above verse. God will be there for me.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment