Thought of the Day !!

I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. – John 14:18-19 (NLT)

Have you ever felt alone?  Maybe a relationship ended or a loved one died.  Maybe as a kid you were lost in a department store and didn't know where your parents were.

I remember one time when I was very young and my parents and me and another family took the ski boat out somewhere I'd never been before.  I remember being in the truck with my dad driving back up the hill and wanted to be out on the sandy area where my mom was.  He stopped and at the top of the hill and let me run back down the hill to be with mom and the rest.  But when I got to the bottom of the hill, I'd lost where she had been.  Looking back up the hill, I couldn't see my dad anymore.  In truth he'd only driven maybe fifty yards away to park the truck.  But I had no idea where either parent was and felt lost and all alone for a couple of minutes.  I was scared and wondered if my parents had abandoned me...which of course they hadn't.

I wonder how often since then, and before I've matured in my faith, that I felt so down that I felt everyone, including God, had abandoned me?  Have you ever been there?  

We weren't created to be alone.  We were created for relationships.  God wants us to have relationships with others...parents, spouses, friends, co-workers, etc. that are strong and healthy.  He wants us to have a loving relationship with Himself that far exceeds anything else in our lives.  And if this is going to be the case, then He's going to have to always be there for us.  That's why Jesus tells his disciples...and I believe us today...that he'll never abandon us.

It might seem like we're all alone at times.  But in reality, we can never go far enough or get so lost that our God is not with us.  He may not be with us in physical form anymore.  But He is with us through the power and person of the Holy Spirit.  We can always speak to Him, listen for Him, be guided by Him and walk with Him.  No matter what changes in this world, God will never abandon us.

In the love of Christ,

greg