GOD ALONE!

Have you ever sunken down into the pit of despair? One man called it, “shadow-lands”.  In that dark place he sought comfort from a friend. His friend’s response went like this, ““My first matter of prayer for you is that you will see God in the shadow-lands; that even without good times, good feelings, and showers of blessings you will be satisfied with just Him, Himself ... for however long God purposes to be the sole encouragement you have”.[1]

Friends, there are times in life when God will be the only one you have. In those times there will be nothing good to feel good about, no blessings that you can ascertain, no counselors with the right words to encourage you, nothing to ease the pain or the loneliness, nothing to replace the loss – just God alone.  But you will find, if you are content with God alone, His grace will be sufficient, and in His time, the darkness will give way to light, the despair will give way to joy, the loneliness to the comfort of a friend who is closer than a brother, and you will again praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning, (Psalm 30:5). The “shadow lands” is the place where God grows his children up into the likeness of Christ. The “shadow-lands” is the crucible of a fiery suffering from which emerges the purest gold.  

- Pastor Tom

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[1] From the IFCA News Connection, March 2018, Vol. 10, No. 3