He Never Lets Go

If you’re a fan of Michael Bubble or have heard his song “Home”, then you’re familiar with the lyrics.

“Maybe surrounded by, A million people I, Still feel all alone”.

If you’ve ever felt like that, I am sorry. And if you haven’t (which I sincerely hope you haven’t), I wish you never ever have to experience the sensation.

To feel alone is horrendous. And I don’t mean alone as in you don’t have a significant other or a friend physically present with you, I mean to literally feel alone and lost. To be among a vast world, whether it be your campus (if you attend college) or your town (if your living just trying to make it in the world) or wherever you may be, and to have acquaintances but no true connections and don’t know who to turn to. The worst thing about being or feeling alone is that you are tortured by your mind. You think constantly and focus on how life could be better.

I know the feeling, so I can sympathize with those going through it. But I have good news; you don’t have to feel alone because God is always with you.

Just listen to this song.

(copy and past the URL)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83-vMeWc9E

God is with us, even when we don’t realize it. When we hurt, we may not realize that He is next to us, ready with a shoulder to cry on. But He is.  That’s how much He loves us. He knows when we are hurting.

I once heard this great analogy to how God feels about our pain:

God is our Father and like a earthly father, He has children (and we are His children).

When a child gets hurt or is hurting, their father wishes he could take away their pain.

They would rather go through their pain than see them hurting.

Our heavenly father is the same way.

When we cry, He cries.

He goes through everything we go through.

So, when we are hurting, instead of trying to suffer through it alone, we just need to turn to Him and He will help us through everything. It’s true, He never lets go.

 Chapter 1 of “Crazy Love” has brought my attention back to God and His awesome character and awesome love. And it helps me feel better knowing that I have a God looking over me that loves me.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

So, these are some of the things that really stuck out to me while reading the book and that I have found comfort in. The thoughts are all kind of random so don’t be alarmed that this isn’t all exactly coherent with transition sentences (this isn’t English class after all :)).

I hope these thoughts can be of comfort to you when you are hurting as they were for me.

“God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am.”” – Exodus 3:14

I saw this verse in the book and it has never meant much to me until now that I stopped to ponder it.

My thought process:

Living in a world where change is constant and life keeps going without stop, we yearn for something constant in our lives. That’s why people long for a significant other to spend the rest of their life with. They want someone to be there with them on the bumpy ride of life and help them get through it. However, people aren’t always constant. Things happen and people leave, but God? God is always the same… yesterday, today and tomorrow. He won’t decide one day to change the plan of salvation or decide that He doesn’t want to forgive our sins anymore because He gave His word and He will keep it. God himself says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 3:15) It is a comfort to know that He is always there when I need Him and He will always love me.

I love this point Chan (the author of the book) made about God and his holiness. He said it so perfectly that I don’t want to try summarizing it. So here it is.

“Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”

Let me answer that; yes, it is!

God is all-knowing. Woah! That means that he knows everything. Our God is “the maker of the billions of galaxies and thousands of tree species in the rainforest. This is the God who takes the time to know all the little details about each of us. He does not have to know us so well, but He chooses to.” (Because He loves us!) He knows our thoughts before we even think them and he knows what will happen in our life tomorrow. And He knows that though we may be hurting, we will get through it.

It’s just another one of His amazing qualities.

 Sometimes, we worry if God even remembers us, if He hears our prayers, or if He cares about us at all. However, if you take some time to look at creation and really think of how it was made or how it works or even how many different species there are, you see how much thought and love He put into His creations to make them the best they could possibly be.

 Within each day of creation, God planned everything…the 228 separate muscles in a caterpillars head, the 6 million leaves on an average Elm tree, and the intricate processes our body performs (cell division, digestion, and the functions of the endocrine and nervous systems). I can’t even fathom how one person, my God, created all of it! That means He thought of all the ideas on His own and they were 100 percent original. He had no designs to copy from anyways because He was the beginning.

What’s really cool is that “God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.” (Example in Psalm 19:1-4). His creation testifies that He is glorious. And guess what! There is no other like him! That’s why He is my God; He is superior to all. There is no one that has ever lived, that possibly comes close to Him.

“Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation, we see His “invisible qualities” and “divine nature”. That’s it! That’s why I love nature but I’ve never known how to explain it through words. Thanks for the putting it into words Chan!

Chan used an excellent analogy to express how he feels about his relationship with God and I totally agree. He wrote that when he attended his high school graduation, people were amazed at who he had married. After many comments, he reflected upon his marriage and wife saying, “I, too, was taken aback. It is astonishing that my wife chooses to be with me – and not just because she is beautiful. I was reminded of the fullness of what I have been given in my wife.”

When I think about my relationship with God, I am totally amazed, shocked, and blessed that He wants anything to do with me. As a sinner, I surely do not deserve Him but He chooses to love, embrace, and take me back each time I sin. I don’t know how He has the patience to put up with me either. He, with His all-loving character, literally blows me away and leaves me speechless. The one thing I can say is that I am undoubtedly thankful for Him and His love.

 If that was just a jumble of information and 

you couldn't make much of that,

I just hope you remember this:

When you feel alone, take a look around at all of creation and admire the beauty for a second. 

God is in everything. 

He is everywhere. 

He is always by your side.