Skip to main content

Kept by the power of God

I find myself descending into an abyss of despair and loneliness. I ache for Julius and find it hard to comprehend that he will never come home. His house slippers are still in the same spot, but they will never be worn again. I will never hear his voice responding to my constant chatter, he never tired of hearing all the details of my day. I will never again have such a wonderful prayer partner who woke up even at 2 am if I needed prayer.
Always caring, always watching out for us girls. Car oil changes, fill my tank, wash my car, bake bread, play romantic love songs on the piano, play board games with the girls, hang out on the couch, watch Sherlock Holmes with me, pack my lunch, make breakfast on weekends and on and on...
Will this ache ever go away? I have constant flash backs of holidays and trips and we did many of these. Drives down country roads, walks in the ravine, favourite getaway at Niagara Falls...
I have to admit I struggle to see the love of God in this "dreadful darkness" that seems to surround me. I ask "why, Lord? Why could you not have given Julius and me a few years more together?
But God, My God gracious and loving, will not let me sink any deeper. It is His love that never makes me feel that I cannot ask or be honest about my thoughts and feelings.

I am in Andrew Murray's book "Absolute Surrender" I come across this chapter on Kept by the Power of God the very day I was at my lowest. I had read this verse many times before but never looked at this way before. .
Quoting 1 Peter 1:5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible...reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith...
He beautifully explains that we are kept by the power of God and kept through faith for salvation.  "There is an inheritance kept for me in heaven and I on earth kept for the inheritance there."
How does God plan to keep me for this inheritance? God's keeping includes all of my life, not just parts of it.
"God comes to us as the almighty One, and without any condition He offers to be my keeper, and His keeping means that day by day, moment by moment, God is going to keep us."

Hush, loved one, it seems like My God is calling to my very soul and gently moving my perspective to an eternal one. There is an inheritance for the believer and just as God has no problem keeping it incorruptible, He is doing His work of keeping me for it. How can I protest? This is part of His plan of keeping me. Would I not entrust my all to Him who has saved me, and whose promises are true?
How gracious that He even cares to touch down and respond to my rant. It is a testimony to His Love - the very love that I was finding it hard to see as I stubbornly looked at my trial and not at Him. He lifts my countenance so I can  see that "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Ps 34:18

Comments

  1. Sweet Joslyn...we continue to pray for you! May you draw ever nearer to the heart of Christ as you walk through these times.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Joy comes with the morning." Psalm 30

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!" Three days after Julius went home to the Lord, God had given me a promise. He had spoken to me from Psalm 77. Just like He had moved the nation of Israel, He was going to make a way through the deep waters of suffering that I was in. A way that I could not see, a way that I had to trust. I had to make a choice to move forward and believe that the waters would not drown me. (Is 43:2).  I had to believe Him. It is one year and 9 months and there are days even now when the waters seem to overwhelm and there are days when I see a glimpse of the path ahead. Through the prophet Isaiah He says: 'Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

A Letter to My Grandson on His First Birthday

  My darling Baby D, Today is the twentieth anniversary of an event that changed the world forever.  This event that we call 9/11 is in your history books but it is a reality that I share with you. So much more has happened to this world since then. 2020 was the year of the pandemic - this time your reality more than mine. You actually got the dreaded covid bug. It has been a year and some of isolation, masks, vaccines and fear all around us.  Each new day makes our reality uncertain and changing all the time. And yet for me this is a day of hope. 9/11 of 2020 is what I will call it. I had prayed for over five years - sometimes fervently, sometimes desperately, sometimes, honestly not at all. I often got tired of waiting but my weak faith was not going to stop God’s plan.  A year has gone by and I have watched you grow from the tiny fragile little baby, to a  boy who cannot sit still. Oh what joy you bring to my heart. I love your welcome at the condo and your response when you hea

Thankful

Another first... Last year we had my Papa and Julius at the dinner table. Couple of weeks later my Dad passed away - slipped away in his sleep. Six months later Julius was gone to heaven. To be honest I have asked God "What are you thinking God?" "How do you expect me to move on with so much loss and grief?" And "What is coming next?" I confess that none of these questions are answered because they are not worthy to be asked. God is Sovereign, He is Creator and He is in control and I am so comforted by His Word. In the book of Job I read: But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?      What he desires, that he does. 14  For he will complete what he appoints for me,      and many such things are in his mind . Job 23:13-14. And again in Lamentations 3 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;  33  for he does not afflict from his heart   or