Hope in Eternity.

This past Sunday at church the pastor talked about suffering. After the death of one of my beloved friends John's mom I was really struggling with the "whys". Why did this have to happen? Why was she taken away from my sweet friend John, who has down syndrome? Why did their family, who I had relied on and loved for so long deserve to be hurting so much? I quickly discovered this. After reaching out to the Lord for comfort and an explanation he gave me a big one. 

God reminded me through my amazing pastor that suffering is the shortest route to Christ. Woah. I never thought about that way. That the Lord is using us and their suffering to reach out to us and extend our arms up to him for strength. I learned that death and any hardships we face are used for God's good no matter how difficult we think it is and it is our job to point others to Christ in their suffering. In one way or another, whether I ever find out or not, her death will be used for God's glory and that gave me so much peace and light into another side of the Lord I hadn't really discovered. I realized that God uses pain and suffering to get our full attention because at that point all we can do is reach out to the Lord simply because we cannot do it on our own. 

After much wrestling with Suzy's passing and not being able to be home to be there for John I was given so much peace. I named my blog 1 John 1:5 because it is a verse I hold near and dear to my heart. 

"God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all." 

This verse continues to shake me all the time. God has so much light and power over anything we will ever struggle with, big or small. Man do I wish I knew this a couple  years ago. :) God has shown me so much light since coming to I.S.U. and I don't even know if its possible to put into words how much growth I have had since coming to school and truly walking with the Lord. 

My prayer as I work through this blog is that others feel the power of Christ. That they would see how much more powerful Jesus is than anything on this earth. I am reminded that in so many ways and so frequently. My most recent realization is that the Lord has power of my anxiety and depression. The Lord has control and I am finding more and more joy in that promise, and the promise of an eternal reign with him everyday.

I have really been shown this week that I need to be more thankful for the amazing gifts the Lord has provided me with. I am thankful for my amazing friends and family who show me so much love and grace. I am thankful for a church that has a pastor with the Holy Spirit working in him to share messages with us of Gods love. I am thankful for my beautiful and amazing friends with special needs and how much joy is brought to my life because of them. Most of all, I have been finding myself the most thankful for the gospel and with that the promise of heaven. 

How beautiful the day will be when depression and anxiety will no longer exist in this world. Sadness, death, and suffering will be no more and we will get to worship God all the time. How cool is that?!? 

I leave you with a link to one of my favorite songs that gives me the chills and moves me to tears every time I hear it. I pray you are finding hope in the promise of eternity this week. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U-hOMunpWo

Love, 

Allison