Good morning…
“Though the cherry trees don’t blossom (Habakkuk 3:17, MSG); though the bank account, the bed, the chair, and the calendar are empty; though the grave dirt may be heaped; and though the lungs ache with the weight of breathing through the drowning waves, in Christ what matters forever is always forever safe,” explains the Ann Voskamp quote sent to me yesterday by a friend.
What matters forever is always forever safe. What a comforting thought. On both sides of the thin veil between earth and heaven, we are wrapped in the powerful presence of the living Christ. Might we begin to trust this enduring truth: what matters forever is always forever safe?
“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies (the fears, the worries, the critical voices). There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. …God…holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands” (Matthew 10:28, MSG).
“Hell can try to work us over, but God works even the hellish things into good,” says Voskamp. “God is the Word, and the Word only works everything into a good story, so the last line is a good line. God isn’t transactional, making deals with us of no pain in exchange for faithful love; God is relational, making the way to be with us through pain because He is faithful Love. God doesn’t keep us from suffering; He keeps us through it.”
“Every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved” (Luke 21:17-19, MSG).
“Nothing of you – the real you, the soul you, the you that will last forever – will ever be lost,” concludes Voskamp. “Stay with it, the staying with Him.” Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you (John 15:4a, CEV).
…Sue…
