There might be nothing scarier than watching someone you love forget about God. I was talking about this with a close friend of mine the other day. Someone we love, a woman from the generation before us, is going through a time of struggle. What we didn't understand was where God's voice in her life had gone. She used to be one of those people that read her Bible daily and her walk with God was sweet and intimate. Somewhere along the way she lost that connection and hasn't tried to get it back.
Why?
So much in her life has fallen apart. But it happened slowly like an abandoned home--wind and rain crumbling away the structure and eating away at the foundation.
You watch it happen to someone you love and you feel so powerless. You know, and they know, that God will help them rebuild everything that is precious, but they have to be the one to take that first step. Everyone around them is waiting with their hammers and fresh bricks and boards, eager to help them. But the home doesn't belong to the eager helpers and they can't step on that property without permission.
Why? How does this happen? Besides the fact that I must watch someone I love struggle so much, do you know what else scares me? The haunting possibility that somewhere down the road this might happen to me.
When I was talking about this to my friend she said it seemed our lives go through seasons. In the spring our walk with God is fresh and exciting. The summer sees growth and warmth fill our relationship with him. In the fall we look back at what kind of harvest those seeds of grace have brought to us. And then, sometimes a winter creeps in.
We empower the devil to bring the cold season into our life when we let the things of this world push God to the sideline. His voice in our heart becomes harder for us to hear. God is speaking to us just as loudly as ever, but our focus has fell to other things. We have to stop and retrain our hearts to listen.
I pray daily for that loved one of mine.
God still claims her as His child. There is always hope for Spring again and all the glory that follows.
Why?
So much in her life has fallen apart. But it happened slowly like an abandoned home--wind and rain crumbling away the structure and eating away at the foundation.
You watch it happen to someone you love and you feel so powerless. You know, and they know, that God will help them rebuild everything that is precious, but they have to be the one to take that first step. Everyone around them is waiting with their hammers and fresh bricks and boards, eager to help them. But the home doesn't belong to the eager helpers and they can't step on that property without permission.
Why? How does this happen? Besides the fact that I must watch someone I love struggle so much, do you know what else scares me? The haunting possibility that somewhere down the road this might happen to me.
When I was talking about this to my friend she said it seemed our lives go through seasons. In the spring our walk with God is fresh and exciting. The summer sees growth and warmth fill our relationship with him. In the fall we look back at what kind of harvest those seeds of grace have brought to us. And then, sometimes a winter creeps in.
We empower the devil to bring the cold season into our life when we let the things of this world push God to the sideline. His voice in our heart becomes harder for us to hear. God is speaking to us just as loudly as ever, but our focus has fell to other things. We have to stop and retrain our hearts to listen.
I pray daily for that loved one of mine.
God still claims her as His child. There is always hope for Spring again and all the glory that follows.
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.
Ecclesiastes 3:14
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