Love to Conquer Nations

Floods, fights, wars, famine; divorce, broken hearts and disease – our world and lives are pockmarked with pain and evil, and we wonder where God is in the midst of chaos. But He has given us a gilded promise, carved in rocks, as everlasting as our names marked for salvation; this promise is this: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Romans 8:28) This is the way that God molds character – the way He impresses upon human hearts. His great love, and faithfulness, and His great capacity for second chances. There once was a girl whose world was falling apart around her. Her parents were going through an ugly divorce and she felt alone and abandoned. Scarred by the hurt and bitterness that like an acid was eating away at her heart. She was vulnerable to the lies of Satan; she believed him when he whispered in her ear that there was no such thing as love; she believed him when he spoke about how she could never be close to the God she longed to love with her whole life. Her pain and these lies  pushed her away from the only real love she could ever know. She gave into these thoughts time and time again and so the days crawled by and as the nights slunk away every sense of love and joy and goodness were snatched from within her heart. But the day came. The day came when her own darkness was revealed to her. She was standing at the very edge of the abyss; she had passed through death’s door in her mind and she felt the demons clawing for her soul – willing her to fall – to fall and give up for good the gift of her salvation and joy in Christ. She didn’t want to make a decision; she didn’t want to give up her pain and anger and bitterness – but she could not bear the thought of eternity without her King; so she surrendered; and she laid it all at His precious pierced feet. She confessed all her blackness and forsook all her darkness and took the hand of the Lamb – so she could walk in light once again. She laughed and cried and her heart felt as if it would overflow with the joy that she felt. She cried tears of joy every time she remembered just how much she’d been forgiven – and just how much the price had cost Him. She had utter confidence in His love now – she had faith in His precious promises. Nothing she could do would ever take Him away from her, and no one would be able to steal Him away. His love for her was a love strong enough to conquer nations; a love strong enough to split mountains, a love strong enough to rend Him from His Father to free her, and yet it was a love gentle enough to stoop down from His throne among the stars to whisper in her ear “Beloved, peace, be still.”
And for such was I; I was that girl; and this is my peace, this is my consolation: “…we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Through the ugliness of abuse, through the bitterness of pain, through the anger of divorce, I was hardened and broken; broken because I could not be bended; but just the shell was hardened. God, in His infinite mercy, has preserved my heart from utter harness, and when He broke me, He revealed a lump of clay – soft, warm, moldable, to His tender touch; this, this is why pain can be precious – this – this is why His love can conquer nations. And in this, I know, truly, that I am blessed.