Who You Are: How God Sees You

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

I was reminded, yet again, in a conversation with a friend after church why it was important for our family to continue attending church following the most unthinkable tragedy with the loss of our daughter in 2007. I was reminded, yet again, that when tragedy hit our family it was important to put into motion all of the faith lessons I have learned up to this point in my life. I was reminded, yet again, that this is where God had planned for me to be at this point in my life.

You see, when we lose someone we have always loved we enter into a forlorn period of grief that resembles fear.and anxiety We become fearful of the unknown. We try to smother our remaining kids in an effort to protect them from succumbing to harm that caused our other child's death. We become afraid when they take risks and try to persuade them to take the safer path, not the path God would like them to take.

When fear takes over it is as though we erect these huge fortress walls in an effort to protect us from further harm. Fear does and often is transmitted generationally. We can, if we're not careful, transmit our fears to our future generation/

The life lessons I remembered from my 2-year commitment in a discipleship training program consisted of trusting God with whatever happens in ,my life.  I am reminded of these words from Romans 8:38-39 " For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Fear, my friends, does not have to control me. I can rise up from the dust off my grief, take hold of my staff, and press on trusting God for a mighty work as a result of my suffering.He can, and often does, use our pain, whatever that pain looks like to you, to inspire others to greatness.

I was reminded of this when I ran into a friend at church who thanked me for the years of encouragement.

Had I built that fortress wall years ago, stopped going to the church I called home, and taken my family on a topsy-turvy road of fear based decisions I would never have seen what God truly had in store for my life.

If there is a life lesson from this post, I hope you begin seeing yourself the way God sees you. You were meant to be free from fear,  free from failure, and free from the opinions of others. What is it you desire to do today? Go back to school to obtain a new skill? A new certification? Then, begin surrounding yourself with positive mentors who can inspire you to conquer those fears and accomplish those goals.

You do not have to remain in fear as grief enters your being. As you walk through the valley of all of your emotions begin trusting that God knows what he is doing with your pain. In time, God will reveal his plans for your life, a life free from fear.