The Priority of LOVE (Part 3) – I Am Loved

The foundation of our love for others is a revelation of God’s love for us. The most important question in your life is not how much you love others or even how much you love God. It is how much do you think God loves you. Everything flows from this. Once we grasp and fully understand how much God loves us and allow that love to transform our lives, we are in a much better place to reach out in love to those around about us. In contrast, when we are unaware of God’s love for us, we can tend to relate to others from a point of need, seeking to get them to fill the emptiness in our own lives, an approach that often leads to disappointment and even dysfunction in relationships. Deep inside every human heart are all sorts of longings – for acceptance, for approval, for a sense of identity, for a sense of belonging, and for significance. We will do anything to fulfill these longings and desires within us. Ultimately, as St Augustine once said, “O Lord, our hearts our restless until they rest in thee.”

The Father’s Love
We come to God through Jesus – the One who is our Saviour and Lord. He came to earth, lived a perfect life, then died on a cross so that we could be forgiven and become children of God. Jesus described himself as “the way” – the way to the Father. Through Jesus we come to know God as our Father (John 1:11-13). The Holy Spirit then comes to live inside of us and fill us with the Father’s love so that His love is the foundation of our lives (Romans 5:5. Ephesians 3:14-19). It is so important that we fully consider the amazing love that God has for each one of us – not just in our heads (knowledge), but deep in our hearts (experience). This love of the Father for us is even greater than the love he has for us as our Creator (Psalm 139:1-18). John puts it this way: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)”

Our Foundation
Because of sin in our world and the disruption of the dance of loving community modeled by the Trinity, we often end up founding our life on anything BUT God’s love. Things such as rejection, fear, shame, inferiority, hurt, pride and jealousy can so easily take root, tainting our own heart and also those we are in relationship with. By God’s grace, we need to see these things removed from our heart and replaced with God’s limitless love. See yourself as the “the beloved” of God. “In Christ” you have identity and significance (to replace inferiority), value and worth (to replace performance-orientation), acceptance (to free you from approval addiction), security (to free you from fear), and purpose (to free you from meaninglessness).

Think of the many people in the Bible who were completely transformed, not by their own goodness or by anything they did, but simply by a revelation of God’s love for them – a depressed and suicidal prophet named Elijah, a Samaritan woman with five broken marriages, a hated tax collector named Zaccheus, a failed disciple named Peter, a prodigal son, a dying criminal next to Jesus on the cross, and even a religious zealot like Paul. Love made the change.

Loving Others
As we experience a greater fullness in our own heart and lives because of the love of God, we will find it easier to love those around about us. It will be an outflow of the love we already have in our hearts. Even Jesus was given an affirmation of the Father’s love for him just as he began his ministry (Mark 1:9-11). He knew he was “the beloved” – loved by God the Father.

As we receive God’s love into our heart we begin to accept ourselves, even in our imperfect and frail state. This enables us to obey the second great commandment, which is to “love your neighbour as yourself.” Many people struggle to love others because in reality they hate themselves and have no love inside to give out freely to others. There is an old song (1985) by Bill and Gloria Gaither with a lyric that says this: “I am loved, I am loved, I can risk loving you, for the One who knows me best loves me most … we are free to love each other, we are loved.” Unless we truly know that WE are loved, we will find it difficult to truly love others.

Receive God’s Love
The cross is the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us: “God so loved the world (you and me) that he gave his only Son … (John 3:16).” Jesus said that there was no greater love than for someone to lay down their life for their friends. He did that … for you. God’s love is not just for everybody in general but for you specifically, as an individual – just as you are, warts and all.

Wayne Jacobsen in his book He Loves Me! says this, “Two thousand years of religious tradition have inculcated in us the mistaken notion that God’s love is something we earn. If we do what pleases him, he loves us; if not, he doesn’t. Giving that up isn’t easy. Moving from a performance-based religious ethic to a relationship deeply rooted in the Father’s affection is no small transition.” He goes on to say, “Nothing in this book has any value if it is just an intellectual argument, or if it only spawns a theology of God’s love. It has meaning only if you can learn how to live loved – to awaken to each new day confident that the Father delights over you like a parent over his newborn child.” Finally, as Brennan Manning says, “Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” He goes on to say, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

Brennan-Manning-Ragamuffin-quote

Reflection Questions:

  1. Consider your natural father. How has your relationship with him (or lack of it) influenced your understanding of God?
  2. Reflect on the concept of ‘self-acceptance’. What does it mean for us as children of God?
  3. Read Ephesians 3:14-19. What are indicators that our lives are increasingly founded on God’s love for us? What would be indicators that our lives lack this foundation?
  4. How can we balance accepting and being kind to ourselves (through faith and grace) while also seeking to grow and change to be more like Jesus (character development)?
  5. Read and discuss the quotes by Wayne Jacobson and Brennan Manning above then pray for a greater revelation of how much you are loved by God.

Next: The Priority of Love (Part 4) – Awkward Love

The Priority of LOVE (Part 2) – Original Love

Relationships in Turmoil
Despite the fact that there are many good things happening in our world today, it doesn’t take a lot of insight to realize that we are a time of turmoil – especially in our relationships. At our very core, human beings are relational creatures. We have this tendency to ‘herd’ – to want to be together with other people. Deep inside, we have longings for belonging, for acceptance, for love, for intimacy and for meaning – all of which are found in a relationship with others. Yet despite our obvious need and our best efforts, there is evidence of fractured, broken and dysfunctional relationships everywhere: between and within nations, in the marketplace, in families, and even in the church.

The apostle John, one of Jesus’ closest followers, faced similar challenges in his lifetime. The Roman Empire of his day was ruthless, harsh and abusive, creating fear in every citizen’s heart. Even in the church, there were tensions, divisions, and conflicts. The threats from the inside were as great as the persecution from the outside. John was a pastor placed over a number of church congregations. What could he say? How would he address these relational problems? Let’s reads some of his words, no doubt inspired by the Holy Spirit:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [1 John 4:7-11. NIV]

For John, the remedy to the problem was to get back to the source of everything: God as love. He doesn’t use fear or guilt as a motivator. He painted a picture of God’s very nature. If they could only catch a fresh glimpse of God, as he really is, it could radically change their own hearts and lives. People grounded powerfully in God’s love are able to experience a transformation that will affect all aspects of community life … and ultimately the world.

The Dance of Divinity
We need a fresh revelation of GOD. It begins by looking at Jesus. In his gospel, Mark wastes no time in boldly declaring Jesus to be the “Son of God (Mark 1:1).” He then moves quickly to the scene of Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:9-11). Here we see the Father, who is the voice; the Son, who is the Word in human form; and the Spirit fluttering like a dove. Mark is deliberately pointing us back to the original creation of the world. Creation and redemption are both the work of a Trinity, one God in three persons.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is that God is one God, eternally existent in three persons (Matthew 28:19. 2 Corinthians 13:14. Ephesians 2:18). This is a mystery and difficult for the human mind to comprehend. There are not three Gods. Neither is there one God posing in three different forms. Here are three persons, who in some amazing, mysterious way constitute one God.

In the Trinity, none is before or after the other, none is less or greater than another, none is subordinated in being or function to another. The members exist as three equal yet differentiated persons in the most intimate communion. There is a radical, relational, co-equality. C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “In Christianity, God is not a static thing … but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.” Each person of the Trinity moves, flows, and draws life from the other in a community of perfect love. It’s the dance of divinity – sometimes called perichoresis by theologians (peri = around; choresis = to move or dance).

Dance

Implications for Human Relationships
The doctrine of the Trinity is not just a nice theological concept. Ultimately, it is a practical doctrine with radical consequences for the Christian life. The community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit becomes a prototype of the human community God dreams of – a society of loving relationships reflecting the image of our Creator God. The Trinity can be seen as a model or pattern for our human relationships. We are called into this life, the Triune God in whom “we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).”

God invites us into this dance – not as the fourth person of the Godhead, but as part of his loving community. In contrast, evil forces seek to disrupt the dance, pulling us away from a trusting relationship with God. Our choice and our response have far-reaching implications, both now and for eternity.

What does an understanding of the very nature of the Trinity mean for us today? What are some “dance movements” that we need to learn? Here are a few: God calls to move away from isolation and towards community; from selfishness towards self-giving love; from discord towards unity; from suspicion towards trust; from exclusion towards inclusion, enlarging our circle of love. Yes, the Lord of the Dance calls us into the joyful rhythm of his loving community.

The quality of relationship we long for has always been part of who God is.  More importantly, when the church community truly reflects the nature of Trinitarian love, its witness to the world will be the most powerful and effective. Experience the Trinity today. After all, the eternal God lives on the inside of you … because of Jesus …and by the Spirit.

Some Reflection Questions:

  1. If God has existed in a loving community within for eternity, why did God create us?
  2. Reflect on God as Trinity. What does it mean to you? How can you explain it?
  3. Reflect on the picture of a “dance of Divinity.” How is this metaphor helpful?
  4. How should our understanding of God as Trinity affect our human relationships: marriage, parenting, workplace relationships, and church community relationships? Discuss some of the “dance movements” above; come up with some more.
  5. Francis Schaeffer once said, “Christian community is the final apologetic.” Do you think this is true and, if so, what are the implications for the church today?
  6. What is the Father like? What is the Son like? What is the Spirit like? How can we grow in our relationship with each person of the Trinity?

Next: The Priority of Love (Part 3) – I am Loved

The Priority of LOVE (Part 1)

The fairly new church in the bustling seaport city of Corinth back in AD 65 was booming. It was a dynamic charismatic and Pentecostal community attracting pagans and religious people alike. The meetings were pumping – inspiring worship times, sensational preaching, insightful teaching, as well as regular healings and miracles. It was the place to encounter God. The Holy Spirit was at work in powerful ways. 

But something was wrong. In the midst of all the growth and hype about this church, a kind of spiritual cancer had subtly set in. Yes, it was good at pretty much everything … except LOVE. The apostle Paul, who founded this church, was annoyed, and rightly so. After all, LOVE was to be the central experience and practice of every follower of Jesus. LOVE was supreme and of primary importance. 

In a letter to this church, Paul addressed various groups within the church who had developed a variety of priorities and pursuits other than LOVE (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

  • To those pursuing more spiritual experience, he said, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
  • To those pursuing more knowledge, he said, “If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge … but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”
  • To those pursuing more power he said, “If I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”
  • To those pursuing acts of heroism he said, “If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”

As interesting and as noble as these pursuits may be, Paul was concerned that secondary things had become of primary importance. His shock statements were intended to knock them out of their complacency in order to bring everything back into proper perspective. The core of the Christian life is LOVE. This is what matters most. We all need to be reminded of this every once in a while.

So tomorrow begins a series of BLOG posts reminding us of The Priority of LOVE – Original Love.

Love

Prison Break: Finding Personal Freedom

PB CoverThe BLOG posts from the last few days about worry are a summary of a chapter entitled "Freedom from Worry" in the best-selling book Prison Break: Finding Personal Freedom.
 
The rest of the book contains similar practical teaching about:
  • Freedom from Fear
  • Freedom from Anger
  • Freedom from Depression
  • Freedom from Rejection
  • Freedom from Addictions 
  • Freedom from Spiritual Bondages
You can purchase a paperback version of this book from WORD Australia OR a digital eBook version from Amazon. The eBook version can be read on the Kindle APP which is available for FREE for all devices (phones, tablets, etc) and operation systems (Windows, OS, etc).
 
I hope you find this teaching helpful and beneficial to your life. 
 
Please feel free to pass it on to others. 
 
Thanks. 

No Worries! (Part 6)

Worry
 
Conclusion
 
As you can see from our recent conversation about worry, there are two things not worth worrying about:
  1. Those you can do something about. 
  2. Those you can't do something about. 
Simply take action on the former and trust God and pray about the latter. In other words, don't worry about anything! 
 
WHY break free from worry? 
 
First of all, it doesn't help us at all, unless it leads us to action. Secondly, it takes away our joy. You can't worry and be joyful at the same time! And finally, worry causes us to be consumed and preoccupied with our own needs. 
 
Jesus did actually give us a strategy for conquering worry. He said, instead of worrying, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). In other words, get busy advancing God's work in the world, helping out, serving, bringing justice, showing mercy, and making a difference.
 
Imagine an entire group of people free from worry and being a blessing wherever they go!
 
That's what Jesus had in mind … for you and me. 
 
Say it with me, "No worries!"
 
OR Back to Part 1.

No Worries! (Part 5)

Worry
 
Place Your Trust in God
 
Now let's be honest, there are some things on our list of worries that we can't take action on. They are truly beyond our control. Yes, we can pray about them but we can't do anything about them. What do we do about that? 
 
This is where we can make a choice to place our trust in God. The wisdom of Proverbs puts it this way (Proverbs 3:5-6):
 
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." NLT
 
Just like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field in Jesus' teaching, we have a Father who watches over us and cares for us. This belief enables us to accept uncertainty and the things in life beyond our control. 
 
Our life is not subject to luck, fate or chance. There is a sovereign God who rules our world and the daily aspects of our life. 
 
Once again, we quote the apostle Paul who wrote (Romans 8:28):
 
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." NASB
 
Notice what it does NOT say:
  • It does NOT say that "God causes all things". He doesn't. We make choices and so do other people. There are other forces at work in the world.
  • It does NOT say that "all things are good". They are not. Sickness is not good nor are accidents nor is divorce nor is redundancy or poverty or war or death. 
  • It does NOT say that "all things have a happy ending." They don't. Not every business succeeds, not every team wins, not each relationship lasts forever, not every venture is incident free.

BUT God does cause all things – the good, the bad and the ugly – to work for an ultimate purpose for those who love him.

Think of the biblical character Joseph. He was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. He spent 13 long years in prison. Eventually, when he was reunited with his brothers he said this: "You meant it for evil (what had happened was wrong and painful, it was not 'good') … but God meant it for good (he used it for a higher purpose)." That's a powerful statement of trust in God's ability to orchestrate the story of our lives for something far greater. 
 
Are there some worries in your life today that are calling out a bold choice from you to trust God … in spite of their pain and difficulty? 
 
God can be trusted. Like Aslan the lion in C.S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia, God is not 'safe' (tame) but he is 'good'.
 

No Worries! (Part 4)

Worry
 
Offer a Prayer to God
 
In addition to taking action on our worries, we can also pray and talk to God about our concerns. 
 
The apostle Paul wrote this in a letter to some people living in the city of Philippi the first century (Philippians 4:6-7):
 
"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." NLT
 
Sounds like Paul must have heard Jesus' teaching on worry which he gave years earlier. Word of mouth travels fast. 
 
I love how Eugene Peterson translates Paul's teaching in The Message Bible:
 
"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."
 
I love that phrase "shape your worries into prayers." 
 
Imagine if every time we started to worry we immediately shape that worry into a prayer. We sure would pray more! And we would probably experience far less worry. 
 
Try it today. Use worry as a trigger or reminder to talk to God about your concerns. Even if it is just a silent thought prayer. 
 
What a difference that can make as God's peace replaces worry at the centre of our heart and mind. 
 

No Worries! (Part 3)

Worry
 
Okay, what next?
 
Take action on your worries
 
As you look over your list of worries (you did this yesterday, didn't you?), ask yourself, "Can I do anything about this?"
 
Turn your worries into actions. Re-define them as problems and come up with solutions for each one of them. Then crowd out your worries by actually working on them. 
 
After all, worry can be useful … IF it gets your attention and motivates you to action. 
 
If the fuel light on your car dashboard is flashing red, don't worry about running out of petrol (or 'gas', for my American friends) or stress about the possibility of having to walk home. Simply turn your worry into an action. Turn into the nearest petrol station and fill up your tank. Worry will disappear immediately! 
 
I know that this is very deep and insightful wisdom for you here … but imagine if we did this for every worry on our list!
 
Has someone been a bit 'cool' towards you today at work? Don't allow your mind to spend the entire day wondering if they don't like you anymore or if they are gossiping about you. Turn your worry into action. Ask them if everything is alright. It's probably not even about you anyway. 
 
So, you haven't seen someone from your small group for over a month? Don't worry about whether they have left your group or whether they don't like you anymore more. Simply turn your worry into an action and give them a call. There is probably a very good explanation … and you'll save yourself all that wasted energy on worry.
 
What actions can you take today to start knocking off some of those worries on that list of yours?
 
Tomorrow: Part 4

No Worries! (Part 2)

Worry
Yesterday, we noted that Jesus tells us to STOP worrying. He doesn't tell us HOW to do so, so obviously he wants us to use our common sense and life experience to figure it out. 
 
Here are some practical ways I have found that we can actually do that on a day to day basis, using the acronym STOP.
 
Specify your worries. 
 
Ask yourself, "What am I worried about?" 
 
Often, worry becomes this dark cloud of vague concern that hovers over our mind, ruining our day. That's why it pays to define your worries. Make a list. Get them all out on paper so you can have a good look at them.
 
Research indicates that:
  • 40% of our worries will never happen.
  • 30% are in the past and we can't do anything about them. 
  • 12% are about health and worry makes our health worse!
  • 10% of our worries are about minor or petty things.
  • Only 8% of the things the average person worries about are what we could call legitimate. And half of them, another 4%, are beyond our control. 
So studies tell us that 96% of what we worry about is not worth worrying about! It's a waste of time and energy. 
 
Have you ever used a shopping trolley with one wheel that didn't work? It's so annoying! It's squealing and you're irritated and annoyed. It saps your joy and energy. Well, that's what one negative emotion, such as worry, does to your inner world. 
 
Think about it. Why worry about the unimportant, the unlikely and the irrelevant!?
 
I'll leave you now to work in creating that list … and we will talk more tomorrow in Part 3

No Worries! (Part 1)

Worry
 
One of the great Australian greetings is, "No worries!" The truth is, we do worry a lot. And let's face it, there is a lot to worry about. We can worry about our health, about our family, our relationships, our money, the weather, our career or job, whether our football team is going to make the finals, and about the future. Then, of course, there are all the global concerns – the economy, the environment, global warming, politics, and the growing threat of terrorism. That's a lot of worry fodder!
 
I have found that the more we worry, the worse we feel, then the worse we feel, the more we tend to worry. One worry feeds another. Out goes our joy. In many ways, worry is simply 'negative imagination'. It's like a downward spiral of anxiety, fear and concern, consuming a heap of our time and energy. 
 
Jesus understood the daily challenges that we face and that's why in one of his well-known sermons ("the sermon on the mount") he spoke about worry. 
 
Here is what he said (Matthew 6:25-34). 
 
"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
 
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
 
So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 
 
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
 
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." NLT
 
Basically, Jesus says, if you are worrying … STOP it!
 
How do we do that? 
 
We will talk about that tomorrow in Part 2

The Book of Job and the Question of Suffering (Part 3)

The-Book-of-Job-Bible-Study
 
Today, we conclude our reflections on the book of Job.

What the book of Job CAN do for us: 
 
1.  It teaches us to be careful and compassionate in how we respond to people who are suffering. When people are suffering, they don’t need theological debates (“maybe this is an attack from the devil”), personal accusations (“maybe God is punishing you for sin in your life”) or advice for a ‘quick fix’ to their calamity (“if only you had more faith in God …”). They need our empathy, our support, and our friendship. In the end, Job’s friends became his enemies and ‘worthless physicians’ who crushed him with their words. Can we do better than Job’s friends?  
 
2. It shows us that the world does not operate by justice. This world is broken and incomplete. It still needs attention. Injustice is still part of the system as it is. This means that suffering should not lead us to look back on our behavior in search for a cause; rarely is there any identifiable one-to-one connection. The world, though under the control of God, is fallen, and as it awaits redemption it is often more chaotic than ordered and coherent. Like humanity, God’s world is a work in progress. Alleviating a measure of suffering, when and where we can, is part of our mandate to 'subdue and rule' the earth. God will eventually align all of Creation with his attributes and establish absolute order in the new heavens and new earth. Until then, we should expect continued manifestations of disorder, which include pain and suffering. 
 
3. It reminds us that God rules the world with a wisdom that is beyond our understanding. When we begin to blame him for our suffering or think that we could do a better job of running the world than him, we move into dangerous territory. God's wisdom is far beyond our ability to comprehend. 
 
4. It raises the question of 'why' we place our faith in God. Is our choice to believe in God only for reward and blessing, either in this life (prosperity) or the next (to gain heaven and avoid hell)? Is it for self-interest, as the Challenger believed it was for Job? Is our faith sustained when our desires are not fulfilled, when healing does not come, when broken homes are not restored, when the goals we pursue remain beyond our reach? Is Christianity merely a 'benefits system' of incentives that results in us losing motivation when there is nothing in it for us? Job shows us that true righteousness should have its desired end in a relationship with God not in gaining reward from God. That is a huge challenge in our consumer driven world. 
 
5. It teaches us to trust that God loves us even when we go through painful situations and we do not understand the reasons why. Like Job did, we can direct our confused questions and perplexing musings to him. During suffering, choose to trust God and believe that he is good and that he loves you … even when you do not understand. Trust is the way through the struggles of life. 
 
Conclusion
Pain and suffering enter every one of our lives from time to time. I have only lived 55 years and yet I can look back at the death of family members (my own mother died of a sudden heart attack in 1990 and Nicole’s mother died quite suddenly from cancer in 2007), car accidents, personal sickness, mental and emotional challenges, stress and burnout, disappointment,  criticism, gossip, slander, conflict and many other challenges that have touched my life and our family. Of course, some other people suffer far worse and much more deeply. 
 
I still don't understand ‘why’ all of these things have happened. Yes, I have grown and they have developed character in me, as well as empathy for the struggles that other people go through. But I don't fully understand the reasons behind them nor God’s purposes through their occurrence. 
 
Like Job, I have many unanswered questions. Yet I choose to place my faith in God, regardless of my feelings or the perplexity in all this. It’s not easy but I truly believe that God is good, that he loves us and therefore I choose to trust him even when I do not understand. I feel just like the apostle Paul did …
 
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:12-13.  NLT
 
May you too be encouraged in your faith – in the good times and the bad. 
 
P.S. Read Part 1 if you missed it.