Separated

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.    (Romans 8:38-39)


So how come then do we feel like we're separated from Christ.  There are times when God feels so far away and that he's left me alone to deal with this life.   Those are the times when I've let my circumstances blind me from the truth that nothing can ever separate us.  Jesus didn't provide salvation for us to take us out of this earth.  He came to make living here bearable.  This life is hard.  We all make choices that we wish we could take back and sometimes we have no control over what happens to us or the people we love.  None of that can ever change the fact that God doesn't stop loving us.  He hurts with us, he grieves with us, he cries with us, but he also laughs with us and rejoices with us.  When I feel furthest away from the love of God is when I need to do everything I can to open my eyes and my heart to his love.  That when everything seems darkest I need to quiet my life to hear him saying "keep your eyes on me.  Don't get distracted.  I love you and will get you through."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPxxzxBK_Eg

Love

When my children were younger James, their father, would help them memorize the Shema.  The Shema says this:   "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)  These commandments are to be on my heart.  To Love God with everything I am.  Then I am to talk about it at home,  when I am out and around town, when I am about to go to sleep and when I am getting ready for the day.  This morning when I was getting ready I thought about what I was going to do with my hair and hoping that my husband had cleaned the kitchen last night.  When I am at Starbucks with a girlfriend we rarely are discussing loving the Lord.  The One who has given us so much hope and peace to live this life really doesn't come up much in conversation.  I really want this to change in my life.  So that the love of Jesus oozes out of me.  That it just overflows from what God is doing in my life. I guess it comes down to taking Jesus into my everyday life.  Living out the normal moments of my life with the glorious understanding and awe of my Savior along for the ride!