In this life we all face disappointments. Some are larger than others; some break our bank accounts, others break our hearts. It is in these times we wish we could just transport ourselves to heaven and forget about the problems and burdens associated with this life, but it doesn’t seem to work all that often.

It seems to me, it’s in the moments of disappointments, when we just want to find ourselves in God, that God shows himself in us. We naturally think it would be better by far, in these sad moments, for us to have a vision of ourselves sitting in heavenly places with Christ, but perhaps God wants to show us a vision he finds more important for us in these moments; a vision of Him sitting with us here on earth.

God is not only the divinely powerful King who reigns high above all powers and authorities. He is the father who loves us so deeply he would rather strip himself of glory so he can sit with us in our humble state and comfort us. His word of promise is true for our lives in the good times and bad: He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

God is with us. He is with us right now. We have such a wonderful inheritance coming, an eternity where there will be no tears, and no disappointments. Until then, we may still face times of trouble, but Jesus encouraged us to take heart in these times, for he has already overcome the world.

God’s eternal plan is to take us all to the highest point of emotional glory, but he also wants us to know he will stay with us as we walk this journey of faith, and will hold us even in the lowest points of emotional distress we face along the way.

The waves of life may break over us, but the God who loves is still holding us. I pray you would feel his loving embrace today, and that his love and grace would bring you the comfort you need.

No matter what happens, God is with us.

When I think about God, I understand that he has the power to do anything. He is, after all, God. Although God can’t be limited to only two aspects, I believe these two aspects encompass everything else in one way or another. And so, I would say that there are, in my mind, two major aspects to God’s ability. One is that God has the ability to love, and the other is that he has the ability to judge.

Now, we have been made in his image, and that means that we naturally gravitate to God’s nature and want to live and act in accordance with that nature. But what part of God’s nature should we aspire to: To love or to judge?

I think it’s possibly for this very reason that God allows us to have all the weaknesses that we have, even after we have been made one with him in our new creation selves. When we think about it, it’s easy to realise that we show ourselves weak on a daily basis. We make promises to God and others that we break. We lie, even if they are little white ones, such as assuring people that we’ll pray for their needs but don’t, or using the company time to surf the Internet or make private phone calls. We walk by people in need without helping them, whether they are strangers or even friends. I’m not saying everyone does these things; we all have different abilities and some of us are more disciplined than others; but regardless, everyone could write a list of their own, and the list could just go on and on.

The bottom line is, we are simply weak individuals in these jars of clay.  We all have personality flaws, we all have weakness, we all fall short of our own expectations as well as the expectations of others. But here’s the thing; even in all these weaknesses, when others normally exercise judgement over us for our actions and motives, God doesn’t. It is in these very moments of our own weakness, when God could, in his perfect nature, exercise his ability to judge us,  he doesn’t; instead he chooses to love us.

God chooses not to judge, although he could; instead, he chooses to cover over our weakness with his strength. He chooses to comfort us and assure us that he’s not focused on our weaknesses; rather, he’s focused on our hearts. He chooses to see the child who longs to be like him living on the inside of us, not the weak jar of clay failing on the outside.

God can judge, it’s part of his perfect nature to have that ability, but he reveals to us how he chooses not to; instead, he lives out of the very core of who he is and he loves. Oh, and how he loves!

When we see this love, and allow ourselves to experience this love, despite our weaknesses, I believe it is then that we too choose to live in the same pattern as God himself. We don’t judge, even if we may be justified to do so; instead, we love. We cover over people’s personality flaws and weaknesses. We see the child within who longs to be strong and loving, we assure people of our acceptance of them. We love, because we have seen that God first loved us in this way.

I’ve seen God’s love; it’s incredible, and it inspires me to live a life that loves too.

Love: It’s God’s desired way of living.

Sometimes we face moments, days or long periods of time where we just can’t seem to think clearly, or see straight. Sometimes, even when we are rested in Christ, we can feel a little lost; a little hopeless even.

I really believe that this isn’t to do with our faith, but more to do with the fact we are still walking around in jars of clay. We have been made perfect in our new creation Spirit, but we still walk around in these earthen vessels.

And yet, even in our weak moments, when our bodies groan and our emotions try to overthrow us; in the very moments when we feel we don’t know the way forward, we can hear the Holy Spirit reminds us ever so gently: “I am the way, I love you dearly, and I will carry your through”

How wonderful to know that it is the power of God in us, that leads us, and even carries us, out of confusion and back to our rightful place of clarity, confidence and joy.

God isn’t upset or doubting our faith when he sees we are weak; rather he encourages us by saying: “My power is made perfect in weakness”

What an amazing God we have! When we feel weak, he tells us that it’s just an opportunity for his power to be perfected in our lives. God wants us to know, as his dear children, that we are always perfectly acceptable to him, and our weaknesses and confusion do not change that at all. We can’t help feeling confused at times, but we can always have confidence in God’s love for us, acceptance of us and devotion towards us.

You are God’s beloved. Don’t doubt your faith when you feel weak, but rather come to him with full assurance of faith, and receive the help you need in your time of weakness.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16