Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

Nothing Can Separate Us

I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38,39

That pretty well covers the "waterfront," doesn't it? There isn't anything that could come into my life that would not fall into one of those categories. What happens in death--a fearful thought not only for myself, but for the people God gave me and who move around in my circle of love. What happens in life--tragedies, disappointments, pain, grief, any circumstance that comes my way. They are all on the list.

And yet that just doesn't work for me. It's not always true in my life.

There are times when I'm separated from God. When I feel lonely and misunderstood. When I'm discouraged and disappointed in my marriage. When I feel like I'm facing life all by myself, and there's no one to listen or to care. So I'm depressed. When I feel like I've had more than my share of this world's problems, and I really expected and asked for so little. When I feel resentment. And as far as feeling like God's love is something that just can't be taken from me? I'm smart enough to know that God can't always love someone who does the things I sometimes do. That's just the way I feel about it. Sigh.



* * *

Feelings! Feelings! Feelings!

Depression. Resentment. Loneliness. Discouragement. Anger. Inadequacy. Bitterness. Ad infinitum!

Why do I allow my feelings to control my mind when they don't even have the capacity to THINK? or REASON?

It's as though I lose the power to choose, to remember, to observe, to logically deduce, to use my God-given ability to think and reason, to accept and rest in Truth--I let how I feel dictate to me what I "know"! How foolish of me. How shallow. How wrong!

Lord, if none of the horrible things in this world can separate You from me or me from You--no, that isn't right . . . I must rephrase that. I'll start over.

Lord, since none of these things have the power to separate us,why do I allow my feelings to come between us?