Monday, February 28, 2011

Love Never Ends

 Love is patient. Love is kind. . . . . Love never ends [1 Corinthians 13: 4-8].

God IS love. His love for us never ends.

I almost died as I was coming into this world. The doctor saved me and made sure I was born. He also saved my mother and made sure I had a mother. God was with me.

When I was three, there was a fire in a relative's house. I was not there during the fire but I was there in the aftermath. I was terrified. God was with me.

When I was four, I almost drowned in a neighbor's pool. Strong arms pulled me up out of the water. The arms of my mother. God was with me.

In my old neighborhood, I was bullied and called names. God was with me.

In my parents' house, when I was growing up, the basement flooded every time we had a lot of rain. We would go downstairs in our slickers and galoshes and bail the water into the sink. Even as the water was rising, God was with me.

When I was in my early twenties, I was a victim of a crime. I could have died that day but I prayed to live. God was with me.

When I received active resistance from relatives over marrying a Catholic, I held my head high and married him in the church anyway. God was with me.

I struggled to become a mother, as all around me were having children. When I finally became a mother, I was overjoyed. God was with me.

One day, on the way home from the park with my young child in a wagon, a wind raged and blew down a huge maple tree. I ran, pulling the wagon as hard as I could, to avoid the tree falling on us. God was with me.

In a 3 year span, my best friend, my father, my mother and my mother-in-law died.  God was with me.

I felt that God had gone away and had forgotten me.  I meditated and prayed and made the decision to convert, in order to become closer to God. God was with me.

I have been through fire and floods. I have almost drowned, almost been struck by falling trees. I have been the victim of a crime. I have watched loved ones die from cancer. I have been bullied, mocked and persecuted.

I did not always know it at the time, but God was there. Maybe in  the fog of my pain, I could not see clearly.

But God was there all along. He loved me. He protected me.

God, rain your love down on me, even when I cannot see your face or feel your arms holding me in your embrace.

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Reserved.

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