He works through fallen people, even through broken, imperfect Christians, to steal, kill, and destroy. We know that we have an enemy and he is loose, roaming the earth, searching for those he can devour, shred, and maul. The larger story, the Gospel, reminds us that we live in a fallen world and sin abounds. Lewis wrote: 'I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.' We need His eyes on our stories, and we need to see our stories in light of His. To know God's love is to be able to stand in gusts and gales, and though our bodies be knocked over, our souls remain standing strong. It is birthed in the unchanging love of our Father.

There is an incredibly good ending to our story, but it often isn't on this side of eternity.

We don't live in Oz or the Kansas of its wizard. This is not the land of the white picket fences with a chicken in every pot. Remember what Paul told us in his letter to the Romans:įor 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, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the deepest truth, and the world and all its sorrow and harm cannot touch it. It was your Father calling you home to His heart, the only safe place for yours. All this time, the things you have been longing for that spoke to you through books, nature, swing sets, tree forts, and every imaginable form of beauty was Him. But we look at the cross and the love of the Father poured out for us through the blood of His Son, and the question is forever answered. They happen to people we love, and they happen to you and me. Every time I hear a story like this, I want to ask, 'But how? How do we continue to trust and love our God when He has let such harm befall us? How do we believe He is our good, good Father?' Trusting in God can be difficult in and of itself, but trusting in God as a loving Father in the context of such betrayal from an earthly father figure? That is far from easy. I believed them, and I also knew I was in the presence of the miraculous. When they first said that to me, I was speechless. I was just with two sisters who were raped by their step-father, and they will still tell you that God is love, that He is a God who heals, and that it is well with their souls. But you have questions about that, don't you? He loved you as a child, and He loves you now. Your Father is the One who has been pursuing you, protecting you, and loving you your entire life. You don't have to pack your bags and run away, searching for a better one. It's not merely what He does it's who He is.

Books by stasi eldredge