{"id":4527,"date":"2017-09-15T12:07:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T17:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=4527"},"modified":"2017-09-15T12:07:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T17:07:17","slug":"the-unexpected-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/09\/the-unexpected-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unexpected Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I\u2019d heard the phrase \u201cGod is love\u201d plenty of times, but I never really took it to heart. After all, \u201cGod is love\u201d seemed to contradict the way in which some Christians had treated me and others. I was never good enough for them, never acted holy enough, and didn\u2019t look the way a supposedly \u201cgood Christian\u201d was supposed to look. I was a misfit. But I realize now that God specializes in the utilization of misfits.
\nIt was the darkest time of my life, and I was tired of hearing about the love of God from friends and family members. I didn\u2019t care who God was or what he had done for me. I wanted results\u2014tangible results I could find hope in. And I blamed God for how I felt. Why couldn\u2019t he take this pain away? Why couldn\u2019t he help me? Why couldn\u2019t he have kept me from experiencing the things that led me down this dark road?<\/p>\n

\n
Depression has a way of making you blind to everything true.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a blockade that keeps you from feeling anything other than complete darkness. It\u2019s something millions of people struggle with, and\u2014sadly\u2014suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States in 2013, and it\u2019s the second leading cause of death for people between the ages of fifteen and thirty-four.[i]<\/a>
\nI know not everyone in this world has dealt with depression or anxiety, but I\u2019m 100-percent certain that you\u2019ve felt broken, lonely, and hopeless at one time or another. Love and acceptance were nowhere to be found. You felt as though you weren\u2019t good enough. God seemed absent.
\nMaybe right now you feel \u201cjust okay,\u201d and that is actually the best you\u2019ve felt in a very long time. Your brokenness traps you because of things that happened in your past. Things you wished had never taken place. Maybe they\u2019re regrets or failures.
\nOr perhaps you\u2019ve yet to let go and find peace amid the violent storm of your worst memories\u2014the ones you\u2019ve tried to lock up in your closet. The ones you don\u2019t like people knowing about. You\u2019re hurting. You\u2019re frustrated. You\u2019re in repetitious, unwavering pain. You ask yourself,<\/p>\n

\n
Does God even care?<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve asked that question. I\u2019ve been in that place far too many times.<\/p>\n

\n
The beautiful reality is that God does care about you.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And he cares about me. God loves us. He feels your pain. He feels my pain. And while he sometimes responds to us in a way that might not be exactly how we anticipate, it doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t heard our cries. He cares\u2014deeply\u2014about our pain and yearning for hope. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that. Oh, the sorrow I could have avoided! But then again, I believe God works everything out for a reason.
\nI\u2019m reminded of a passage in the Bible that illustrates so beautifully the uncertainty of our hearts:<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t yet see things clearly. We\u2019re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won\u2019t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We\u2019ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! – 1 Corinthians 13:12, msg<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though we sometimes wonder what is happening in our lives, and though we cannot see clearly what lies ahead or know which direction to take, we have this hope: God promises that he will clear the storms and give us direction.<\/strong> He sees us, and he will bring us out of the haze we find ourselves in.
\nOver the course of my life, I\u2019ve found myself furious at God on multiple occasions. Why? Because I\u2019m human. I\u2019ve yelled at God, cursed at God, and even threatened God because he wasn\u2019t providing what I felt was the best response for my current situation. As if my feeble and frail threats had any impact on his decisions. You and I are but specks compared to his majesty and greatness.
\nI\u2019m sure he looked at me patiently, waiting for me to finish my rant, and knew that I didn\u2019t really mean what I was saying. I was just upset, broken, and frustrated beyond belief. He knew I wasn\u2019t yet accepting the love he had for me. I was too blind to see it. But in God\u2019s grace and patience, he allowed me to vent to him. He allowed me to use him as a punching bag. That\u2019s an aspect of the beauty of God\u2014he\u2019s big enough to handle anything I throw at him but wise enough to not give me everything I ask for. A loving Father at his finest.
\nYou might think God is unfair for not giving you all you desire, but in reality it\u2019s quite the opposite. It\u2019s not God\u2019s job to live up to our personal expectations.<\/strong> God\u2019s will is not dependent on our wants. He does what he knows is in our best interest and for his glory. Our job is to trust him through the process, no matter how hard it might be.
\nThat\u2019s easier said than done, I know. But when you learn to truly let go of yourself and instead grab hold of what God has laid out for you, life will begin to make a lot more sense. A sense of purpose and identity will come over you, increasing your yearning to pursue him that much more. God\u2019s love is available to all of us, no matter where we\u2019re from, what we look like, or what we\u2019ve done. God\u2019s love is for anyone who calls upon him for life and hope.
\nWhen you put your life in God\u2019s hands, you must trust him fully, even when you don\u2019t understand what he\u2019s doing,<\/strong> why he\u2019s doing it, and for how long. Some things have only one answer: trust God even when it doesn\u2019t make sense. Trusting God in the midst of your brokenness is a beautifully painful but spiritually deepening experience. Every time you put your trust in God, another scoop of your self-obsession is removed and replaced with the righteousness of God.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Read chapter one for free now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nYou must trust God with your brokenness but realize it\u2019s okay to be mad at him, frustrated, and even downright confused. He can handle it. God doesn\u2019t expect you to understand everything he does. You can question what\u2019s happening. You can wave your fist a little. You don\u2019t have to act as if you have it all together. God can handle it. He wants you to let it all out and be honest with him about what you\u2019re really feeling.
\nWhen you give God the room he deserves, your soul finds supernatural refreshment and peace in his presence. After all, we were created for the partnership of God. We were created to do life hand in hand with the one who created us in his image. God\u2019s love is in the business of rescuing those who feel as though they\u2019re suffocating, though he often acts in ways we don\u2019t expect. But it\u2019s still love, and we desperately need it.
\nExcerpted from\u00a0Love is Oxygen: How God Can Give You Life and Change Your World<\/em><\/a> by Jarrid Wilson
\n[i]<\/a> \u201cSuicide: Facts at a Glance,\u201d Centers for Disease Control, 2015, accessed February 24, 2017, https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/violenceprevention\/pdf\/suicide-datasheet-a.pdf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d heard the phrase \u201cGod is love\u201d plenty of times, but I never really took it to heart. After all, \u201cGod is love\u201d seemed to contradict the way in which some Christians had treated me and others. I was never … <\/p>\n

Read moreThe Unexpected Rescue<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[337],"yoast_head":"\nThe Unexpected Rescue - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/09\/the-unexpected-rescue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Unexpected Rescue - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019d heard the phrase \u201cGod is love\u201d plenty of times, but I never really took it to heart. 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