Devotional 2 - Loss

            No matter where we grew up or how many countries we lived in we all have experience loss. The loss of our home and our favorite toys, loss of our best friends, and loss of family all are daily struggles. Some loss can be replaced easily, but others cannot be replaced.

           

            When Abraham finally got Isaac at a very old age it wasn’t but a couple years later that God asked him to sacrifice him. (Genesis 22) What a serious problem for Abraham. God had made promises that he would make him into a great nation and for years he didn’t think he could even have a son. Then when he finally got a son, God was going to take him from them.

            I remember when we moved to Colombia I could only bring what I could fit into my suitcase they gave me. Even then we moved so much within the country I didn’t get to keep much, but my mother would always let me keep my stuff animals. With all the moving and transitions they were always with me. They all were connected to specific memories, then a few years after college God told me to give them to children in China where my parents lived then. Now this isn’t as close to what Abraham felt, but for me it was a step of faith process. I had never wanted to let them go, but giving them away was the beginning of a journey for me to listening to God first. Even now that I am a mom and we have struggled with the health of our daughter since birth and I had to go back to that Genesis Chapter 22. Giving my daughter back to God is very difficult, but He is the one that gave me her in the first place. She is never mine completely. I am only the caretaker for this stage in life. Listening to God and giving up what your think is yours is a huge step of obedience and He might surprise you with a gift better than what your gave up. For me after I gave away my stuff animals my boyfriend (now my husband) showered me with stuff animals during our dating time.

            What kind of loss are you dealing with today? What has God asked you to give up? Life is very unexpected. You might have a loss that wasn’t in your control, but God is still there comforting you. You might have a choice to give up the dream job for a ministry position. You might have to trust God in the health of your family. You might of just experienced a death of a family member. Remember Romans 5:3-5 ESV “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

            What you are going through now might not make sense and the loss you just experience maybe will never be completely explained this side of heaven, but hold onto hope because nothing we go through is in vain!