You Never Let Go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCkELeTg4hA

The link above is to a You Tube video of a David Crowder song: "You Never Let Go"

Today my heart is so heavy. I can't stop thinking about and praying for all the precious people in Haiti who have lost so much and are trying desperately to put the pieces back together. I'm especially heavy-hearted for the Brinks who have 2 children in Haiti (at God's Littlest Angels Orphanage). Praise God that their children are safe, but how hard for them not to be able to hold and comfort their children! I also think of the GLOW staff, who have yet to hear word from their Haitian staff and friends.

And I can't stop thinking about Grace Busscher, who is celebrating her 3rd Birthday today in Heaven. While I'm sure she's having the best celebration ever, it just breaks my heart that her Mom, Dad, and brothers can't be with her today.

So my heart asks, "where is God in the midst of all this pain?" and "how could He allow this to happen?"

But then I remember the words of a very wise person that shared her testimony with me a few months ago. In life's deepest, darkest, most painful moments... when it feels like the world is falling apart... when it feels like God isn't there, or doesn't care... we just have to rest in God's sovereignty.

I find so much comfort in the fact that God will NEVER LET US GO. Even in the hardest, most confusing, deepest moments of pain... He is God, He is in control, and we can rest in His sovereignty.

In youth group Wednesday night, we talked about temporary vs. eternal... what's really important in life. The reality is that any of us could have everything stripped away at any moment. Our jobs, our friends, our health, our earthly stuff, our homes, our families...it all is temporary. The only thing that really matters is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Because, bottom line... if everything is stripped away from me tonight... It WILL BE OKAY! It will be okay, because I have Jesus... in Him I have HOPE... in Him I have LIFE... in Him I have assurance of life forever. And I know that He will NEVER let me go!

From 2 Corinthians 4 (the Message):
5-6Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
13-15We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
16-18So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.