Soul Snack 8/52 ... Faith always beats Fear
(Thanks so very much to Soul Snack subscriber SD who wrote this.)
How often have I "day-dreamed" of being a hermit - far removed from life's knocks and blows, hurts and pains, failures, disappointments and stabbings. Fear of pain can not rule me when I am in isolation. Isolation protects me from my enemies.
Somewhere remote, as scenic as it is removed, as quiet as it is idyllic is my yearning. All alone, all day, all night, just me and God - on and on the day dream goes!
But self would take over and begin to grow insular - a protection chosen by self for self, not of God, not His best for me. Learning the most through afflictions, being a river to needy others and not a reservoir for self, none of that would happen. Self denial would then only be an intellectual value but not vital to my life.
Just the very things I need most, would then be missed.
And what then do I see through the eyes of my heart?
God breaking out of His own idyllic relationship Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This perfect Circle, a perfect Love, a perfect Unity - and God breaks out of it, shatters it. He left His own Perfection and Protection to reach down and rescue me, heal me, restore me and buy me back into His ownership! God acted so devastatingly boldly that I would again belong to Him.
Do I want to be a hermit? No way! May He keep me afflicted, serving, following Him through the falls and failures, eyes riveted on Him, unflinching and keeping His amazing love and grace clear in my vision.
Eyes of faith will always see past a heart fear.