Introduction This week has been particularly challenging for my younger daughter. She is going through an extremely difficult situation in her life right now. As her dad, it hurts me deeply to see her suffering. I wish I could take away her pain and …
By Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter on August 4, 2024
Introduction
This week has been particularly challenging for my younger daughter. She is going through an extremely difficult situation in her life right now. As her dad, it hurts me deeply to see her suffering. I wish I could take away her pain and bear it myself. Unfortunately, I can't. All I can do is be there for her, offering support and comfort from afar (for now) since I moved to Florida and she is still in Colorado.
This situation with my daughter has made me reflect on our Heavenly Father's love and care for us. Just as I long to alleviate my daughter's pain, God desires to comfort and heal us in our suffering. He has gone to the greatest lengths to demonstrate His love, even to the point of sacrificing His own Son to take away our pain—the pain of eternal separation from Him.
I believe He also wants to alleviate the "everyday" pain that can ruin our days, months or years, but He also gave us free will. Sometimes the choices we make--or others around us make--can be the cause of our pain, and He generally seems to avoid intervening in many of those situations. Having said that, though, it can be difficult for us to discern whether or when God intervenes, since His ways are often beyond our comprehension ("For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)).
However, since I am aware of God's sacrificial love for me and all of us, I'm confident that He would like very much for us to stop making decisions that destroy our own lives or the lives of others.
God's Sacrificial Love
In John 3:16, we read about the magnitude of God's love for us:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 (NIV)
Through Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, God has taken away the ultimate pain of eternal torment in hell. This act of love and redemption is the foundation upon which we can build our lives. It's a foundation that can withstand any storm life throws at us.
Building on the Rock
Jesus emphasized the importance of building our lives on a firm foundation as part of His Sermon on the Mount:
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)
Jesus is the rock on which we should build our lives. We will face storms in this life—He told us so in John 16:33:
These verses remind us that while trouble is inevitable, having Jesus as our foundation ensures that our life-houses will stand firm, regardless of the storm's severity.
My Prayers for My Daughter
As my daughter navigates this difficult period, one of my prayers for her is that she will recognize the strength and stability that comes from building her life on Jesus. I pray that she will learn to lean on Him and not on the transient things of this world.
The House of My Life
Reflecting on my life, I can attest to the importance of building the house of my life on the foundation of Jesus. I have endured some very difficult challenges throughout my life. Early on, before God helped me develop a strong faith, when bad things happened to me, I felt like I had no hope and no future. But the more I deepen my faith and my relationship with God, the more I can focus on the eternal prize and allow the storms of this life to impact me less and less.
Paul the Apostle writes about this eternal perspective in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)
These verses have been a source of strength for me, helping me to endure life's challenges by keeping my eyes fixed on what comes next instead of what may be ruining my day, month, or year.
Conclusion
So, I think we can all agree that we will face storms in this life. It's not a matter of if, but when. However, the foundation upon which we choose to build our lives will determine how we withstand these storms. Jesus, the true and original Rock, offers us a firm and unshakable foundation. By building our lives on Him, we can endure the storms and emerge stronger.
Let's all become more and more like the wise man who built his house on the rock. No matter what life throws at us, we can have confidence and peace knowing that our foundation is secure in Christ.
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