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“God’s presence in your life has nothing to do with your feelings.”

A thought by Rick Warren (2008-11-04) from his book, The Purpose of Christmas (Kindle Locations 185-186). Howard Books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I know that this time of the year can be a very lonely time. You may feel that no one cares not even God. It can be a very depressing time.  But I have good news for you.  You are not alone even though you feel like you are alone.  You see your feelings can be wrong.

Rick says, “Your emotions are susceptible to all kinds of influences, so they are often unreliable. Sometimes the worst advice you can get is ‘Do what you feel.’ Often what we feel is neither real nor right. Your emotional state can be the result of memories, hormones, medicines, food, lack of sleep, tension, or fears. Whenever I start to feel anxious about a situation, I remind myself that fear is often False Evidence Appearing Real.”

Rick goes on, “God came to earth at Christmas to remind you that he is always with you, no matter where you are. That’s a fact, whether you feel it or not. The Bible says, ‘I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!’ (Psalm 139: 7 NLT) But you must connect or ‘tune in’ to his presence on a moment-by-moment basis, and that is a skill that can be learned.”

He then says, “You may have been abandoned in life— by a spouse, by your parents, by your children, or by people you thought were friends. Everyone has faced the pain and heartache of rejection in some way. You may have experienced the sting of racial or ethnic prejudice, gender bigotry, or religious intolerance. If so, I am sorry. But God has not abandoned you! He never will! The Bible says, ‘God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.”’ (Hebrews 13: 5 TEV)” 

There is a great promise in the Bible and it says, ‘When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.’ (Isaiah 43: 2 NLT)

Rick then says, “I don’t know what difficulty you feel you’re drowning in right now or where the heat is on in your life, but I do know that whatever it is, God knows about it, cares about it, understands it, and is going through it with you. You’re not alone.”

You are not alone.  You are not alone.  And you are loved.

You see Christmas is a time to celebrate that God is with you!


So will you celebrate that fact?

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