Just finished watching a movie called Loves Everlasting Courage. Anyone who truly knows me knows that I love the Love Comes Softly series, and this is the prequel to the first of that series.
I "happened upon it" while feeling pretty sorry for myself. I hate the weekends because they represent to me the time I have lost with my sweetheart. They are usually filled with overwhelming tasks that must be done so that a new week can begin. Although I am grateful to have Jess's family here, they cannot always fill the overwhelming loss that I sometimes feel.
So back to the story.
The movie is centered on explaining what happens to Ellen, Clark Davis's wife in Love Comes Softly. She dies of scarlet fever and Clark is left to deal with the loss of Ellen and with the struggle to make a life for himself and his daughter. At one point Clark says to his father, If God is so good then why do I always feel forsaken. Trust me I haven't gotten to that point, although I have inched closer this week for many reasons. But the answer from his father is exactly what I needed to be reminded of today.
God can not stop our experiences of loss and pain. But God's PROMISE is that He will never leave us. And unlike men and women, He keeps His promises.
I know that God stands by my side each and every day. As I have stated before, I have seen HIS promise fulfilled through others tender mercies in my life. We walk hand in hand most of the time. But when things get really rough, He enfolds me in His arms, cradling me at times.
You see God may need to be silent for us to learn, but He is never inactive. He is our silent partner in learning how to become like Him. He watches, and instructs us with an overpowering love that CAN conquer the overwhelming times of our lives. That power is immeasurable because it is infinite. He offers it to us if we acknowledge Christ's sacrifice for us and accept His atonement on our behalf. This for me is the hard part. I am so pig headed that accepting the sacrifice of another on my behalf is often turned down. It's something I'm learning about myself through all of this.
Self reliance, as taught by our church, does not mean to rely on ourselves. It is coming to mean for me that I, myself, must rely on God's promise to walk beside me.
My part...to keep walking ...
and never give up on Him.
I love those movies(books). I did not know there was a prequel to "Love Comes Softly"(That's my favorite of all of them!). You come by the, "turn down sacrifice or help" naturally. Grandma Bennett told me some stories about Grandma Bloom, I recognized the same pattern with my, Grandma and Grandpa Bennett's family(including me, of course!).
ReplyDeleteIf I remember, there are actually two movies before Love Comes Softly. The first introduces the characters of Clark and Helen. The second follows up on their lie as husband and wife.
ReplyDeleteI know I come by it naturally. Between the English, Danish and German sides of me I didn't have a chance
oops should have been life not lie. And no, that wasn't a Freudian slip.
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