There are times when we can be so overwhelmed by what others think of us, we lose sight of what God thinks of us. When our spirit is crushed by the actions of others, the betrayals, the misunderstandings, the irreconcilable differences, we fall prey to a kind of inward journey of heartache. That is not what our Father in Heaven wants for us. He wants us to be ever focused upon Himself. He's given us His Spirit to encourage and strengthen and comfort us. We are never alone.
When discord enters our lives through friend or foe, family or stranger, we can be assured that they are in our lives for a divine reason.
"The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. As soon as God becomes real, other people become mere shadows. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever perturb the one who is built on the real God. 'In all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee.'" Oswald Chambers, So I Send You, 1930
Would that we remember that we are more than conquerors through Him Who has ascertained our victory with life. Would that we rest in His never-changing, all-sufficient grace. Would that we look beyond ourselves and into our Savior's face.
