One Thing Remains

"Your love never fails
It never gives up
It never runs out on me"

I love this song...  I think that, right now, it is my favorite song.  It reminds me to hang on, even when it's hard.

The past couple of months have been hard.  I don't care to go into a bunch of details, but it hasn't been easy.  That Christmas that people dream about with perfect families, picturesque presents, and pristine snow on Christmas morning?  Yeah, that didn't happen...  Christmas was fine.  We managed to laugh, presents were lovely, and we could do without the snow, thank you very much.  (Can you say 'black ice?')

But how do you get through it when life throws something unwanted at you?  In all our minds, I think we paint these beautiful pictures of what we want life to be.  And then something comes along and smears the colors together, ruining what we spent so much time and energy planning.  I've been learning that God isn't surprised by these blemishes on our paintings.  That's the problem, isn't it?  It's "our" painting.  I don't think what we dream up can compare to the masterpiece He's created for us.

This afternoon, I picked up my sister from cheer.  While complaining about everything (traffic, being late, traffic, icy roads, traffic...) the radio played an interview with Kristian Stanfill about the meaning behind "One Thing Remains."  I turned it up and listened to him talk about the scripture behind the song, namely Romans 8.  I was quiet the rest of the drive and read Romans 8 as soon as I got home.

It broke me.

No matter what happens in life, God is always there.  And He loves us.  And nothing can cut us off from His love.

So when life takes a turn you didn't see coming, hang on.  I'm going to hang on to God's promise of how I can't be separated from His love.  And while I may never know what God's grand masterpiece looks like til I get there, I know that He works it all out for good.

I think I'll keep singing/listening to that song and going back to Romans 8 again and again too...

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39 NIV84)