How tragic! Perhaps you are facing a similar situation, where every marriage proposal that comes for you ends up being cancelled because of the large dowry demanded. Don't get discouraged. God is your Father and He knows your need and cares for you. Marriage is not the greatest thing in the world. Fulfilling God's plan for your life is.
So dedicate yourself totally to God and seek to do His will alone in your life. And you will have a fulfilling life when you come to the end of it, whether you are married or not.
Some of the greatest missionaries in the world have been unmarried women. Have you failed in some examination, even after trying your best? Do you feel that others do not sympathise with you?
Does the devil make you feel that your whole life is a failure? Don't entertain those demonic thoughts, for they can finally lead you to the point where you may try to end your life.
You can stop weeping, my sister. Your life need not come to a standstill just because you failed in one examination - or even in many examinations. Do those exams again. One day you will succeed. Never give up. And if you don't pass, or don't have the intelligence or the financial resources to study further, remember that God has chosen the poor and the weak of this world to shame the clever and the rich.
God loves you just as you are - whether you pass your examinations or not! He doesn't look at your marks-card before accepting you! Perhaps you have been disappointed in love! The one you had hoped to marry has now married someone else. And you weep - as all youngsters will do at such times. But if that young man married someone else, that only goes to prove that he was not in the will of God for you.
God has someone better or something better for you - perhaps a single life of service to Him. God allows many things in our lives to make Himself more precious to us than everything and everyone else in the world. Let Him then be the fairest of all on earth to you from now onwards. So to those who were forsaken by their parents, let me say: There is no need to find out why your parents abandoned you. You were not a mistake, for all your days were written in God's book from eternal ages Psalm , You were chosen by God before He created the worlds Ephesians , You are not responsible for the mistakes of your parents.
You have pined long enough for a family. Rejoice now that you have a Heavenly Father Who wants to make you a part of His family. And remember: He never abandons His children. He has loved you with an everlasting love and He has lavished that love on you. Picture yourself always as a child, safe in the loving arms of God your Father. You were created in His image and He longs to bless you and to be available to you always. He is waiting to show you all that He has kept in store for you.
One day He will take you to live in the mansion He has prepared for you - a far better place than any earthly house or inheritance. But you must accept His offer to become His child and be a part of His family. Then no one can wrench you out of His hand.
So give your whole life to Him. As many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become the children of God even to those who believe in His Name John You can become a child of the heavenly Father if you admit that you are a sinner, accept the death of Jesus for your sins.
Repent of all your sins and forsake them - and He will cleanse you thoroughly in the blood that He shed for you. Forgive all those who have wronged you - including your parents.
Don't allow memories of the past to haunt you or condemn you. You cannot fulfil God's plan for your life, if you keep feeling condemned about your past.
You must put your past behind you once for all. Put your past under the blood of Jesus - and press on towards the future.
Jesus suffered and died not only to make you clean, but also to make you feel clean. When Christ comes into your life, you are justified before God. And God looks at you now, just as if you had never sinned in your entire life. Let the realisation of that fact bring joy to your heart - always. Thus you, like many of us who did what I just wrote, will belong to the wonderful family of God. As you read the Bible, you will hear God speaking to your heart.
And when you speak to Him in prayer, you will have the assurance that He hears from heaven and will answer you. One day He will call you His beloved child as well - one in whom He is well pleased. Do not weep any more. You are not an orphan. You are the child of a King. I read a letter some time ago, that beautifully expresses what I am trying to say. It was written by Barry Adams, who has very kindly given me permission to quote his inspired compilation here in full:. The words you are about to read are true.
They will change your life if you let them - for they come from the heart of God. He loves you. And He is the Father you've been looking for all your life. This is His love letter to you.
A good friend of mine suddenly lost her husband in a tragic accident. He had not even wished his young wife good-bye. His life was snuffed out by the cruel mistake of a drunken driver who ran him over on the road. And this happened as he was on his way to a prayer-meeting. Another friend of mine lost her husband after a very brief illness. That unwelcome visitor called "Death" comes uninvited to every home.
Only the bereaved one can understand the gnawing pain and the loneliness that death brings. Your thoughts are full of memories of your loved one and you keep wishing that you could re-live those happy days with him again. But it is not to be.
Tears that flow day after day and torrents of weeping at night are the only relief that you get from your overwhelming grief. The Bible says that our Lord makes a note of all our tears:. One precious child of God read the following article the very month her young husband went to be with the Lord.
When I met her, I saw how she had found great comfort in God through it:. Another woman could not live anymore with her alcoholic husband and felt she had come to the limits of patience. All her friends suggested that she separate from him. She was at her wits end. She had nowhere to turn and she did not know how she would ever be able to cope all by herself.
Are you suffering something like that? Is your loneliness arising from a separation from your husband? Are you haunted with memories that bring regret and remorse? Do you find yourself wishing that those angry outbursts had never occurred? Even if you are a single parent facing tangled, complex situations because of your children and surrounded by unhelpful relatives, nothing is too difficult for the Lord. He will enter into your life and undo every knot that Satan has tied and solve every problem - if you will only yield your all- unreservedly to Him.
So stop weeping. Just hand over the broken fragments of your life to Him. He is the Master-Potter who can remake every broken vessel. We are but clay in the Potter's Hands Jeremiah Are you facing the cold, chilly blast of another woman who has entered your husband's life?
The Lord can help you to forgive both of them. Your life need not be blighted even by that. Don't shed tears of anger. The Lord will make up for the loss of your earthly partner. He can even change your partner's heart and turn it towards you once again. He is a God Who does wonders. Don't plan something in hatred. Instead, ask God to fill your heart with His love and to give you grace to speak words of love to your husband, instead of bitter words.
God is near those who are crushed in spirit. Perhaps you longed to be married, but nothing has worked out for you as yet. Find your comfort in Jesus alone. He will not leave us comfortless. Perhaps you are disturbed each time you hear the news that someone is getting married. You don't feel like congratulating her. Instead you feel like weeping in your room. Jesus is near you and feels your pain. The dark nights of weeping covered up by outward tranquillity in the daytime, are all known to Him.
He does not stand aloof when His beloved child goes through sorrow. His heart bled for us. He will reach down and touch you and pour His healing balm into your heart and your sorrow will become bearable. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And your faithfulness in this trial will finally bring you an eternal weight of glory.
I have heard the testimonies of some widows whose husbands were martyred for the Lord. What a note of victory there was in their words! It amazed me! How could they forgive the ones who killed their husbands? The Master who prayed for those who crucified Him saying, " Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing ", alone can help us. I met a poor, young widow once, whose husband had been axed to death in North India for preaching the gospel.
I was moved immensely as I heard her testimony. Standing there with her little children, she said that her prayer was that in the very place where her husband's blood was shed, a church should be born. Indeed, she was a triumphant, weeping sister. The blood of Jesus cries out for mercy, unlike the blood of Abel that cried for vengeance. God is the God of the widows and fatherless. Jesus taught a parable on prayer where He likened us to a widow who went to an unjust judge for protection against her adversary.
She persisted and thus got what she wanted. Jesus once publicly appreciated a widow who offered two mites - what others considered as so little - to God. But she gave from her poverty and it cost her, her whole livelihood to make that offering. There we learn that Jesus takes note of every little sacrifice that we make for Him - and especially the sacrifices that we make for Him through grief and tears.
The Bible says that a godly widow will " wash the feet of the saints " 1 Timothy - or in other words she will refresh the hearts of God's people by her service. A widow can do that only if she has first laid her own burdens, sorrows and tears at the feet of the Lord. I got a desperate long-distance telephone call from a mother one day.
She had sent her son to study in a college some hundreds of miles away. There his friends had led him into a "Christian" cult-group. Instead of completing his education, the boy had become a fanatical member of that group, and was now giving away all his money to them. He had adopted their ways and their language, and wanted to have nothing more to do with his family. The group quoted Scriptures to justify their actions, but all sensible Christians could clearly see that they were wrong.
The leader of the cult would give directions to the members on every little detail of their lives and they lived as a close-knit family. Although they claimed to be happy, they were empty and under bondage. Only a few were ever able to leave the cult. The parents had not given time for God in their family, when the children were growing up.
It was only when calamity struck that they began to seek God. Now, they realised that God alone could speak to their son. Only prayer could break the strong chains that bound him. I think of another young man - this one grew up in a fine Christian family - who was taught by his parents from childhood, to be separate from the world. When he went to college, the peer pressure there made him succumb to wild drinking parties. But God answered the fervent prayers of his distraught parents and today he is a fine Christian man.
Some children who have grown up in godly homes may, at times, have temporary setbacks when they seek to try out the pleasures of this world. We mothers must then pray them out of such dark days.
Some weep because their children are born with physical defects or health problems, or are suffering from incurable diseases. Others, because their children have strayed away from the Good Shepherd and are living like the prodigal son "in a far country" with no communication with the parents, even while living under the same roof as them.
Some are weeping because their son or daughter is lost in a cult and will have nothing more to do with the parents. Some children are victims of alcohol or drug abuse. Others are trapped in wrong friendships. Some have got into criminal ways and are arrested and locked up. In all these situations, the child may have been going through pressures that the parents could not understand or fathom.
Maybe the child never felt that he 'belonged'. He may have felt isolated because of the generation gap between him and his parents. There might also have been a lack of communication between the parents and him. Our children cannot run away from the Lord forever.
His love and mercy follows after them and catches up with them finally. A godly woman once said, "Nothing is too great for His power and too small for His love". I visited a Christian family once, where all the four children had been afflicted with a physical disability, that made them waste away when they reached adolescence. Three of the children were bedridden and the oldest had died. But the whole family was still radiant with the love of God.
The mother worked hard to make life comfortable for her children, even though she knew that she would have to lay them down in their coffins one by one some day. She wept, but she knew that she would see them in healthy, resurrected bodies one day.
A few months back I heard that all the children were now in heaven, and that their life of suffering on earth was over. God gives us our children as a loan for a short period on earth, to train them for His kingdom. I read a poem once that tells us of our responsibility for the children God gives us:. It may be for a year or two, or five, or four, or three. But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me?
He'll bring his charms to gladden you; and should his stay be brief, You'll always have his memories as comfort in your grief. I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return. But there are lessons taught on earth I want this child to learn. I've looked across the whole wide world and searched for teachers true; And from the folk who live on earth, I now have chosen you. Now, will you give him all your love, nor think the labour vain, Nor hate Me when I come to take this lost child back again?
For all the joys this child will bring, the risk of grief we'll run. We'll shelter him with tenderness, we'll love him while we may. And for the happiness he'll bring, we'll ever grateful stay. But if You come and call him home much sooner than we'd planned, We'll brave the bitter grief that come and try to understand. Remember, dear mother, that children feel many things inwardly. But it is difficult for them to express their feelings in words.
So you need to be understanding when they are moody or silent or withdrawn. They are not being evil. They are just struggling with something. Whatever your child is going through, remember that there is One in heaven Who understands them fully. He stood at the bedside of Jairus' dead daughter and raised her up. Picture that scene, where Jesus took a few of His disciples and the grief-stricken parents of the little girl into the room and shut the door. Then He raised her from the dead and gave her back to her parents and told them to give her something to eat.
Let Jesus do the same for you today. Allow Him to take you as you weep, into the privacy of your room. He will do something just as wonderful for your child too. Don't be discouraged. All mothers who pray regularly for their children will remember occasions when they suddenly got an intense burden to pray for a particular child. After a time of prayer, they find that the burden has gone.
Later they discover that it was exactly at that time that their child was facing some danger. This is how God makes us prayer-warriors on behalf of our children.
Prayer is not the last resort, but the only answer to the problems our children face. The widow in Nain got her son back from the dead. Your child may be spiritually dead and even stinking like Lazarus was.
But he or she too will hear the call of Jesus and come out alive. So cry to the Lord day and night for your child.
God has given us many promises and He will fulfil them all and answer you speedily. Your eye has not seen, neither has your ear heard yet, what the Lord has kept in store for you, if you wait for Him. This verse has been a hidden spring that has strengthened me so many times in my trials. I can testify to innumerable answers to prayer with regard to my own children, in so many varied circumstances.
I give all the glory to God for what He has done for all my four boys in answer to prayer. I know that prayer changes things. It can change things for you too - and for your children as well. God is able to do far more for us and our children than we can ask or even imagine Ephesians If your child is the victim of a bad habit, never blame him.
He is already hurting enough. He wants to be free, but he cannot break free. And never blame yourself either. That is not the time to say, "If only I had been a better mother. We all do our best, but we make many mistakes as well. Confess to the Lord anything that is bothering you, and get it over with.
Get rid of all feelings of regret and condemnation. Condemning oneself is one of Satan's sharpest arrows with which he wounds and paralyses many of God's children and makes them prayerless. We are in a battle-field, fighting for the lives of our children. So let us not spend our energies weeping. There is work to be done and it has to be done right now.
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I pour out my tears for that which is closest and most important to me: my family, my friendships, my disappointments. What do you have deep down in your heart? For who do I cry? Who is at the center of my heart? My child, my mom, my friend, myself? Yes, I can also cry for myself. How many times are my confessions more a dislike for not being able to maintain the ideal image that I have of myself rather than a dislike for having weakened my relationship with God?
How many times do I cry for my wounded pride rather than for having wounded the Lord? Tears appear often in the gospels: the sinful woman at the feet of Jesus Lk 7: , Martha and Mary at the death of their brother Lazarus Jn , and even Jesus himself on various occasions Jn ; Lk Since then, throughout the history of Christianity, tears have been considered a grace to ask for.
A grace? I become red in the face and my eyes puff up. Then I have to blow my nose and maybe even begin to sob uncontrollably. Basically, I become ugly! And if someone sees me like that, even worse! To show our fragility is difficult for us. Now, on top of this grief, the empty tomb represents not resurrection, but an assumption that someone has removed his body and taken it to another location, which simply adds salt to the wound of her grief. Even when the Risen Lord appears to her, she cannot recognize him, even after she encounters the Angels in the empty tomb.
Jesus is calling her in this resurrection account to move beyond her grief and embrace the new reality of the resurrection. Stated more specifically, Mary is now called to allow the resurrection to bring her into the reality of new life in the Risen Christ. The same is true for us! The reality of the Resurrection is to impact our lives in a real way.
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