Afloat

Today I am afloat on a life raft in a very stormy sea....feeling very much alone....yet I know in my head I am not. God is very much with me even though I have no feelings.... I know that I will be rescued eventually. I find comfort in the Scriptures. I don't even know how I arrived in Romans chapter 8 this morning but these words keep hope afloat in my heart.

"But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later......And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us. Now that we are saved we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. (even basement floods :) )

Can anything ever separate us from God's love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (or are depressed).......No, despite all these things overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.......Nothing can ever separate us from His love.......Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow (finances), and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."