TOO MANY WASTED YEARS

“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20 KJV

We read in Luke 15 the story of the father who forgave his son.  Just as the father forgave his son when he went home so our Heavenly Father forgives us when we repent of our sins and ask forgiveness.  God is waiting for us to come home to Him with His arms open wide to welcome us home. 

I wandered in the darkness of a crippling devastating depression for over forty years.  There are too many wasted years in my life.  I thought everyone hated me and I hated everyone.  I didn’t want to live because I had been beaten and raped and I really believed nobody loved me.  No one had ever told me Jesus loves me.

It is very important that we tell people, including our family, that Jesus loves them.  We don’t know what is going on in their heart.  Joyce Landorf Heatherley, who is a Christian speaker and author, said on one of her tapes “The people we sit next to in church look fine and darling but inside they are hurting”.

It is also very important and even urgent that we encourage one another.  Many years ago, I received an email from a pastor who wrote “I am so discouraged I am thinking of leaving the church and stop being a pastor”.  It brought tears to my eyes when I read that email and it broke the heart of our Heavenly Father.

May God help us to realize the importance and the urgency of encouraging one another and praying for each other.  Have you told someone Jesus loves him or her today?  We have a  compassionate loving Saviour and He deserves our love.

Joanne Lowe

April 13, 2017