I’m a realist, a glass-half-empty kind of woman, and if I’m not careful, I can formulate worst case scenarios in my head and lose hope. I’m also not very emotional or excitable, and I’m not a yeller.
But what I want to be defined by—more than my temperament, personality, or upbringing—is a deep and abiding trust in Jesus. I desire to be a woman of God who lives by faith and not by sight.
I earnestly believe that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), yet there are particular verses that speak to me and quench the most thirsty parts of my soul. These words deeply root me in a reality beyond this world, in a certainty beyond my vision and experience.
They allow me to drink from a glass that is overflowing with hope and promise.
In today’s reading, Saint Paul poses some tough, real life questions about God’s love that challenge me right where I’m living. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (Romans 8:35) In all the fear and uncertainty of my current situation, I desperately need to hear Saint Paul’s resounding, "NO, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (v. 37).
I will not let my circumstances and the enemy of my soul isolate me from God’s love. I will not shrink back, lose hope, or relate to Jesus like He is a fair-weather friend. I am a daughter of the King, and His strong, perfect love helps me conquer all things.
The quiet, undemonstrative me wants to shout this profound truth from the rooftop, proclaiming to anyone who will listen that, “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).
They allow me to drink from a glass that is overflowing with hope and promise. // @bloverevolutionClick to tweet
How can you share and live this truth today?
Debra Herbeck is a Jewish convert to the Church who serves extensively in youth and women’s ministry. She directs Pine Hills Girls Camp (for 34 years), and is the Founder and Director of Be Love Revolution, a ministry for high school girls. Find her books here. She and her husband have four children and eight grandchildren. She is the author of Blessed Conversations: Misericordia. Find out more about her here.
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