Dear Friend,
It has been quite some time since I have written to you. I am writing you today because I know you feel abandoned. I know you feel alone, confused, and afraid. Do not mistake my silence as absence, please. You have gone days, weeks, years even, where you have not spoken to me. Does this mean you will not speak to me ever again? However, my reason for silence is usually not the same as yours.
Today another friend of mine is in a very dark place. I reminded my friend that, although it may be too dark too see me, I am still there. In fact, I wish to be there more but am not always invited. There are many times I see you suffer and yet you don't call me. I know it can be hard to remember that I am there when all you feel is the ground shaking and the thunder booming, but sometimes these same things that frighten you are the very things that I have set in place to help you. You see, there are many times that I purposely cause things to happen that will be painful for you. I know you won't always understand why I do these things, but trust me, there is nothing I do to you or for you that is not good for you.
Once, there was a man. This man was loved very much by his father, but his father asked him to do something very, very, difficult. His father asked him to die. Not only did his father ask him to die, but he asked him to suffer excruciating pain in the process. The father knew all that the son would have to go through: pain, torture, abuse (both mental and physical), ridicule, hatred, accusations, exhaustion, doubt, confusion, and despair. Yet, the father knew that all of this was necessary. And so, the son experienced all of these things and died. That son was me. Let me tell you first hand that not even this was the hardest thing I have had to endure, but in that moment - when my body was hanging by only the nails that were driven through it, and my lungs gave out - I feared my own father had forsaken me. But he did not! When I breathed my last breath and had endured more pain that most people will ever experience, it was then that my father carried me.
I want you to know that even I asked my father not to make me go through so much pain, but had it not been for that pain I would not be able to write to you today. Had I not died that day, you would not know me, you would not know what love feels like, and you would not know how much our creator wants to help you.
Do not give up, my friend. I have heard you calling, and I am here. I always have been, and I always will be here for you. Remember, I too have a name, and I will come when you call that name. You know me as Jesus, but do not forget who I am. I am Immanuel - meaning God with us. Do not fear pain or hardship. These things are good. It was these very things that made it possible for me to be with you; for God to be with us.
I am here. I always have been, and I always will be. Even when you can not see or hear me, I am there. I will not forsake you.
Love,
Immanuel
It has been quite some time since I have written to you. I am writing you today because I know you feel abandoned. I know you feel alone, confused, and afraid. Do not mistake my silence as absence, please. You have gone days, weeks, years even, where you have not spoken to me. Does this mean you will not speak to me ever again? However, my reason for silence is usually not the same as yours.
Today another friend of mine is in a very dark place. I reminded my friend that, although it may be too dark too see me, I am still there. In fact, I wish to be there more but am not always invited. There are many times I see you suffer and yet you don't call me. I know it can be hard to remember that I am there when all you feel is the ground shaking and the thunder booming, but sometimes these same things that frighten you are the very things that I have set in place to help you. You see, there are many times that I purposely cause things to happen that will be painful for you. I know you won't always understand why I do these things, but trust me, there is nothing I do to you or for you that is not good for you.
Once, there was a man. This man was loved very much by his father, but his father asked him to do something very, very, difficult. His father asked him to die. Not only did his father ask him to die, but he asked him to suffer excruciating pain in the process. The father knew all that the son would have to go through: pain, torture, abuse (both mental and physical), ridicule, hatred, accusations, exhaustion, doubt, confusion, and despair. Yet, the father knew that all of this was necessary. And so, the son experienced all of these things and died. That son was me. Let me tell you first hand that not even this was the hardest thing I have had to endure, but in that moment - when my body was hanging by only the nails that were driven through it, and my lungs gave out - I feared my own father had forsaken me. But he did not! When I breathed my last breath and had endured more pain that most people will ever experience, it was then that my father carried me.
I want you to know that even I asked my father not to make me go through so much pain, but had it not been for that pain I would not be able to write to you today. Had I not died that day, you would not know me, you would not know what love feels like, and you would not know how much our creator wants to help you.
Do not give up, my friend. I have heard you calling, and I am here. I always have been, and I always will be here for you. Remember, I too have a name, and I will come when you call that name. You know me as Jesus, but do not forget who I am. I am Immanuel - meaning God with us. Do not fear pain or hardship. These things are good. It was these very things that made it possible for me to be with you; for God to be with us.
I am here. I always have been, and I always will be. Even when you can not see or hear me, I am there. I will not forsake you.
Love,
Immanuel
