NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE ME FROM THE LOVE OF GOD Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

[shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
35

(Roman 8: 35-39) How much pain and suffering are you able to personally experience in life? Is your faith like Solomon? Could you bear the cross that Solomon was required to bear as a test of his faith? If Satan said he could take your pain and suffering away if you renounced Jesus-Would you? We as Christians profess a devotion to Christ and stand firm that our belief is unshakeable. Some say that when things are going well for us, our faith is not necessarily tested and that it is easy to believe in God. It is believed that the real test of faith is to experience a surfeit of pain and suffering and still believe that God knows what is best for us and that he does not place more on us than what we can bear. A TRUE TESTIMONY TO ONES FAITH IN GOD. Several years ago I met a woman who had just lost her husband of more than 25 years. He had been a very successful barber and left her well-off financially. She had three daughters: Laura, Susan, and Rachel, and one son, Eric. I will call her Joan. When I met her I discovered that she and I knew some of the same people who happened to be educators. She eventually became an important person in my network of friends. I was a single parent at the time of three small children. If I needed an emergency baby-sitter, she was there. If I were detained in a meeting and needed someone to pick my children from school-she was always there to assist me. We ultimately became an important part of each others families. She was a civic leader, quite active in the community, and an invited guest at most events held to

promote community awareness and safety. In fact, my children and I attended many of these activities with her. She was proud of her children. Rachel, the youngest, had recently finished college and the other two daughters, Laura and Susan were married to successful young businessmen who had been very close childhood friends. One was a Chiropractor and the other son-in-law was in Real Estate investment. The two sons-inlaw also competed to best the other in being the most successful in life. In fact, they regularly argued about who would be the first to become a millionaire. Everything appeared to be going just fine for her. The daughters married well and her only son was in his first year at a major university. A very quiet young, man, he seemed detached from the family. Since I did not know him before his fathers death, I assumed that he was still grieving . After knowing and being around my friend for a couple of years she called me frantically one day leading up to the Christmas holidays. She said she needed my help and wanted me to come to her home immediately. She refused to tell me what she wanted over the phone.

When I arrived at her home, she informed me that her son, whom I will call Eric, had been behaving strangely over the past few days and she saw him smoking something that she believed was crack cocaine. He was not a cigarette smoker and she was familiar with the smell of mariuana. She was petrified-her only son, a crack addict? Eric was in another room. I called to him to come and talk with me. As I talked to him over a two or more hour period of time. I knew that something was wrong. Even though he had always been silent and withdrawn, it was obvious from my perspective that he was under the influence of some drug. Crack had nearly devastated my family. It was indirectly responsible for taking my brothers life and nearly ruined the lives of two other close family members. It is difficult to explain, but I can tell a covert crack addict without any difficulty. Eric was clearly in denial. He indicated to me that he just had a bad cold and had not gotten a lot of sleep because of studying for semester exams. I told him that he was lying and should immediately seek medical attention. He refused to admit that he had a problem. After getting nowhere with Eric, I said to his mother that I am not a medical doctor, but I agreed with her that he was under the influence of some drug which appeared to me, to be crack cocaine. I also said to her that if he does not get assistance that things would get worse before they got better. My words became prophecy. Less than two weeks later, I was celebrating the coming of the new year in Georgia with a party in my home. As the countdown for the Georgia Peach to be dropped in downtown Atlanta , to bring in the new year, I received a called from Erics mother. The call was not to wish me a Happy New Year.

She was crying hysterically into the phone. I could not understand what she was saying. Finally, someone got on the phone and said that Eric had just been found dead in their guest house. He had taken a rope after looping it around something on the ceiling, and placed it around his neck. He also took a belt and secured his wrists behind him and dropped from a stool, immediately killing himself. A young life, wasted by a battle with addiction which his inner demons won. I observed my friend during this period. Joan exuded strength for the family, even though I knew that the death of her son was unfathomable. When I asked her how she was doing-she was quick to respond by saying She does not question what happened to her son. She further stated that God was still in control of things and that her faith in him was unwavering. She truly missed Eric and often talked about him as if he were still alive. ` After Erics death, I often checked in on my friend to ensure that she was Ok. On one such occasion, several months later, I called and she informed me that she was doing fine and that her two daughters were in town with their husbands. They were in town because John, the chiropractors father, was being funeralized that day. Later on in the evening she called me with a sadness in her voice that I remember to this day. Between her crying over the phone. I was able to understand that after the funeral her daughters and son-in laws had left her home earlier in a limo to change clothes and were to return in the evening. The craziest thing happened in the limo. The two son-in-laws got into a heated argument about the interpretation of some passage in the Bible. Before they got to their destination, their wives restored the peace between them. They both apologized, no one realizing that this was just the calm before the storm, that would nearly destroy their families.

After they changed clothes and were on their way back to my friends home, they again, got into another heated argument. This time her daughters, Susan and Laura, were unsuccessful in restoring calm between their husbands. When they exited the limo, without warning, John who had just earlier buried his father, shot his lifelong friend, blasting him literally into his wifes arms. Both wives shouted John! What are you doing? Before they could comprehend what had taken place, John turned the gun on himself, dying almost instantly from his self-inflicted wound. Two young men, talented and destined to make their mark in the world, dead and the real reasons for their deaths, dead with them. Other than the playful competition between them, no one but the wives probably know what the real factors were, that led up to the murder-suicide between their husbands- and they have remained quiet until this day. In my conversations with my friend about the tragedy, she again, was strengthened in her faith. She never questioned God or felt cursed that tragedy again, had knocked on her door. NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE ME FROM THE LOVE OF GOD There are but a few of us who have the faith and fortitude of Job depicted in the bible as a person inflicted with pain and suffering unimaginable to test his faith in God. My friend, however, is one of them. She feared and respected God. She truly believed that no matter how awful the crisis a person is experiencing they should never give up and should always trust in God. She was the personification of her faith-never wavering, always believing that there would be a better day In less than two years later, her faith would again be tested.

A criminal fleeing the scene of his crime and being pursued by law-enforcement crossed paths with her daughter, Rachel, who was out for a drive with her son. The criminal struck her vehicle with such an impact that it rolled several times before coming to a full stop. The criminal was killed instantly. The daughter, miraculously sustained minor injuries. On the side that sustained the impact from the criminal, my friends grandson was not so lucky. The impact was so violent that it nearly decapitated her grandson, who died instantly. This really hurt. Grandparents are fond of their grandchildren, and my friend is no exception. They are typically, overindulgent and less inclined to discipline them as they would their own children. Grandparents, in fact, are more inclined to spoil their grandchildren. My friend doted on her grandchildren to the extent that grandmother in their eyes was truly synonymous with being their mother. They loved her too, and enjoyed spending many weekends and vacations with her over the years. Now, one of them was gone. Talk began to circulate among family members about some curse being on the family. Joan would tolerate none of this talk. She believed in God. She knew that we must accept the pain as well as we accept our blessings. Yes, a lot of tragedy had happened to the family. Yes, the tragedies had tested their faith and belief in God. My friend Joan was adamant about her faith. She stated over and over again that she did not know why her family was chosen to endure so much pain but she said to all who would listen that nothing could separate her from the love of God. Her faith in God was instrumental in stabilizing the family. The children were strengthened by her faith and were able to carry on with their lives. They eventually realized that God does know what is best for us and that even though we may at times suffer a surfeit of woes during our lifetime-we should be like Job and understand

that adversities may occur in our lives but they should never cause us to fail to understand that there is a God that we can take everything to in prayer. BIBLICAL REFERENCE TO ARTICLE God is merciful and often we do not understand his desires for us sometimes as Christians. Some of us appreciate God when things are going great and when they are, we believe that we are blessed and his favorites. When tragedy occurs in our lives, however, it is an occasion to test our faith, especially when the tragedy is the death of a loved one. We are never actually prepared for death or a debilitating illness. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5 it says, When people are saying, All is well, everything is quiet and peaceful, - then all of a sudden, disaster will fall upon them. These catastrophes can in some instances, be so devastating that we feel that God has betrayed us. We reason that we regularly attend church, we give our tithes, we assist others in need-why did God select our family? Too many of us are unable to recover from such losses and stop attending church and even abandon our faith in God. We must remember that God has a plan for us that will lead to our ultimate salvation if we would only trust in him during our good times and during our hard times. We can learn a lot about pain, suffering, and redemption from Job who suffered incalculable loses

but refused to curse God and die. It is written in Job 2: 2-13: 2: And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3: And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. 4: And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Satan truly believed that if he caused enough pain to Job that he would certainly renounce God. Jobs story is a testament to faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. He knows how much we can bear. No matter how great the pain and sorrow, he is still there with us with broad shoulders that have proven to provide comfort and solace in times of our crises. GIVE GOD A CHANCE.

WOULD YOU PRAY WITH ME? I am weak, Lord. I acknowledge my weakness, Lord, because I do not know that if I were called upon to bear the cross of Job or that of your son Jesus Christ, that I could, without questioning my faith. I want to be strong, Jesus. You know my heart and understand

that I am still on a journey to be ever worthy in your sight. Direct my path so that I can be stronger in my faith. I know for certain that I believe in you, even though at the slightest pain or suffering, I am weak. I will pray each day that I will become stronger and forever understand that suffering is not the time to question my faith in You but is an opportunity to become closer. I desire to become closer to you Lord Jesus, forgive and strengthen me in my faith. AMEN