{"id":304,"date":"2010-07-20T09:12:20","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T09:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/when-god-feels-far-away-part-two.html"},"modified":"2010-07-20T09:12:20","modified_gmt":"2010-07-20T09:12:20","slug":"when-god-feels-far-away-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/when-god-feels-far-away-part-two.html","title":{"rendered":"When God Feels Far Away Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"desertflowers.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote a short post last week about spiritual deserts
\n(“When God Feels Far Away<\/a>“). Over the weekend, a stream of comments came in,
\nfrom people sharing experiences of pain, suffering, joy, answered prayer, and
\nquestions for God. People wrote about losing their jobs, battling cancer, a
\nchild using drugs, family issues, physical disabilities, depression,
\nexperiencing heartbreak and a host of other sorrows and problems.<\/p>\n

In response to your comments, I wanted to write a little bit
\nmore as, I hope, a word of encouragement. Once again, I’ll use Psalm 63<\/a> as my
\nguide. <\/p>\n

The first thing the Psalmist tells us is to pray<\/u>. Even when
\nyou feel far away. Even when you “feel so empty inside.” Even when you think,
\n“I have failed God.” Even when you “have felt as though” you are “the worst
\nperson on the face of the earth.” Even when you “feel God has forsaken me.”
\nEven when you worry “God had enough of my complaints.” Even then, especially
\nthen, the Psalms remind us that we can always talk to God.<\/p>\n

Jesus reminds us of this too. He says we should be like
\nlittle children, constantly asking our parents for what we want, not worrying
\nabout whether our parents will be annoyed with us or not. He tells us we
\nshould, “Always pray and never give up” (See Luke 18<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And Jesus also tells us there are no preconditions for who
\ncan go to God. In fact, those of you who described yourself in the comments
\nyesterday fit the picture of the people God cares about most of all. At one
\npoint, Jesus tells his disciples who will be invited to the “wedding banquet,”
\nwhich is to say, who God wants to invite to a party. Here’s the list: the
\nblind, the lame, the poor, the outcast, the ones who aren’t respectable and
\nreligious, the ones who don’t have it all together (see Luke 14:15-23<\/a>).
\nYou are the one–you who are living with your boyfriend, you who failed God, you
\nwho haven’t been able to work because of disability–you are the one God loves.
\nYou are the one God longs to hear from. And you are invited to talk to your
\nFather.<\/p>\n

So the first thing is: Pray<\/u>.<\/p>\n

And the second thing is: Remember<\/u>. I wrote a little bit last
\nweek about remembering what God has done for you in the past. But sometimes we
\ncan’t remember anything from the past. Sometimes we haven’t had positive
\nexperiences with God in the past. And that’s when instead we need to remember
\nwho God is. God is the one who came to earth in the person of Jesus. God is the
\none who lived among us and died for us because of his unbelievable love for us.
\nGod is the one who holds us tight. And God is the one who will not allow his
\nchildren to be separated from his love: For
\nI am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither
\nthe present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor
\nanything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
\nthat is in Christ Jesus our Lord.<\/i> (Romans 8:38-39) <\/p>\n

The final thing is: Tell Somebody<\/u>. In other words, connect with other people. When the Israelites
\ncollected the Psalms, it was in order to share these experiences of God with
\none another. So, for those of you who are reading these comments, pray for one
\nanother. Find a local church or Bible Study or prayer group or healing prayer
\nservice. Find one friend who will get together and listen and pray honest prayers. As many of you said, it is too much to try to do this alone. <\/p>\n

Pray. Remember. Tell Somebody. <\/p>\n

The Israelites wandered in the desert for years, but they entered the promised land. God will not leave us in the desert forever. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote a short post last week about spiritual deserts (“When God Feels Far Away“). Over the weekend, a stream of comments came in, from people sharing experiences of pain, suffering, joy, answered prayer, and questions for God. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}