Who can separate us from the love of Christ?  Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ROMANS 8:35 

Troubles and sufferings, danger, even violent death are all circumstances where we certainly don’t feel the presence of God’s love. If anything, they are places where we feel abandoned and alone. But does that mean He isn’t with us? Does it mean that forces of darkness have claimed victory over our lives? 

Our enemy would have us to believe this. He’s the voice that cleverly deceives us into thinking our pain is a valley of wasteland, where time, hope, and dreams will never be recovered. We are tricked into believing that, while we are stricken, life will pass us by without blinking or even caring.  

But our valleys are not a means to an end—they are holy beginnings where the fullness of God will carry us into the richest fellowship with Him as never before. They are the intimate depths where God says, “I know you hurt and you don’t understand, but this is where you and I will meet and abide as never before.” 

Father, I need You and want to abide in Your presence as never before. I don’t understand the whys of all that I face, but I trust You enough to believe that this time is not wasted; it is not an end.  It’s a redirection into a new beginning of the life You have planned for me—a life of love and abundance of favor. I pray that the ways You will use me and my circumstances will bring us closer and fulfill the plans You’ve laid for my life. 

ALL GLORY TO YOU. AMEN. 

This is an excerpt from Daily Prayers for Grieving Hearts – a devotional now available on DaySpring.com. Shop all books, journals, and devotions from DaySpring here.