what i know to be true

My favorite book in the Bible is Hosea.

It's message is love and mercy, grace and redemption, and a God who never fails, even when life seems impossibly hard.

Reading through it once again I paused at the 2nd verse in chapter 1:

"When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord."

Honestly, I have never caught this before to this extent:

God asked Hosea to live out that which he would preach to the people.  He allowed Hosea to intimately understand the message he would deliver.

Oh boy, I can identify with that!  Much time over the last few years I have struggled "WHY?".  

Well, if I am really honest, I have struggled with "Are you freaking kidding me!!!!".

While I have received no answer or explanation for either one of these inquiries, I do know that my mess is truly becoming my message.

IT IS WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE.  IT IS WHAT I CAN TELL YOU IS FACT WITHOUT A SHADOW OF HESITATION.

My God loves me.  He cares for me.  He leads me.  He pursues me.  He will never leave me.  He is always by my side.  He is always available to give me direction.  He will take care of me on every level--spiritually, financially, emotionally.  He is my Husband, my Daddy, and my very best friend.

HE WILL NEVER CHANGE.

And He is all of those things for you too.  

YOU.  Just you.  All by yourself.  This is not a "we" thing.  HE LOVES YOU.

With a passion that you can not even begin to understand the depths of.

Lately, life has allowed me to further learn some of these truths, and I must say that my God does not disappoint.  He is all of the above and more.  Every single day.

What about you?  What lesson is God teaching you in your mess?  It is possible that He is fashioning your message?

***I would love for you to leave a comment or join the discussion on the Beauty from Ashes Facebook page!

Comments

[Linda]

I love the book of Hosea, too. I never really caught that before that God ASKED him to live out the message that he would bring to the people. Sometimes we are so far removed from people in history that we "forget" that they were real people with real lives and real emotions. Hosea had a lot of heartbreak, but God was faithful to him. He will be faithful to us as well. I know that He has been to me. It's not always easy, but He will always bring us through.