Article of the Month

Psalm 73:24-26

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is my strength of my heart, and my portion my for ever.

Who do you go to in times of need? Do you go to your Heavenly Father over matters? Matters of confusion, worry and uncertainty? Where do you go to for advice and reassurance? As someone who has lost both of my parents (and who were sadly not professing Christians either), I have learnt over the years through lots of heartache that the only one we can always turn to is our Heavenly Father. He never fails us! 

We may not understand, we may even be confused as to why something is happening/has happened, but your Heavenly Father knows it all, and will do what is good for His children always. That should be all we need, wherever we are in our walk of faith, whether a new believer or one with decades of experience! We should always remember He has us! Do you believe this? Do you trust Him enough to give your life to Him fully and not question Him? 

Suddenly finding myself at the age of 18, barely out of childhood, without a mother, and at that point without the Lord in my heart, I was looking all around for comfort, guidance, support and love. Did I get it in my (earthly) father? Sadly not. He was an atheist, and sadly within weeks of my mother passing (and after thirty plus years of marriage), he started dating. I had no choice but to accept it and remember my mum with fondest memories (although she was very much a sinner too!). But as months went on, I found myself extremely restless in my heart. This wasn’t just because I’d lost my mum and had a very stop/start relationship with my dad. I knew he loved me (he told me so), he’d give me a hug, but he was often very angry in his approach to people. He was always putting people down, belittling them, challenging them over everything (and not in a good way!).

He lived another 13 years after my mum had passed, but died having offended and deeply hurt many people needlessly, including my brother and myself. His anger and pride had driven so many people away in those closing years. 

Nearly 10 years on, as a believer in Christ Jesus, I am heavy with sadness over how he lived his life. He made people around him either angry too, or miserable and upset because of how he treated them. But as 10 years of him passing approaches (it will line up exactly with Father’s Day this year), I am still so sad over how he lived his life. I know my mum and dad weren’t happy together. My brother and I knew they were only together still because of us, they told us so! Yet this sad situation they lived in did not excuse his behaviour. No situation or hardship in life can justify such cruel, cold and superior treatment of others. 

The hurt that other people can cause to others is immense. Should it be happening? No, of course not! But if you don’t have the Lord in your heart, who do you have to keep you from falling into such angry and bitter ways? Who do you truly have to go to, to receive peace, assurance and guidance from? My dad was riddled with anger. Why? I don’t know. But one thing I do know, was that he was angry with God (a God he didn’t believe in, which says it all). His last moments were spent crying out for my husband, the editor of this magazine. A man whom my dad had warred against constantly due to my husband’s faith, a faith that deeply irritated my dad! My dad cried out for comfort and support from the one whom he had battled so determinedly against for years. Even in those closing minutes, God was witnessing to him to turn from his anger and receive His peace. 

To whom my dad’s heart belonged at the end, only God’s knows. But as a believer in Christ Jesus, I know I can turn to Him with all my hurt and know that He can truly comfort me. It’s so true that the closest people to you can hurt you the most, intentionally or not. But in Jesus, we have one closer to us than any friend, father, mother, brother etc, one that will never and can never hurt us, because He is meek and He is good. 

In the hurt and confusion of such events, we must go to our Heavenly Father and ask for His comforting and guidance. Do you do this? I know I don’t always. Life is so busy now with everything hardly ever stopping or turning off. But it’s so important we make the time to stop, and spend time with Him through prayer and a Bible study. After all, He is our comfort, He is our guide, He is all we need! 

People will sadly always let us down at some point (or many points!) as we are all sinners, every single last one of us! But He is perfect, and He will bless us with all we need to live with joyful and content hearts. May the Lord bless yours truly, in whatever struggle you are going through. May His peace be known to you, so that you may radiate it out to all that you come across, and so be a witness of His eternal love, mercy and grace. The Lord be with you. Amen.

Donna Badger