Despair

Someone has said that "despair is the greatest sin." Despair denies the love of God, the faithfulness of God, the promise of God--"I am at work doing good, doing good for you, even in the evil." We must plead with God each day to give us a sense of His presence. Then, like Joseph, in a pit, as a slave, apparently forgotten in a prison, we can continue to live a faithful life. "God means it for good" will be our constant testimony--the focus of our prayers and thoughts. And we will be heart-broken when those perpetrators of evil don't understand that He desires to do good in their lives as well. Joseph's brothers and their families were delivered from the famine because God used their evil to save them all. Such a realization should have produced a thankful joy not fear--a broken-heart of repentance. God died for us. God loves us because He wants to not because He has to--we are precious to Him. The storm is not a reason to despair. The storm is the catalyst for the beauty of the rainbows He spreads across our life over and over and over again.

"We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulations brings about patient endurance, and patient endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."