Loving God for God's sake

Whenever you experience loss, it is important to avoid denying the pain or running from it.

Neurosis is simply the avoidance of pain.

We run from our pain, so we experience a heighten sense of worry, anxiety and fear - and throw ourselves off the road to freedom and release.

With loss, comes inner pain.

One of the by products of avoiding that inner pain is that you lose the ability (and the opportunity) to become aware of your own inner self.

You begin to realize that when a situation, a job, a person, your health, is taken away from you - you begin to realize what really is the foundation of your life.

Here is the sequence:

You are emotionally dependant upon a person or a situation.

You receive your self-worth from them.

When that person or situation is gone, you sink into depression because of his or hers (or the situation) absence.

It feels as if they (it) has taken away something  that you can't live without.

If you will let it, however, that pain of absence can reveal a certain lack of trust in God's love (as Nouwen writes).

But (and I am hesitant to write this because is sounds so cliche) God is enough.

The pain that you feel today can prompt you, propel you, into a deeper walk with God, a deeper knowledge of Him, a deeper relationship with Him.

It calls you and I to take a new step into the mystery of God's inexhaustible love. 

However, please know that this process is painful, very, very painful.

But here's what I am learning.  The more I am stripped of my reliance upon other people or situations for my well-being, the more I can love God for God's sake.