forever.

forever. i associate really happy things with the word forever... like heaven and being in love.

in the ragamuffin gospel, brennan manning says:

'in the end, will life triumph over death? with unshaken confidence Jesus answers: the kingdom of My Father cannot be overcome, even by death. in the end everything will be all right, nothing can harm you permanently; no loss is lasting. no defeat more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. no evil can resist forever.'

this appealed to me, because of the last two lines.

i feel like many christians, when telling others about Jesus, make up this fluff leading others to believe that once you commit to Jesus - once you dive into a relationship with him - everything is going to be easy. no suffering will take place, because Jesus is apart of your story.

i'm not from that school. i love that Jesus is apart of my story. wouldn't ever wish to do it without him. but do you know one of my reasons for that? because it's been hard even with him.

a lot of times i think that i'm at the bottom of the barrel. like circumstances couldn't possibly get any worse. but then i think - dang. if this is so horrible now, think of what it would be like without a Redeemer...

the beauty of Christ is his redemptive gospel - his head over heels love and infatuation with us.

and even though committing to God is huge and powerful and beautiful - it isn't magical in the way that evil will disappear forevermore.

no evil can resist forever.

and i think i'll add Jesus to my list of happy things i associate with the word forever.