Nothing Separated Me From My God, Nothing Will Separate You

Nothing Separated Me From My God, Nothing Will Separate You 

If I were You I would've given up on me by now
I would've labeled me a lost cause
'Cause I feel just like a lost cause

If I were You I would've turned around and walked away
I would've labeled me beyond repair
'Cause I feel like I'm beyond repair

Oh, but somehow You don't see me like I do
Somehow You're still here

You're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

I used to hide
Every time I thought I let You down
I always thought I had to earn my way
But I'm learning You don't work that way, no

'Cause somehow You don't see me like I do
Somehow You're still here

You're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

My shame can't separate
My guilt can't separate
My past can't separate
I'm Yours forever

My sin can't separate
My scars can't separate
My failures can't separate
I'm Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change
I'm Yours forever

'Cause you're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

- "The God Who Stays" - Matthew West

Even my failures will never separate me from the Love of God...the list of things that cannot separate us from the love of God.  Wow. 

My shame can't separate
My guilt can't separate
My past can't separate
I'm Yours forever

My sin can't separate
My scars can't separate
My failures can't separate
I'm Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change.

For a very great deal of my life Satan tried driving into me that those things DID separate me from God.  That I was worthless, lost, a loser, to give up, I had gone too far, failed time and again, that all hope was lost. That level of berating was never loud.  It was just repeated over and over again. 

I began to believe it so much that I saw no way out.  It was then that in my darkest hour, Jesus still reached through to pull me out.  

Life hasn't been the same since. 

Life hasn't looked the same since. 

Life has meant something completely different since then.

I can remember the horrible treatment that I received in my first week after coming to Christ for salvation. It drove me into silence at school.  It is partly responsible for my diving into books and novels to escape this world.  It did. But even then Jesus still had a plan to turn things to good regardless of how I started out. To turn what had been my dark past into something useful for His Kingdom. 

These days Iook back on all that and wonder with caution.  I say with caution because of Romans 12. I do not wish to think more highly of myself than I ought to be thinking.  But these days, I can't be shut up in regards to my faith.  

Been through too much, seen too much, to be quiet about the love of God I have in Christ Jesus My Savior.  He saved me once decades ago and again He rescued me in 1999.  

In my daily walk I yet still fail Him and He still sets me back on my feet to go at it again the next day.  He still smiles at me and cleans me up and says "Let's try it again shall we?".

Indeed I have much to be ashamed about from my past.  Satan still tries to remind me of things that are there. Still attempts to get his foot in the door to cause me to stop. Remind him of his future when he does that to you!

I will always struggle because of my sin nature.  But I also will always have my Savior to be with me, to lift me back up, to heal me and get US going again. 

We may not understand why we go through some of what we do.  We may see nothing but expenses and loss, but, if we believe the Scriptures, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, then stop that train of thought and get off.  What might indeed be expenses and might indeed be inconvenient, might be the only avenue to someone's soul. The Spirit creates opportunities and He has the Father’s bank account to draw from.  His supplies are unlimited. 

Discouragement follows closely behind me every day.  It's in the chair near me, in the car as I drive.  Have no idea what Paul's thorn in the side was, but that is likely my thorn.  I seek to be found by God doing what it is He has for me to be doing.  I might indeed see an apparent waste of time, energy and money.  God may see a crack in someone else's life for the Spirit to get in. Opportunities for me will be different than opportunities for others in Christ.  We just need to be ready. 

When sorting boxes and boxes of what we brought along in our moving, I have found myself wondering why I packing what I found.  I see what we are donating here in our new hometown to thrift stores and the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  What makes little to no sense to me in that stuff going here rather than to the stores we left in our old hometown means something to God.  Someone here needed it and He had us wait till we were here to make it available.  We just need to be found obedient. 

We live in a world that teaches a wrong idea on waste.  If God's behind what you are doing, then don't count the cost. It's irrelevant.  God's reasons might not make any sense.  Consider the man that the Disciples were told to find before the Passover and the Last Supper. He spent a lot of time, energy and effort to get a room ready and had likely no idea why until they arrived to ask where it was, as per Jesus's instructions. 

My hobbies are by no means cheap.  Not that there is any significant value in them, the resources to make them a reality aren't cheap.  A good example is a 5.25" floppy drive isn't nearly as available as a flash drive, so it costs a lot more.   Fixed them is up there in cost as well due to lost knowledge on the subject.  The rarer the parts or services the more costly. Yet even in this, God's creating relationships, inroads, into people's lives that I never would have had if we stayed in our old hometown.  I now have two new relationships with people on two continents because of what Jesus is providing. 

You will never know nor see what God can do in your life until you come to the place of your whatever.  

I came to mine in 1999. Whatever God wanted of me finally was what I wanted.  I had failed enough, messed up enough, sinned enough to be at my end.  Whatever He wanted to do with me I was open for Him to do.  Failures and all.

I live today as one who's been forgiven. 

I live each day to do whatever God puts before me to be doing. Even if it makes no Earthly sense. Even if others don't understand. I really don't care if others do understand, I know what I know.  If I am obedient, God's got the details worked out. 

I am so grateful for my God who saves.

I am so grateful for my God who stays. 

He is always the One to run in my direction when the whole world walks away. 

His arms open wide He always says "Come to Me you who are weary and heavy laiden and I will give you rest."

You might be thinking you are a failure and might too be constantly thinking about how you must look to Jesus.  Turn to Him and let Him take on everything in your life for His faithfulness is everything and is everlasting. We are not what we've been through.  When someone comes to Jesus for salvation, we are instantly adopted, made right before God, and are now considered Children of God, not failures. Not losers, not worthless. We are Children of the King. We have work to be doing in Christ Jesus. We have an enemy who will stop at nothing that he's permitted to do in order to cause us to stumble and fall. We also have the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to see us through life when we are obedient and when we aren't.  We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.

Get to your knees if need be and stand on His promises.  Life's only just really beginning when you do.