Friends Are Friends... Forever?

Have you ever been betrayed by someone you really care about?

I'm not talking about being swindled by a used car salesman or getting ripped off or being duped into buying something from a TV Infomercial... I mean someone you invested in. Someone you gave pieces of yourself to. Someone you thought was like family.

For me - and I'm sure many other people - this feeling of betrayal by people I care about has been something I have experienced many, many times in my life. It's kind of like the devil's little hot button for me. The thing that really hurts me the deepest. Friends, family and people I will never meet again have helped push that button... and I'm positive I have pushed that button for others as well.

Most of the time, I've been able to talk to the person and hash things out. Not this time. I've been able to say that I'm sorry too. I've been able to forgive and begin again... but something different is happening here. Things out of my control...

Thankfully, God is helping me grow... increasing my faith.

He never betrays me, never forsakes me. He continues to strip away the things that get in the way. I'm realizing more and more that everything in my life is meaningless. Possessions, titles, family, friends... none of it matters.

A new realization is taking over.

Everything could crumble down around me, but God still loves me and His plans will be carried through to completion.

How many of us really understand His love for us?

I don't think any of us really know it's true fullness. We've never experienced anything close to it in human form because we're all messed up, broken. We see glimpses of it... but do we really open ourselves up to receive all that He has freely given to us? Do we believe He loves us the way He says He does?

Most often we have to experience the pain and betrayal. We have to let God pull the little band-aid off of our gaping wound. He has to expose it so He can heal it.

Really it's about how we deal with it, isn't it? Knowing that God is still God in the face of all sorts of trials and tribulations. We were made to be in relationship with others... because we're made in His image. Relationships will fail.

How many times have I betrayed Him? Many more than Peter. Yet, He still loves me. Perfectly. Exactly the way I need it... Exactly the way He intended.

His perfect love casts out all fear.

Even the fear that someone will hurt me again...