But God

The past two weeks have been somber for me as I have had two dear friends lose loved ones that were both way too young to die. It has felt like a weight in my soul and I can't imagine how the two families who actually are dealing with grief second by second are feeling.

I've been trying to get started doing an inductive Bible study in the book of Ephesians but so far I am still in the reading stage of the whole process because I'm just having a hard time getting started.  It is something I struggle with for almost every project or important task that I wish to do.  

A couple days ago  I was trying to motivate myself to go visit my newly widowed friend, not because I didn't want to go love her, but, because it is a huge thing to go spend time with the bereaved.  It is important to just go and BE but sometimes I have trouble with that so I was procrastinating.  Earlier that morning I had waded into the pool of Ephesians with trepidation feeling like somehow I wasn't "doing it right". (How can just reading be wrong?)  The heading of the chapter I was reading was titled From Death to Life.  I kind of thought, "cool, this should have some great stuff for me to ponder".  But that would not be what framed my day, really, my whole week.

There were two words in that chapter that I had previously underlined and those were the words I wanted to remember and to mull around in my heart and in my mind for the rest of the week.  

But God.

It looks kind of crazy and wonky just staring at the letters I've just written. The concept, however, is profound and rich and fulfilling. 

But God.

All the things in my life and my dear ones' lives can overwhelm me like a flood.

But God.

If you are being undone by what you cannot control or just by all that seems to need to be done, remember, God is. He is and His just being in existance is enough for us. But He is so much more.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift---not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:4-10