Surrounded By His Glory

December 23, 2022

Pastor Cheryl Jackson

The day grief and sorrow took my soul The day grief started, we were not heard, we were not understood, we were misunderstood, we were not seen, we were left alone, and when we were beaten, battered hurt, and broken. When we struggled with no help, when we lost all hope, when the tears wouldn't stop, when we caved in, and gave up, when it hurt so bad and there was no voice to comfort. When the encouragement did not come, when our wisdom failed, when the struggle got real, when fear overtook us, when this world shook us, when death came and loss prevailed, when shame came, when accusation came, when guilt overrode our soul. When the pain was so deep, and so high that there was no seeing around it or over it or through it. The day grief started; I was a child. That is the weight we humans carry every day of our lives; then Christ comes in and says, I will bear your grief I will carry your sorrow; here is my peace, my peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, don't be afraid. I have overcome the world. We do not have to carry the weight of self anymore. Scripture for thought John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. Isaiah 53:3-5 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed. Ephesians 3:16-21 for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Psalm 23:1-6