We've all seen it happen many times.
Most of us have suffered through it.
A relationship seemingly full of promise at the beginning crashes to the ground far too soon.
Words can be difficult to find when this happens to someone we love.
They can also be impossible to aptly express when it happens to us.
A wide variety of memories we once thought of as beautiful can become nothing more than painful reminders of how deceptive life can be.
Many times, we see it coming long before it happens.
There are countless signs we either miss entirely or simply choose to ignore.
Had we been given the opportunity to see into the future even for just a moment, maybe we would've done things differently.
Then again, maybe we wouldn't.
Maybe there still would've been things we loved very much about that relationship.
Things we loved enough to give up on the idea we'd find something better.
Something happier.
Something healthier.
Maybe our pride would've been too much for us to admit we were wrong at the very start.
Maybe, deep down inside, we didn't believe we deserved better.
This happens quite often within abusive relationships.
The abusive person convinces the abused they're not worthy.
Not all at once, mind you.
This will usually happen over time with the abused suffering apparently minor blows again and again.
These can be emotional, psychological, physical, or sexual in nature.
They can be all of the above.
The most common reason people who are abused stay in those relationships is fear.
- Fear of more abuse.
- Fear of being publicly humiliated.
- Fear of financial desperation.
- Fear of the unknown.
This is how life and the world around us can treat us.
We can find ourselves holding tightly to the life we have simply because we're blind to the possibility of finding a better life.
- A beautiful life
- A meaningful life
- A life far beyond anything we imagined possible
- A perfect life
No, I'm not suggesting that anyone is capable of living a perfect life.
Not here on earth, that is.
Not in our current form
We are, however, as followers of Christ, promised a glorious, beautiful, unimaginable life once this life comes to an end.
It won't be even remotely similar to the bad relationships we once thought were everything only to be greatly disappointed.
In fact, it will be the exact opposite.
As wonderful, amazing, and beautiful we may think it will be, we're not even close.
But as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
But this is not only speaking of the afterlife.
This also applies to the life we're living right now.
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Luke 11:11-13
So, if all of this is true - which it is - what keeps us from asking?
The answer is simple.
Fear.
- Fear of change.
- Fear of the unknown.
- Fear of receiving what the world has always given us.
- Fear of being disappointed like we have been through bad prior relationships.
Fear comes in countless forms.
But what overcomes fear?
Faith.
Faith in all of the following:
- We can be forgiven for any shortcomings we may have.
- We can trust in the one who created all things.
- If we ask, He will answer.
- We will not be abused by Him the way others, and the world, have abused us in the past.
- We can embrace the end, no matter what it means, as not just an end, but a new beginning.
It doesn't take an extraordinary amount of faith to get things started.
It only takes enough faith to ask.
It all begins with that first prayer.
Why not start now?
