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Jan 18, 2023 18:30pm
We Are Not Alone
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I looked away not wanting to see the pain in his eyes. The time was coming and I couldn’t bear the thought. There was no other way. I smiled and said, “I’ll see you soon”. We embraced and I walked away.

Leaving my dad in the treatment center was one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure. Knowing this had to be done for his sake and for all of us didn’t make it any easier. For years he had been sober and had done well, but just one drink of beer at his brother’s funeral had started him down the path of destruction we had worked so hard to rebuild from before.

He knew what awaited him. He knew the pain he would go through, but the worst was always the fact that he was alone. As his daughter, I dreaded it. I didn’t want to leave him alone any more than he did, but it had to be done. He held my hand and cried and asked me not to leave him but we both knew what needed to happen.

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.” (Matthew 27:45-49)

Alone.

It wasn’t the physical pain that was so unbearable to Jesus, it was the pain of being separated from the Father. This was the first time that had ever happened. Jesus was sinless. He had never had anything standing between Him and God. And now, as He bore the sins of the world on Himself on the cross, the Father turned His face away. The Holy Father could not look upon the sins that covered the Son. In that moment, Jesus was alone. But it was the only way.

Maybe you have felt that as you dropped your child off to kindergarten for their first day of school, or maybe at college in another state. Or perhaps you’ve felt that feeling of being alone yourself. Abandoned. Forgotten. Hopeless.

Let me share with you a wonderful truth about that moment on the cross. What seems like hopelessness was actually the very thing that offers us the only hope we will ever find. Because Jesus took our sins upon himself, we now have the privilege and ability to come before the Holy Father. We can ask for forgiveness and redemption through the name of Jesus!

You are not alone! With Jesus, we have hope! Hope for an eternity in Heaven with the Father! Hope for forgiveness for our sins! Hope for unconditional love! Hope for joy that’s everlasting!

Share that with someone today who needs Him.

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