Arms of Love (51 page)

What role do you allow God to play in your underneath life?

Prayer
: Dear Father, Your underneath, what You have for me that is hidden, is that which is good, which supports a dwelling place in You. Help me, in times of trouble, to realize that You have control of what lies underneath and of all that is seen. Be glorified in my life for Your Son’s sake.

Day Four: The Everlasting

Author’s Insight
: It is sad to reach the point where you feel that “nothing lasts forever.” Lena must face this in the loss of her mother as she knew her on earth. We often feel like this when we are tired, discouraged, and feel beaten by life. But God speaks of things being “everlasting.” His Word is one of these absolutes. His Word, the Bible, does not change, and more than that, His Word promises that “Jesus is the same—yesterday, today, and forever” (see Hebrews 13:8). This can offer us great hope when we feel like “God surely wouldn’t understand.” Jesus, God, understands. He knows, from both our vantage point and His vantage point as King, who we are in Him. Nothing is impossible for the everlasting God. Allow Him to show you the depth of His power as you walk through these limited days on earth.

Novel Question: What values or things are everlasting in the novel?

What do you believe to be true and everlasting in your own life?

There is a difference between neverending and everlasting. Sometimes when we are in pain, we think that it will last forever. God promises us something different. What seemingly “never-ending” situation can you surrender to God?

Prayer
: Oh Everlasting God, help me, with my limited vision, to trust what You are doing in my life as being for Your glory. If I hurt, help me to see an end to the suffering, an end to my grief, to my pain—in this lifetime. Thank You for who You are and that You are ever mindful of me and Your everlasting plan and purpose for my life.

Day Five: God’s Arms

Author’s Insight
: Perhaps you have had the gift of being held by strong arms. Perhaps you yearn for this now. God’s arms are strong—the arms of a king, the arms of a carpenter, the arms that stretched willingly against the wood of a cross for you. Perhaps you feel at times that your arms are asked to handle and carry more than you can manage—like Lena felt following her mother’s death. But God promises that He has you in this earthly life, that He “hems you in, before and behind” (see Psalm 139:5). He surrounds you with His arms and gives you the protection of the ultimate warrior. This doesn’t mean that you will not have troubles in the world, but God has overcome this world and stretches His arms out to you at this very moment—waiting and willing.

Novel Question
:
Pick a character who is overwhelmed and then comforted by the unseen but all-powerful arms of God. How does God hold this character close in His arms?

Arms can be defensive or sheltering, bold or gentle, warring or kind. What kinds of arms have you experienced in your own life? Who or what has held you or held you away?

We associate strength with musculature in arms, yet many a thin arm has done mighty a task. It is no easy task, for example, to surrender, to yield. What have you had to yield to in your life with God’s blessing?

Make a list of all those whom you long for God to hold in His arms, to feel His strength and protection. Put your name at the top of the list.

Prayer
: Dear Lord, I surrender the above names to Your everlasting arms, to Your power and might, to do with as You see fit. Work in these lives, Father, and thank You for the opportunity to be an example of Your loving arms in my own life—with both friends and those who hurt me.

Week Four—Freedom

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim . . . freedom to prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1
NASB
)

Day One: Christ Was Sent for You—the Brokenhearted

Author’s Insight
:
Arms
of Love is not a bright and happy novel; it was never meant to be. It was meant to capture the way that God works through our times of brokenness to bring about amazing transformation and healing potential. Jesus was sent by the Father for this very reason, to help you when you are brokenhearted. And although you may not feel this way now, everyone will experience a broken heart sometime in this earthly life. But the fact that the Father loves so much as to foresee this brokenness and to offer healing should give us pause when we would rather do anything but be broken. Everyone is scared to suffer a broken heart, but it is not the end—only the beginning, or Christ’s mission would be incomplete. There is more to come in your life.

Novel Question: Name the brokenhearted in this story.