one by one

"The plain fact is, 

if you follow Jesus there will be times when you find yourself absolutely alone, 

cut off from everyone.

  In spite of the glorious unity and love of the Body of Christ, 

there are bound to come times when the soul must stand utterly alone before God.  

For there are some traits of soul,

 some spiritual qualities,

 that can only be acquired and perfected in solitude~

and not in the comfortable solitude we call "time to ourselves" of which we all crave a certain amount, but rather in the grueling solitary confinement of real loneliness and desertion.

There is just no way around it.

Without tasting this experience no Christian can become truly Christlike.

The Via Dolorosa, the path to the cross, must be trod alone.

 Like the dock before the very judgment seat of God,

this is a narrow place,

wide enough for only one abreast.

There is no marriage in heaven taught Jesus.

We squeak through the pearly gates one by one."

From The Gospel According to Job

by Mike Mason

Recommended to David by a friend of his in Chicago who had just lost his wife.

I have read this book countless times.

It is all marked up as I have a tendency to do.

I had highlighted this paragraph before.

When I read it this time it jumped off of the page at me.

The loneliness of losing a spouse is almost unbearable.

It is good to know God has a purpose for even this hard thing in our lives.

photo credit...

No Words Necessary

Sherri Skeiter