Far too often we base our happiness on having certain things that we feel are essential to enjoying life. However, sometimes it is only in the losing of those things that we discover the one and only true way to find satisfaction. Consider these words from the pen of the late J. R. Miller:
“If we have God—no other loss is irreparable! There
is surely enough in God’s love, to compensate a
thousand times for every earthly deprivation! Our
lives may be stripped bare—home, friends, riches,
comforts, every sweet voice of love, every note of
joy—and we may be driven out from brightness and
music and tenderness and shelter—into the cold ways
of sorrow. Yet if we have God Himself left—ought it
not to suffice? Yes, is not He Himself infinitely more
than all His gifts?
Often we do not learn the depth and riches of God’s
love, and the sweetness of His presence—until earthly
joys vanish out of our hands, and beloved ones fade
away out of sight. The loss of temporal things empties
our hearts—to receive spiritual and eternal things! The
sweeping away of earthly hopes—reveals the glory of
our heart’s refuge in God. “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1″
