July Reflection

Remember

“He saw the large crowd that was like sheep without shepherd. He felt sorry for the people and started teaching them many things.”
Mark 6:34

 

This is a passage that I understand very much.

This year, I’ve met and got to know more people than I expected I ever would in a span of just a few months. I have made friends from Camp CALYE, friends from CFA, friends from Feast PICC, and friends from Feast Alabang. Every person I meet is very different from the rest, but as I get to know each person, I realize that somehow they’re all the same. Everyone is craving for God’s love, even those who don’t know they do.

Most of the people I meet are all happy and friendly and it was easy to be friends with them. But as I got to know them more, I got to know their secrets, their fears, and everything else they have allowed me to know; I realized that they’re not that different from one another. They may be different people, but everyone has the same exact longing. And that is to be reminded or to remember that they are loved.

This is a fact: people forget how important they really are to God.

Another fact: some people have no idea that God loves them at all.

It’s disheartening to find out that the friends I’ve gotten know struggle with depression too (most teenagers do now, apparently, especially the ones in regular school.) They think they’re alone. They forget Who stands with them through it all.

I think that the main cause of depression is the lack of knowing of the truth. And the truth is that God loves as all. It may seem really cliché and overly redundant, but this is a constant fact. We forget that God cares about us, we forget that we matter to Him, therefore we forget to be happy.

God’s love is an amazing thing. I myself get lost too, I forget all about His love because I get distracted by so many things. But I found that if you really know how much you are cared about and how much God deems you worthy of every blessing He wants for you, you forget all about the sadness. You actually realize that this sadness is almost an illusion. It almost doesn’t exist.

Why does sadness exist? Well, why would it exist? If you have a God who provides you with everything you need, and if you have a God who loves you and accepts you no matter what you’ve become, why would you still be unhappy? That God up there loves you unconditionally, gadoi. You don’t have to be scared. You are never alone. You are important and you are His. He will never leave you alone.

 

 

If you have Him, by your side, 24/7… what do you have to be sad about? What do you have to worry about? Yes, you may think you have too many problems, and you may think that these are big. But remember, God is always bigger. Always. He’s the God of all galaxies, this dimension and the next. He is the God of legions of angels. Why do you still have to be afraid? Why do you still have to be sad? This God who is the King of all kings loves you. He knows you. He’s just right there. He is there for you.

My friends have shared to me their sadness. And when I hear about them I realize that they’re sad because they forget about the Truth. Truth is, God has never left them and never will. They’re not lost and they never are because God is always by their sides, just waiting. They just have to look. They just have to remember Who He is and How greater He is than any of their fears, their insecurities, and their worries combined. He is greater.

And people also forget that God made them.

Another fact: God made you good.

God has provided each and every one of us the talents, the strengths, and everything we could possibly need to fight the battles we’ve been given. God has everything ready for us. But we forget. We think that we’re too small for this and not good enough for that. But if God declares that you are worthy of Him; of His son, then how “good enough” can you get? You are worthy, and you are loved. We forget that. We forget our worth. We forget that we are loved. We forget how much He means to us and how much we mean to Him. His son gave up His life for us for crying out loud, that is how important we are. That is how loved we are. And it doesn’t matter who we are today, it doesn’t matter how sinful we are, or how lost we’ve been. We are His and He is ours. Nothing can change that. We are His. Keep that in mind.

That is why the passage stuck me more than it should.

“He saw the large crowd that was like sheep without shepherd. He felt sorry for the people and started teaching them many things.”

People get lost, people forget. We have to remind them. We have to teach them once more of God’s love, no matter how many times we need to. Because it is very heartbreaking to see that these people are dying inside, forgetting about the truth that they were made alive by such an amazing God. People shouldn’t miss who He is in their lives. Because He is the source of happiness, of comfort, of protection, and of love and they shouldn’t forget that. That’s why we have to remember the Truth, and we have to remind them.

Fact: God will never stop loving you, even if you forget to love Him back.

Last fact: You get to choose what you do next.