Return to Me
In four days, Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season - forty days (excluding Sundays) of preparation leading to Easter. The practice dates to the early church, when new converts would spend forty days in intensive preparation for baptism at Easter. Eventually, the whole church joined them
Father, I'm scared you'll leave me like everyone else has. I know you promise to never forsake me, but I struggle to believe it because everyone eventually leaves. People have disappointed me, abandoned me, walked away when I needed them most. I keep expecting you to do the same - to final
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Jesus quoted Psalm 22 from the cross, crying out in the moment he experienced what we fear most - abandonment by God. For the first and only time in eternity, the Father turned away from the Son. Jesus experienced the full weight
Be strong and courageous - not because you're naturally brave, but because I am with you. I will never leave you, never forsake you, never abandon you to face anything alone. When you're scared, remember who's with you. When you're weak, remember whose strength you carry. You are never alo