Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "In Dark Times" for Thursday, 26 June 2014 - Read Romans 8:31-39

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "In Dark Times" for Thursday, 26 June 2014 - Read Romans 8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? 33 Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”[Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22] 37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus said, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28:20 (NRSV))
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which a vivid life experience continues to replay in thoughts and dreams and at unexpected and unwelcome times. It often originates in a life-threatening event, but it can also affect someone whose world is shaken in a less dramatic but intensely personal way. At its worst, PTSD is paralyzing and hinders daily life. As someone who has personally struggled with PTSD I have wondered, Is it selfish for a person who is battling PTSD to ask God to remove the condition? We can look to the Bible for an answer. Jesus did dramatic healings, but healing was not his main focus. His assurance to us was and is that God is a source of indescribable power and strength and that God cares for us, knows our names, and surrounds us with love. God may not take away, with a single stroke, the intruding images of PTSD. Healing will come at its own pace. Until then, when the images strive to take control, we can reach out to God, who stands beside us. We can be assured that we are of inestimable worth to our creator and that God buoys us up with love.
The Author: Don Greeley (Illinois, USA)
Thought for the Day: When we are in a dark place, God is next to us and yearns to take our hand.
Prayer: Dear God, you are on our right, on our left, in front of us, and behind us. Help us to feel your love carrying us through the dark places in our lives until light shines once more. Amen.

Prayer focus: Those who suffer from PTSD
-------