Those words I wrote above don't apply to anyone active in this topic. You've never approached me with hollow platitudes and you're intimate with suffering. They aren't for my brothers and sisters in these bonds... you know who you are. I don't need to tag your forum names.
My words are hard to understand. I wandered for so long under the sun that I forgot who I was and where I was going, witnessing things no one ought to see and enduring deprivation in the shadow of death. I am nothing and nobody, hated by the mother who bore me and forgotten by those who knew me, betrayed by friends whom I loved. They cast me out.
I was worthless and so I continued to wander under the sun. Surely the Lord cursed me in His wrath! I failed at everything: what I built with these hands collapsed into a heap... I had no place to rest my head... and no matter how I tried to put an end to this misery under the sun, I lived to see another day.
I had forgotten the words of Jesus Christ, that promise which the Lord declared when He called me out of this world. I have always belonged to Christ and Him alone but I had forgotten His words along the way.
I've seen dark times in this world. I lived to die and so I wasn't afraid of the bullets, the knives, the threats and promises of death. Therefore when the purpose of Almighty God was revealed, that work He ordained for me to walk in under the sun, I embraced it with abandon... only I was ignorant that it was His will and purpose for me to do so. I had found the most lovely and worthwhile reason to lay down my life: a woman who was accursed and abandoned like I was.
The man who had raped and terrorized her day and night promised to take her life and no one believed her report... except for me. I believed every word and so I devoted my existence to preserving her life and protecting this stranger from evil under this sun. Her rapist wasn't alone... he had friends who were just like him... but I wasn't afraid of their bullets, their knives, and promises of death. I was already dead so what did I have to fear?
I didn't know. I didn't know that my Father in heaven had chosen me to look after this woman whom He loves until I was almost dead. She was safe and I was dying when the Lord came to me in the shadow of death... and I suddenly remembered what I had forgotten after all those years under the sun. I belonged to the Living One and no other; He claimed me before I was born as His own. The Lord has never lied to me --- not once --- nor has He betrayed me at any time. I love Him more than these words can say. The Lord gathered me in His hand and declared, You shall never depart from My presence.
I was informed that I'm in the early stage of a terminal illness today and I couldn't be more pleased. I'm so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to walk in the knowledge of His purpose and will under this sun, and the honor God afforded me when I foolishly believed that I was cursed and hated by Him. I'm always in His presence, even in my suffering, and He is both merciful and kind toward me.