HOW DO I FIND GOD?: LENTEN DEVOTIONAL MARCH 7

Published March 7, 2018 by SMBC

By Kathy Bernal

When I was 15 years old, my parents divorced after 25 years of marriage. Despite having three children and building a life together, they had also built walls of bitterness and resentment between them that resulted in a very painful divorce. A couple who had spent 25 years together, could no longer stand to be in the same room together. With my older brothers both grown and out of the house, it fell on my shoulders to help my very wounded mother pick up the pieces and move on.

Our family believed in God but we had never been the church-going type. We moved many, many times for my father's profession and never quite had the opportunity to establish a church home. I never realized how much I missed a church family until my own family fell apart. I longed to have what many of my friends did at the time: a family of God that loved them and supported them through good times and bad.

My relationship with God had always been strong growing up but his presence was especially powerful during that very tough time. He gave me strength to endure the challenges and heart- breaks resulting from that divorce. He also showed me the importance of having a church family. I vowed at the age of 15 that one day I would have a family of God and that I would raise my children there. Unlike me, my children would grow up knowing that they are never alone and that God, and his family, would always be there for them. So where do I find God? I find Him in the faces of my church family every week and thankfully, so do my children. We are truly blessed.