God's pursuit of you...

    Justin would go to church as a child and strum his Bible as if it were a guitar. His parents recognised his interest in the guitar and got him one by the age of fifteen. Unfortunately, it was around the same time that he got his first job and he began to hang out with the wrong crowd. He started to lead a double life. He would go to church and be with his friends from the youth group and lead in worship, but on weekends, he would spend time with the wrong crowd. He began stealing and by the age of eighteen he was standing before a judge facing the possibility of going to jail. In his heart he felt conviction because he knew that was not how his parents had raised him. 
    The judge chose to give him a choice - he could choose to go to jail or do community service after which he would join the army. He chose the latter and saw his hopes and dreams for music gone. Within two years of joining the army he was sent to Iraq. While there, his grandfather passed away and he was angry with himself because the poor choices he had made had caused him to miss the opportunity to be with his family at that time. He felt led to go to the chapel. The chaplain asked the small group gathered if anyone had experience playing the guitar and leading worship. He raised his hand. God was putting the guitar back into his hands. 
    On returning home, he expected that he could hit the restart button and start his life over. Unfortunately, that was not the case. His traumatic experiences in the army, caused him to battle with anger, depression and PTSD. He returned to alcohol and the addictions he had before he joined the army. He started working again. One day a co-worker invited him to a music studio. The engineer invited him to record something. As he was leaving the session, he handed him a CD of what he had recorded. When he got home, he threw all of his alcohol down the drain and he lost his desire for it. He has not had a craving for it to this day. He began rebuilding his relationship with God and started writing music again. One day, God directed him to do a night of revival and worship at his home town at the same courthouse he had found himself in years earlier. He was reluctant at first but when he obeyed, it was a personal revival for him. 
    Justin sees God’s love as the ocean and himself as the shoreline; he sees God’s love as being in relentless pursuit of the shoreline. He wants to be submerged by God’s love and never lose sight of what He has done in his life, of how He has brought about his story of redemption.
    This testimony truly moved me. I felt encouraged as God reminded me of what He has done in my own life. I love the way God chooses to hit the restart button when we don’t know how to or we simply can’t. God gave Justin more than one second chance. He chose not to give up on him. God ’s pursuit of him was indeed relentless no matter how many times Justin failed.
​    God is in hot pursuit of you too. When He says He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), He means it. On our good days, He is there and on our bad days, I think God is more than there, even though we can’t feel it. God does not go back on His Word, we do. What I especially love is the fact that when we can’t get it right ourselves, God is right there to put things in place to get us back on the right track. 
    Isaiah 44:22 says, “I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me for I have redeemed you.” I think this verse sums up God’s love for us. He will not allow anything or anyone to stand in the way of His love for us. He wants us and loves us more than we will ever know.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. There is nothing you can do to stop God from loving you. He loves you even when you can’t love yourself. God’s love is infinite, passionate, relentless…

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