Love and Loss

Everyone likes to talk about their great love, movies have been made, books have been written and those timeless stories have been passed down through each generation until even our littlest children know them by heart. But what about great loss? Those times that we don't like to talk about, those memories that we keep locked away so no one can see them, or the opposite we rely on them as we would a crutch, using them to excuse away all sorts of sins that we may commit.
The fact is that everyone deals with loss differently, I've spent a good portion of my life running away, from love, from loss, from any matter of things that I believe might make me vulnerable, including my relationship with Christ.
A few years ago someone very close to me lost their baby boy, their son was born premature and only lived for a few moments. That loss cut through my heart like nothing else ever had. For a long time after that baby died I held it against God, blaming him instead of accepting that He had another plan. I know in my head and my heart that little boy is safe in heaven and as I look around our world today I have to accept the fact that as much as I miss that child and grieve that I never got to know him or watch him grow up he's in a far better place.
Today I still can't say I understand why God chooses to take some to be with Him when they're so young and leaves others here on earth. I don't know what His plans are and there are still moments of doubt when I want nothing more then to run away. But here's what I do know. God is a loving, all knowing, all powerful Father who loves us more then we can possibly comprehend. He gave us His "only begotten Son that whosoever shall believe should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) He knew that "the wages of sin are death..." (Romans 3:23) and he wanted to spare us that, the second half of that verse in Romans says "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
All throughout the Bible we find amazing promises that our Heavenly Father had given us, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) and in the first part of that book He says "...before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." (Jeremiah1:5) One of my favorites is Paul's ever-so-true words in Romans when he says "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) He also promised, "...I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5)
There are so many other promises throughout the Word that it would take me years to find and list them all but here's what it all comes down to. God loves us, He gave His only Son for us so that we might live forever with Him. Instead of running away run into His arms, He's waiting for you and He's already told you what you need to do.
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Jesus Himself has told you everything you need to know, "...I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) You have all the facts, the rest is up to you.