Jet

I am saved from all evil that pursues me by the grace of my Father.

     Of all the precious gems, one is unique in many ways. Black as the night, mined across the world, and not crystalline but organic in nature, jet had been carved and polished for amulets and jewelry just about as long as any culture has been around. Jet is ancient, prehistoric wood, which sank to the bottom of a body of water and was covered in organic matter and sediment. As the sand and materials build up on top, the decaying wood is put under pressure, until the pressure and heat become extreme and the wood is compacted into a tough black fossil.

     I have been through a lot in my life so far. I expect most people have suffered and felt the same, in different circumstances but the same pain. Some of you who are reading this might be lucky enough to have been thus far spared of real torment, and your concerns and struggles of faith are focused on things which seem smaller to me; that doesn't mean that your struggles are less worthy than mine by any means, for it is the heart of the matter, how it wounds your spirit, that really matters. My experiences are definitely different than the majority of people; I have psychotic depression, and ever since around third grade I've been forced to cope with hallucinations of monsters and horrors, with no concept of how to reach out for support. In middle school I was still unmedicated and untreated, and struggling to get through each day. Each breath felt like my lungs were being crushed. I was severely suicidal.

     We live in a world under war – not just the wars of man, but a spiritual war that started at the fall of man, which invisibly wages around each of our lives. Lucifer, who is sentenced to go to Hell one day when the Lord returns, is temporarily in control of earth, and he is petty and venomous, so he fights to win our souls over so that all of us, God's beloved children, will be separated from Him as well, to spite God. The Lord is good, though; from the moment sin entered the world and the battle began, He set into place His plan to save us, and today we know that the battle between good and evil is already won.

     But each of us still are being fought over, as each side seeks to save or destroy us. Soul-crushing experiences leave us crying out for God to make everything right again, and plant seeds of doubt even in strong believers. Negative influences in our lives make us doubt our faith or denounce God, or lead us to do things that hurt us, intentionally or not. Most of all, the voices that seek to hurt us masquerade as empowering influences, convincing us that we are powerful and don't need Him, which ends in the same despair because we cannot ever save our own souls. When we turn from God for whatever reason, and when we choose sinfulness, we are separated from God because He is Good in His purest nature and sin cannot mix with Him- like oil and water.

     "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

Ephesians 2:1-3

     God mourns our loss and grieves deeply at the wrongness of what's happened to and influenced us, because He loves His creation and wants us to live forever by His side. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:4-7).

     We are only saved by Him through faith and a relationship with Him. My life was utterly and completely changed when I accepted His gift; He lifted me up out of my darkness and He guides me through the fire. He will love and support you all your life, and guard your soul from all of the powers of darkness, if you look to Him for help and comfort in your dark and doubtful times, instead of looking to others or your own power.

     "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9