Silas
Beloved of All
The questions you are carrying touch some of the deepest places in life, the hurt you have lived through, the bond with your mother, the longing to know where you both stand with Jesus for eternity, the ache of loneliness, the ties of family, and the very practical burdens of health and finances.
Violence leaves a wound that goes beyond the body and touches the whole story of a life. In ancient times a family felt honor bound to avenge blood with blood, and that cycle still lives in many cultures today. Scripture shows a different way. God does not call you to carry vengeance, and He does not measure the value of a life only by its length. When a life is cut short in its prime, especially through violence, the grief and the why can feel unanswerable. The prophet Isaiah records God saying His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than ours. That does not remove the pain, but it reminds us that God sees the whole life and the whole eternity, even when we cannot understand His purposes. He invites you to bring that pain honestly to Him and to trust His justice and His mercy.
You ask about an eternity shared by you, your mother, and Jesus, and whether that should be seen through loneliness or family. Eternity is not something we share automatically because we are related or because we have suffered together. It comes only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. He alone is the way to the Father, and each person must trust Him for herself. What a beautiful thing it is when a whole family loves the Lord together and seeks Him together. That creates the strongest bond possible. Yet Jesus taught that our love for Him must be first and above even our love for mother, father, children, or closest family. He said that anyone who loves father or mother more than Him is not worthy of Him. That does not mean we are to hate our family. It means our devotion to Him comes first, and then out of that devotion we learn how to love our family rightly.
God has placed great importance on family. Scripture teaches that we have a responsibility to care for our own, and that if we do not provide for our relatives we deny what we profess to believe. At the same time, when loneliness is heavy or when family relationships are strained or distant, God gives another family, His own family of faith, where older men and women can be as fathers and mothers and younger ones as brothers and sisters in purity and love. Whether you feel isolated or surrounded by family, the first question is your own relationship with Jesus, and then how He wants that relationship to shape your love for your mother and others.
You also mention health and money. It is important to know that physical health is not a measure of spirituality. Some of the most faithful and devoted followers of Jesus live with serious and ongoing health problems, and that does not mean they lack faith. The apostle John wrote a personal greeting to his friend Gaius in which he prayed that he would prosper and be in good health even as his soul was prospering. That was a loving wish and prayer from one friend to another, not a promise that God guarantees perfect health or wealth to everyone who believes. There is a connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body, and God does care about your body. In the law He gave practical guidance about living in a healthy way because He wants good for you. Yet He does not promise that faith will remove all sickness in this life.
In the same way, money and prosperity can be a blessing, but they can also become a danger if they draw the heart away from God. It is wise to pray as one faithful man did, Lord, do not bless me beyond my ability to keep my love for You strong. God knows what you need, and He calls you to trust Him for daily provision while guarding your devotion to Him above the desire for more.
My prayer for you and your mother is that each of you would put your trust fully in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life, that He would heal what violence has broken, comfort your loneliness, strengthen your family love according to His design, and give you wisdom for health and finances. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Whatever your current situation, God calls each of us to follow Jesus in that design and to find wholeness in Him. He sees your needs, He loves you, and He will walk with you as you seek Him first.
Violence leaves a wound that goes beyond the body and touches the whole story of a life. In ancient times a family felt honor bound to avenge blood with blood, and that cycle still lives in many cultures today. Scripture shows a different way. God does not call you to carry vengeance, and He does not measure the value of a life only by its length. When a life is cut short in its prime, especially through violence, the grief and the why can feel unanswerable. The prophet Isaiah records God saying His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than ours. That does not remove the pain, but it reminds us that God sees the whole life and the whole eternity, even when we cannot understand His purposes. He invites you to bring that pain honestly to Him and to trust His justice and His mercy.
You ask about an eternity shared by you, your mother, and Jesus, and whether that should be seen through loneliness or family. Eternity is not something we share automatically because we are related or because we have suffered together. It comes only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. He alone is the way to the Father, and each person must trust Him for herself. What a beautiful thing it is when a whole family loves the Lord together and seeks Him together. That creates the strongest bond possible. Yet Jesus taught that our love for Him must be first and above even our love for mother, father, children, or closest family. He said that anyone who loves father or mother more than Him is not worthy of Him. That does not mean we are to hate our family. It means our devotion to Him comes first, and then out of that devotion we learn how to love our family rightly.
God has placed great importance on family. Scripture teaches that we have a responsibility to care for our own, and that if we do not provide for our relatives we deny what we profess to believe. At the same time, when loneliness is heavy or when family relationships are strained or distant, God gives another family, His own family of faith, where older men and women can be as fathers and mothers and younger ones as brothers and sisters in purity and love. Whether you feel isolated or surrounded by family, the first question is your own relationship with Jesus, and then how He wants that relationship to shape your love for your mother and others.
You also mention health and money. It is important to know that physical health is not a measure of spirituality. Some of the most faithful and devoted followers of Jesus live with serious and ongoing health problems, and that does not mean they lack faith. The apostle John wrote a personal greeting to his friend Gaius in which he prayed that he would prosper and be in good health even as his soul was prospering. That was a loving wish and prayer from one friend to another, not a promise that God guarantees perfect health or wealth to everyone who believes. There is a connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body, and God does care about your body. In the law He gave practical guidance about living in a healthy way because He wants good for you. Yet He does not promise that faith will remove all sickness in this life.
In the same way, money and prosperity can be a blessing, but they can also become a danger if they draw the heart away from God. It is wise to pray as one faithful man did, Lord, do not bless me beyond my ability to keep my love for You strong. God knows what you need, and He calls you to trust Him for daily provision while guarding your devotion to Him above the desire for more.
My prayer for you and your mother is that each of you would put your trust fully in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life, that He would heal what violence has broken, comfort your loneliness, strengthen your family love according to His design, and give you wisdom for health and finances. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Whatever your current situation, God calls each of us to follow Jesus in that design and to find wholeness in Him. He sees your needs, He loves you, and He will walk with you as you seek Him first.
