My favorite love story is found in the book of Hosea. God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute (Gomer), so some of her children would be born from other men. This is an illustration of the way God’s people have been untrue to Him, openly committing adultery by worshiping other gods (Hosea 1:2).

Gomer continued to live in adultery, but Hosea remained faithful. Here he was, rejected by the one he loved, as she continued to break his heart. Most people would have given up, but Hosea refused to divorce her.

Finally, Gomer leaves. Now Hosea is feeling the loneliness of abandonment while having to raise his children alone. Gomer then goes from man to man, until she finds herself so low she is sold into slavery.

I can relate to Hosea. After 20 years of marriage, the love of my life committed adultery and left me and the children to go live with the other woman. In the midst of intense emotional pain while my world was turned upside down, I cried out to God for help. The Scripture that God planted in my spirit was “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9, ESV). God reassured me that I would have the strength to love my husband unconditionally, even though I was in pain.

God tells Hosea, “Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the LORD still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts” (Hosea 4:1, NLT).

“But she doesn’t deserve to be loved! She betrayed you! You married the wrong person! You deserve better!” the world screams. But Hosea obeyed God. He bought Gomer back for fifteen pieces of silver and about five bushels of barley and a measure of wine (Hosea 3:2). He paid the price for someone who was already his, someone with a rebellious heart who wanted her own way. Hosea redeemed Gomer, just as God redeemed us. How was Hosea able to show unconditional love for Gomer when she did not love him back? The love of God filled his heart.

While my husband was gone, God began to work on his heart and draw him back home. He humbly returned, expressing deep regret for what he did. God filled my heart with agape love for my husband and gave me the ability to see him the way God does. God renewed my marriage and made it stronger than it ever was.

Has someone broken a promise to you? Are you dealing with a broken heart? Maybe this is an opportunity to demonstrate the grace of God. Grace is unmerited favor. There are no strings attached. How did God show His love for us? “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV). God loves us in spite of our performance.

Can you love others this way?

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11, ESV).  

Jaylin Palacio is the author of He Will Never Leave You (2014), a book about marital infidelity, the faithfulness of God, and the healing power of forgiveness. Her mission is to bring encouragement to many people dealing with the devastation of infidelity. It is also available in Kindle version. Join her email subscriber list for betrayed spouses.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gave the following address to the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. He ultimately won their straw poll for the third year in a row. Here is a partially edited transcript of the words that won the crowd over. —Ed.

Wow! God bless the Value Voters Summit.

You know, there’s an ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. These are interesting times.

Yesterday, Pope Francis was in Washington. Wonderful to welcome him here. I have to say, the press conference was a little awkward, because every time the reporters addressed a question to “Your Holiness,” Barack Obama answered.

Then today, the president of China, President Xi [Jinping], is in town. Media all across the world are reporting on this historic meeting of the world’s most powerful communist and the president of China.

How many of you all have watched the Republican debates? How fantastic is it that we have such an array of young, charismatic, talented, principled leaders stepping forward to lead this party and to lead this country? And what a contrast with the Democrats.

It is amazing to watch the Democrats as they keep moving their debates. First it was going to be August, then it was September, then it was October. They may just move it to 2017.

You know, in a few months we may see the first presidential debate held at Leavenworth.

I am so honored to be back with so many friends today. I want to say, my friend Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, does incredible work in this country. You want to talk about a strong, principled, conservative who scares the living daylights out of Washington. But I have to tell you, Tony doesn’t scare Washington nearly as much as the men and women gathered in this ballroom do.

You want to know how much each of you terrify Washington? Yesterday, John Boehner was speaker of the House. Y’all come to town, and somehow that changes. My own request is can you come more often? Tony, we need to schedule these weekly—once a week.

Listen, every one of us—we know that our country’s in crisis. We know that this is not a typical time in politics. We’re bankrupting our kids and grandkids. Our Constitutional rights are under assault each and every day from Washington. And America has receded from leadership in the world, it is making the world a much more dangerous place. But I want to come to you this morning with a word of hope and encouragement and exhortation. All across this country, this American people are waking up. And I’ll tell you today, help is on the way. So I want to ask everyone here to look forward to January 2017.

If I am elected president, let me tell you what I intend to do on the first day in office.

The first thing I intend to do is rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action. The president tells us he’s got a phone and he’s got a pen. Well, you live by the pen you die by the pen. And my pen has got an eraser. But sadly, the corruption’s not been limited to the White House. It has extended across every agency of the federal government.

And the second thing I intend to do on my first day in office is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into Planned Parenthood and these horrible videos. And to prosecute any and all criminal conduct by that organization. The administration of justice should be blind to party of ideology. The only fidelity of the Department of Justice should be to the laws and the Constitution of the United States of America.

The third thing I intend to do on the first day in office is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS and every other federal agency, that the persecution of religious liberty ends today. That means that every service man and woman can worship the Lord God Almighty with all of his heart, mind and soul, and his commanding officer has nothing to say about it. That means the Little Sisters of the Poor, who Pope Francis visited this week, will find that the case against them has been dismissed.

You know, Kim Davis is here. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Kim in a Kentucky jailhouse. Now, six months, a year ago, if I had come and said that a Christian woman was going to be thrown in jail, locked up in jail, for living her faith, the media would have dismissed me as a nutcase. That’s where we are today.

And I’ll tell you, Kim and I, we embraced. And I told her, I said, Kim, thank you. I said, Kim, you are inspiring millions across this country by standing for your faith.

You know, the book of Acts tells us that when Paul and Silas were in jail, that God brought an earthquake and broke open the jail cell. And what I told Kim, is I said you are being lifted up in prayer by millions of believers across America and across the world. You may have thought you were alone in that jail cell. You didn’t understand how crowded it was. And I’ll tell you Kim’s very simple response. She smiled, she pointed out, and she said: “To God be the glory.”

The fourth thing I intend to do on the first day in office is rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. The single greatest national security threat facing America is the threat of a nuclear Iran. I got to tell you, I can’t wait to stand on a debate stage next to Hillary Clinton and to make very clear to the American people, if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. And if you vote for me, under no circumstance will a nation led by a theocratic Ayatollah who chants “Death to America” be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. And if the Ayatollah doesn’t understand that, we may have to help introduce him to his 72 virgins.

The fifth thing I intend to do the first day in office is begin the process of moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the once and eternal capital of Israel.

That’s day one. There are 365 days in a year, four years in a presidential term, and four years in a second term.

By the end of eight years, this ballroom is going to be a whole lot bigger. And by the end of eight years, there are going to be a whole lot of reporters and newspaper editors and journalists who’ve checked themselves into therapy.

In the days that follow, I will go to Congress and we will repeal every word of Obamacare. In the days that follow, I will instruct the federal Department of Education, which should be abolished I will instruct the federal Department of Education that Common Core ends today.

In the days that follow, we will rebuild our military. We will honor the commitments made to our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines. And we will protect our servicemen and women’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms and defend themselves. That means the next time a jihadist walks into a recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he’s going to encounter the business end of firearms wielded by a dozen Marines.

In the days that follow, we will finally secure the borders and end sanctuary cities. We will stop the indefensible practice of releasing violent criminal illegal aliens and we will pass Kate’s Law.

In the days that follow, we will take on the EPA and the CFPB and the alphabet soup of government agencies that strangle small businesses. And we will unleash booming economic growth.

In the days that follow, I will go to Congress and we will pass fundamental tax reform. We will pass a simple flat tax where every American can fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. And when we do that, we should abolish the IRS.

Now, some of you all may be thinking all of that makes sense to me. It’s basic common sense. Live within your means. Don’t bankrupt our kids and grandkids. Follow the Constitution. But can we do it? Can it be done?

You know, Scripture tells us there’s nothing new under the sun. I think where we are today is very much like the late 1970s—same failed economic policies, same misery, stagnation and malaise, the same feckless and naïve foreign policy; in fact, the exact same countries—Russia and Iran—openly laughing at and mocking the president of the United States.

Now, why is it that that analogy gives me so much hope and optimism? Because we know how that story ended. All across this country, millions of men and women rose up and became the Reagan revolution. And it didn’t come from Washington. Washington despised Ronald Reagan. By the way, if you see a candidate who Washington embraces, run and hide.

It turned this country around. And I’m here to tell you the same thing is happening again. All over this country, millions of men and women are waking up. Do you know, since this campaign has started, out of 17 Republican candidates, do you know which campaign raised the most hard money? We did. To date, (we have) over 300,000 contributions. People all over the country (are) coming to . Ted . . The people are waking up.

And let me tell you what Washington wants. Washington wants us divided. Washington wants conservatives splintered. They want a chunk of evangelicals over here, a chunk of conservatives over here, a chunk of libertarians over here, a chunk of Tea Party folks over here. That’s how, if we are splintered, that a moderate establishment candidate runs up the middle with 23 percent of the vote, steals the nomination, and then loses to Hillary Clinton in the general election.

You know what? We’ve seen that movie before. I’m not interested in going to see Rocky 19.

We have a simple task before us. If conservatives unite, we win. So I’m here to ask each and every one of you, stand. Stand in your faith. Stand with your principles. Come together. How do we turn this country around? Just like in 1980. We rise up as we, the people. And we say we will defend this last, best hope for mankind, this shining city on a hill that is the United States of America.

Thank you and God bless you. 

You would think that the simultaneous crashing of all of the largest stock markets around the world would be very big news. But so far, mainstream media in the United States are treating it like it isn’t really a big deal.

Over the last 60 days, we have witnessed the most significant global stock market decline since fall 2008, and yet most people still seem to think that this is just a temporary “bump in the road” and that the bull market will soon resume. Hopefully they are right.

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 777 points on Sept. 29, 2008, everyone freaked out, and rightly so. But a stock market crash doesn’t have to be limited to a single day. Since the peak of the market earlier this year, the Dow is down almost three times as much as that 777-point crash back in 2008.

Over the last 60 days, we have seen the eighth-largest and 10th-largest single-day stock market crash in U.S. history on a point basis. You would think that this would be enough to wake people up, but most Americans still don’t seem very alarmed. And of course what has happened to U.S. stocks so far is quite mild compared to what has been going on in the rest of the world.

Right now, stock market wealth is being wiped out all over the planet, and none of the largest global economies have been exempt from this. The following is a summary of what we have seen in recent days:

1. The United States—The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 2,000 points since the peak of the market. Last month we saw stocks decline by more than 500 points on consecutive trading days for the first time ever, and there has not been this much turmoil in U.S. markets since fall 2008.

2. China—The Shanghai Composite Index has plummeted nearly 40 percent since hitting a peak earlier this year. The Chinese economy is steadily slowing down, and we just learned that China’s manufacturing index has hit a 78-month low.

3. Japan—The Nikkei has experienced extremely violent moves recently, and it is now down more than 3000 points from the peak that was hit earlier in 2015. The Japanese economy and the Japanese financial system are both basket cases at this point, and it isn’t going to take much to push Japan into a full-blown financial collapse.

4. Germany—Almost one-fourth of the value of German stocks has already been wiped out, and this crash threatens to get much worse. The Volkswagen emissions scandal is making headlines all over the globe, and don’t forget to watch for massive trouble at Germany’s biggest bank.

5. The United Kingdom—British stocks are down about 16 percent from the peak of the market, and the U.K. economy is definitely on shaky ground.

6. France—French stocks have declined nearly 18 percent, and it has become exceedingly apparent that France is on the exact same path that Greece has already gone down.

7. Brazil—Brazil is the epicenter of the South American financial crisis of 2015. Stocks in Brazil have plunged more than 12,000 points since the peak, and the nation has already officially entered a new recession.

8. Italy—Watch Italy. Italian stocks are already down 15 percent. Look for the Italian economy to make very big headlines in the months ahead.

9. India—Stocks in India have now dropped close to 4,000 points, and analysts are deeply concerned about this major exporting nation as global trade continues to contract.

10. Russia—Even though the price of oil has crashed, Russia is actually doing better than almost everyone else on this list. Russian stocks have fallen by about 10 percent so far, and if the price of oil stays this low, the Russian financial system will continue to suffer.

What we are witnessing now is the continuation of a cycle of financial downturns that has happened every seven years. The following is a summary of how this cycle has played out over the past 50 years:

• It started in 1966 with a 20 percent stock market crash.
• Seven years later, the market lost another 45 percent (1973-74).
• Seven years later was the beginning of the “hard recession” (1980).
• Seven years later was the Black Monday crash of 1987.
• Seven years later was the bond market crash of 1994.
• Seven years later was 9/11 and the 2001 tech bubble collapse.
• Seven years later was the 2008 global financial collapse.
• 2015: What’s next?

A lot of people were expecting something “big” to happen on Sept. 14, and were disappointed when nothing happened.

But the truth is that it has never been about looking at any one particular day. Over the past 60 days, we have seen extraordinary things happen all over the planet, and yet some people are not even paying attention because their preconceived notions of how events should play out did not come to pass.

And this is just the beginning. We haven’t even gotten to the great derivatives crisis that is coming. All of these things are going to take time to fully unfold.

A lot of people who write about “economic collapse” talk about it like it will be some type of “event” that will happen on a day or a week and then we will recover.

Well, that is not what it’s going to be like.

You need to be ready to endure a very, very long crisis. The suffering that is coming to this nation is beyond what most of us could even imagine.

Even now we are seeing early signs of it. For instance, the mayor of Los Angeles says that the growth of homelessness in his city has gotten so bad that it is now “an emergency”:

On Tuesday, Los Angeles officials announced the city’s homelessness problem has become an emergency, and proposed allotting $100 million to help shelter the city’s massive and growing indigent population.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti also issued a directive on Monday evening for the city to free up $13 million to help house the estimated 26,000 people who are living on the city’s streets.

According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the number of encampments and people living in vehicles has increased by 85 percent over the last two years alone.

And in recent years we have seen poverty absolutely explode all over the nation. The “bread lines” of the Great Depression have been replaced with EBT cards, and there is a possibility that a government shutdown in October could “suspend or delay food stamp payments”:

A government shutdown Oct. 1 could immediately suspend or delay food stamp payments to some of the 46 million Americans who receive the food aid.

The Agriculture Department said Tuesday that it will stop providing benefits at the beginning of October if Congress does not pass legislation to keep government agencies open.

“If Congress does not act to avert a lapse in appropriations, then USDA will not have the funding necessary for SNAP benefits in October and will be forced to stop providing benefits within the first several days of October,” said Catherine Cochran, a spokeswoman for USDA. “Once that occurs, families won’t be able to use these benefits at grocery stores to buy the food their families need.”

In the U.S. alone, there are tens of millions of people that could not survive without the help of the federal government, and more people are falling out of the middle class every single day.

Our economy is already falling apart all around us, and now another great financial crisis has begun.

When will the “nothing is happening” crowd finally wake up?

Hopefully it will be before they are sitting out on the street begging for spare change to feed their family.

Some of the U.S. Congress’s staunchest conservative Republicans celebrated House Speaker John Boehner’s resignation on Friday and trained their sights on a new target: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In a display of intense infighting of the sort that has consumed the party for months, Republican presidential candidate and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas told a crowd of applauding conservative activists at the Value Voters Summit in Washington:

“You want to know how much each of you terrify Washington? Yesterday, John Boehner was speaker of the House. Y’all come to town and somehow that changes. My only request is, can you come more often?”

When another Republican presidential hopeful, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, interrupted his speech at the event to relay the news that Boehner was leaving, raucous cheers broke out.

Boehner announced he would step down in October after months of pressure from his party’s right wing, setting up a battle over succession to the House of Representatives’ top post and handing a victory to his most vocal critics.

One of them, Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, said the speaker’s decision “should be an absolute warning sign to McConnell.” He said the Senate leader should more assertively promote a conservative Republican agenda, including by changing Senate rules so that Democrats cannot easily block legislation.

Conservative Republicans have expressed frustration since the start of 2015, after Republicans gained eight seats and the Senate majority in the 2014 elections, about McConnell’s seeming inability to lead the chamber in a more rightward direction.

“If anyone was doubtful as to whether or not there was a group of members who were really angry and frustrated and disappointed in how things were going, that was put to rest. … This anger and frustration with how our party’s being run is real and now it’s very, very tangible,” Mulvaney told reporters outside the House after Boehner said he was stepping down.

He said Boehner’s departure had been necessary, adding, “You absolutely have to bring the Senate into the discussion. … That focus now will invariably, and should turn to Mitch McConnell in the Senate.”

A McConnell spokesman declined to comment for this story.

Representative Matt Salmon of Arizona said McConnell was the big stumbling block to a conservative agenda that Republicans had promised voters.

“Boehner has been tarnished by McConnell’s lack of leadership on numerous occasions,” Salmon said.

For months, some House conservatives have urged McConnell to change the Senate’s unique procedural rules so that legislation does not need a super-majority of 60 votes to advance. The Kentucky senator has shown no signs of pursuing this.

Meanwhile, conservatives have watched as bills such as a measure to defund President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration have been stopped by the 60-vote requirement.

On Thursday, the Senate defeated Republican efforts to use a funding extension bill to cut off money to Planned Parenthood, clearing the way for a version without that provision that extends all previous funding through Dec. 11.

Salmon said Friday of McConnell, “He surrenders at the sight of battle every time.”

Asked why conservatives were taking aim at their own leaders, Salmon said, “The American people expect us to get the job done and there’s no person that is more important than getting the job done.”

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis)

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Jezebel. After decades of battle, this principality remains one of the most popular principalities on the spiritual warfare scene.

No matter where I go, people seem to have “trouble” with Jezebel. Even a nominal Christian I was sitting next to on a plane a few months ago was familiar with this wicked spirit. It seems Jezebel’s fame goes before her. I’ve written a few books dealing with different aspects of Jezebel, including Jezebel’s Puppets: Exposing the Agenda of False Prophets.

The problem is, though, that many discerning Christians don’t know who—or what—Jezebel really is. And this unfortunate misunderstanding is driving far too many false Jezebel accusations, ostracizing and wounding people who are not Jezebels at all. Indeed, labeling someone as a “Jezebel” is one of the most serious allegations you can make against a believer.

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Jezebel hides behind the mask of manipulation and control but let’s be clear: Jezebel is not a spirit of manipulation and control. Jezebel is essentially a spirit of seduction that uses manipulation and control as a means to an end. I’ve said this many times, and I’ll keep on saying it because these misguided Jezebel accusations need to stop.

What Is the Spirit of Jezebel?

Again, the spirit of Jezebel is a spirit of seduction. How do I know? Because I’ve read Revelation 2:20. Jesus offered one of the strongest rebukes in the Bible to the church at Thyatria for putting up with this wicked spirit.

“But I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols” (Rev. 2:20).

Jezebel clearly seeks to seduce and often works through teaching and prophecy. This spirit seduces the saints into idolatry and immorality. This spirit may use control and manipulation to do it, but ultimately that’s not the end game. In fact, ultimately Jezebel’s end game is murder.

If that’s not alarming enough, consider that all those who commit adultery with Jezebel will end up on a sick bed. Hey, those aren’t my words. Our sweet Jesus said it in Rev. 2:20-23:

“I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, but she did not repent. Look! I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will put her children to death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the hearts and minds. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Stopping Throwing Jezebel Bombs

I’ve been part of churches where people are labeled Jezebels shortly after they walk in the door. They are marked with a scarlet letter as controllers and manipulators who want to get close to the pastor for power and position. The reality is they may be controllers and manipulators, or they may not be. The real controllers and manipulators are more often, in my experience, the ones slinging the misguided Jezebel accusations.

An abusive church leader once said he saw a Jezebel spirit superimposed over my body and that I was in danger of giving myself over to Jezebel if I didn’t step in line with his wishes. I was certainly alarmed, so I submitted myself to several pastors outside that church for a thorough examination. One of the pastors asked me a startling question:

“Are you sleeping around?”

“No!” I exclaimed, not understanding why he would ask such a thing.

“Are you leading people away from Jesus?”

“Of course, not!” I said.

“Then you aren’t operating in a Jezebel spirit.”

That set me free and helped me see where the true Jezebel was operating.

Remember, Revelation 2:20: “But I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols.”

Along with “false prophet,” a Jezebel accusation is one of the most serious fiery darts you can throw at a believer. It implies that they aren’t a believer at all but that they are fornicators who will not inherit the kingdom of God and false brethren who are purposefully leading people away from Christ for their own gain.

So, like the headline of this article reads: All the False Jezebel Accusations Need to Stop! And if you do happen upon a person operating in a Jezebel spirit, why not do what Jesus did and give them a space to repent. In other words, try to help them get free instead of automatically chasing them out the door and letting the real Jezebel’s keep running around the church.

Some of you may have experienced those more rare moments in life when you literally feel like you can’t breathe, when everything in and around you crashes, when grief in unimaginable measure throws an unexpected blow and knocks you to the ground. It’s a moment you can’t conceive until you’re in it, and with all your might, you wish you could turn back time and somehow make it all different. But you’re helpless for change, though you literally groan for it.

I can’t wrap adequate words around that moment when I received the phone call that told me that my dad was gone. It was a nightmare that still stings, that still brings tears, that still causes an ache to pulse in sudden moments as sweet memories of his life and pained memories of his death run together, hemorrhaging out of a broken heart.

I’m finding, in a really up close way, that grief truly is a journey, and I’ve been walking it a day at a time.

But that one-day-at-a-time, one-step-at-a-time journey is challenged by the fast-paced swirl of “normal life.” We’re still trying to catch our breath, but our busy schedules press; the spinning world that we wish would stop for just a few minutes, won’t; that accusing inner-voice relates hurry-up-and-get-yourself-together whispers to our tired hearts.

The daily grind pulls us forward to where we’re not ready to go yet, tries to hurry us along that journey of grief, pushes us to run laps our legs are still too weary to run.

Even some religious voices tell us to stop weeping and “Rejoice!” because our loved one is in heaven. But for those of you who’ve mourned the death of one you love, you know that rejoicing is not the path your heart immediately, fully steps onto. You’re broken in a way that sometimes feels almost beyond repair, and rather than clapping, “He’s in heaven!” you’re instead throbbing under the crushing reality, “He’s not here. O God, he’s not here anymore.”

The reality is, we can’t hurry out of grief. We can’t go around it. We can’t go under or over it. We have to go through it. And our beautiful Lord, who is near to the brokenhearted, is waiting to take hold of our hands and lead us through that dark, dark valley.

We’ve got to go through it, but we don’t have to go alone. The road is grievous, and those pressures within and without urge us to move along and get on with our lives. Quickly.

But in the midst of a spinning world and a full schedule and lots of voices … take a breath.

If we try to skip ahead to a celebration or stuff the ache, we’re attempting to force our emotions into an unnatural place.

Because death is meant to be mourned. It is sorrow upon sorrow, as Paul wrote. It’s an earth-trembling, heart-shaking reality, and it’s right to feel the sting of it … because it is so wrong to our God.

It’s not a part of His kingdom. And when His dwelling is finally among us again, His all-consuming, magnificently invasive light will leave no room for sorrow, crying, pain, or death. He’s kicking all of those things out—because He never wanted them thrashing through His creation in the first place.

When the widow at Nain lost her son, Jesus didn’t pass by the man’s coffin and simply say, “It was just his time to go …” No. Jesus, moved with compassion, demonstrated how He felt about death, and He foreshadowed what He would ultimately do about this painful reality that has gripped humanity. He brought the widow’s son back to life.

Our Lord hates death, too. So much that He went to unfathomable lengths to destroy it.

And He succeeded.

He submitted Himself to that which He hated so that the perpetual hold it had on humanity—His prized ones, His beloved ones—would be broken. Forever.

And now, gloriously, death is not the end for those who are in Christ. Because He broke the grave open, we who have joined our lives to the heart of the Living One hold confidence in God’s promise of our resurrection.

The dead in Christ will rise — and when this mystery collides with the pounding ache we feel over death, gratitude becomes explosive.

We’ll breathe our last … but we’ll never die. We celebrate the hope of a coming day when Jesus will utterly demolish death. Totally. Once and for all.

But for now, in this present age, death still has measures of victory—because people are still dying. Hospitals are still receiving the terminally ill and fatally wounded, babies are still dying in the womb, poor ones are still perishing in starvation and for lack of clean water, the innocent are still slain at the hands of unjust men.

Death still stings.

Things are not OK right now.

And we need to mourn. It is right to mourn.

The death that sweeps away life’s breath is evidence of the not-yet. Death is not yet swallowed up in triumphant life.

… because Jesus is not yet here. 

That glorious declaration, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” does not come until… 

Until Jesus breaks open the sky.

Until His feet are back on this earth.

So as we mourn death, there is a sacred mourning for our hearts to touch–a place of mourning the absence of the One who has promised to obliterate it.

Death’s grief ushers us into deeper longing, into greater knowing and remembering, into holy groaning—we need Jesus here. 

And until He is, we mourn. We mourn death. We mourn pain and sickness.

Ultimately, we mourn His absence. 

When we try to avoid or bury death’s sting to put on our brave or happy faces, we miss the opportunity to fall over into His heart, and to peer into what He’s feeling.

We miss the sacredness of what Mary of Bethany got to touch when her brother died. We miss weeping with God, and letting our tears flow down with His.

And we miss our heart’s healing—because only those who allow themselves to break, who let their shattered pieces fall before the feet of Jesus, who let Him catch their unhindered tears, who let their brokenness bring them into the arms of the Comforter … can be truly restored.

We may try to hurry out of grief, or go over it, around it, or under it. But unless we go through it, those wounds won’t meet their healer. Instead, they’ll meet us again and again, down the road, when those “Band-Aids” we’ve put on fail to hold their stick and fall off to expose the old wound that still bleeds.

So we don’t shut our hearts down. No, we run vulnerably into His—because that’s where our hope and healing is found.

Have you lost someone you love?

Give yourself permission to feel … and to take your time. In a busy world, with busy people, and a busy schedule—remind your heart that it’s OK to go slow. Take some breaths in His presence as you drive to work today. Listen for His voice. Whisper your prayers while you prepare dinner or fold laundry. Sneak away with Him to a quiet place and open up the Word that has the power to give life to a fainting heart. Do today with Him, and trust Him for tomorrow. Just one day at a time.

Give yourself permission to fall apart … and to weep. Cry it out with Jesus. Crumble on the living floor. And let Him hold you, right there, and keep your tears. Get vulnerable with God. Get vulnerable with trusted friends, invite them into your ache, and ask for their continuing prayers.

Really, it feels scary to go there. Because for most of us, the path of grief is uncharted territory. Because we haven’t walked it before … until we have to.

But when grief hits, let yourself go to the unraveling, crumbling, melting, breaking place before God.

Go there.

Don’t go there to sulk and drown in your despair.

Don’t go there to stay. Go there to take hold of the One who will lead you out.

Go there with God. Take this road into His heart.

Go there to lean. To talk to Him. To commune with Him in a very deep place.

Go there to weep with the God who never desired that His image-bearers would die. Go there to feel even just a piece of His holy, grieving heart crying out, “Adam, O Adam, where are you?”—when He knew that He’d lost His precious son, when He knew they’d be separated, when He felt the first-ever pangs of death sweep through His earth. Feel, with Him, the grief and the hatred that He Himself has over death.

Go there to feel His tears mingle with yours.

Go there to find your healing.

Go there to let your heart touch the reality that things are not OK until … and so more fully enter into the cry, “Come, Lord, Jesus.”

Go there. And don’t rush out. Find Him, right there—in the middle of your darkest night and greatest ache. Because He’s there.

And surely, you’re going to walk through and come out of this wilderness, leaning on your Beloved.

Kinsey Thurlow is a minister at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. She is an advocate for the fatherless and her husband, Jon is a worship leader and minister at IHOP-KC.

Over the weekend, nearly 2,700 evangelical Christians and social conservatives chose their top candidate for president. After hearing from numerous candidates in person, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won the Values Voters Summit straw poll for the third time, followed by Dr. Ben Carson and Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Dr. Carson won the event’s vice presidential straw poll.

“Social conservatives don’t expect Republicans to win every fight, but they are tired of GOP leaders entering political battles waving a white flag. Every candidate who spoke made unequivocal stands on both the social and security challenges facing our nation, which clearly resonated with the values voters,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

“While each candidate offered his vision for a post-Obama America, values voters sent their own message: we are not looking for a Republican president who will just stop the detrimental policies of the Obama administration. We are looking for a leader who will undo the damage this President has done to our country and our culture,” Perkins said.

The winner had a message, too: A straw poll is not enough.

“I am humbled and honored to have the support of so many Christian conservatives,” said Ted Cruz. “But in order for our values to truly be represented in the White House, it’s going to take millions of Christians encouraging each other to get involved and, most importantly, to vote.”

The results were as follows:

Presidential poll:

1. Ted Cruz 35%

2. Ben Carson 18%

3. Mike Huckabee 14%

4. Marco Rubio 13%

5. President Donald Trump 5%

6. President Rick Santorum 4%

7. President Carly Fiorina 3%

8. President Bobby Jindal 3%

9. President Rand Paul 2%

10. President John Kasich 1%

11. President Jeb Bush 1%

12. President Write In Candidate 1%

Vice Presidential poll:

1. Vice President Ben Carson 25%

2. Vice President Carly Fiorina 21%

3. Vice President Ted Cruz 14%

4. Vice President Marco Rubio 13%

5. Vice President Mike Huckabee 10%

6. Vice President Rick Santorum 5%

7. Vice President Bobby Jindal 5%

7. Vice President Donald Trump 2%

8. Vice President Write In Candidate 2%

9. Vice President Rand Paul 1%

10. Vice President John Kasich 1%

11. Vice President Chris Christie 1%

12. Vice President Jeb Bush 1%