Though My Affections Grow Dim, God Never Will

Growing up, my parents carted me off to youth group on a weekly basis, until my best friend learned to drive and brought me with her. Being a part of youth group also meant going to youth rallies, which I adored. Some were a day while others were over a weekend, but they all consisted of multiple teaching and preaching sessions, volunteer activities, and worship services. At each one, my heart would feel stirred into action and affections. My soul awakened to greater passion for God, His Word, and His mission. My throat often grew sore with singing—and my shoulders sore from holding my arms up. 

 I remember one night distinctly. As we closed out the final songs on the evening of the last day, with the lights still dimmed and the band still playing, the ordinariness of ordinary life struck me. I had to go back home to my quiet church where we sang from the hymnal in a fully lit sanctuary. I had to get through my week with only one message at church and possibly another one at youth group. I had to pass through hallways with other students who scoffed at my faith and gloried in sin.

 I had to go back to normal life.

 “I wish I could live every day like this,” I said to a friend and my youth leader. “I know this feeling won’t last when I go home.”

 I was right. The feelings dissipated, like fog burning off on a summer morning. But what I had feared most that I hadn’t spoken that evening, was that God would grow distant again as my passion waned.

 Do you ever feel that fear in your heart as well, dear Christian? As your emotions rise and fall like the tides, do you feel as if God goes out with them? Be assured: God never leaves His beloved children. The Spirit remains within us as a constant, unchanging Person of the Trinity, despite our heart’s dullness at times. 

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