Carol McClain

Want the Kingdom of Heaven?

Carol McClain

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5: 3

My Christian brother convinced my sister and me to go to church with him when my grandmother died. After all, death is one time non-believers believe they should go to church. For me, that day turned my grief to joy. Though it happened decades ago, the event is as brilliant as though it happened today

Pastor Forseth preached from Exodus 20: 21. “The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. ” Pastor continued. “God is light. How could he be in darkness?”

The thick darkness where God was.

 

 

Even though God is light and there is no shadow of turning in him,  over and over again, he has joined us in our gloom, in our bleakest moments. He’s there in all our pain. When our marriages fail, when loved ones die, when babies are born with deformities, when we’re fired for no reason, through bias, body dysmorphia and discrimination–God is there–carrying us.

That Sunday morning,  I sat riveted. I cried even as it rained outside and the morning skies darkened in the storm. How could my spirit become even poorer?

Not only had my Grandmother died. I lived in an abusive marriage four-hundred miles from my family. My husband slept with my friends, so I was alone.

I wanted the God Pastor Forseth knew, the one who mourned with us. I wanted joy, peace. I needed to be cleansed from my past. However, I wasn’t entirely ready to convert.

Back at home, I searched for a church. Almost every time I attended, fireworks erupted at home, and my marriage spiraled even more. So I said to myself, “I’ll make my life better on my own.”

The end result? The end of my marriage. No solace. But God …

The first Beatitude of Matthew 5 says the poor in spirit find the kingdom of God. With the break from my past, God brought friends who showed me the Lord’s ways. I found faith enough to believe the truth of the Bible.

Did everything miraculously change?

No.

But God gave me the staying power, the resources, the will … my life transformed. And to this day, it improves . I have lived a happy life enjoying God’s Kingdom.

When you realize your world is dark and you cannot do a thing about it, God is there. Receive him and his atoning sacrifice and witness this truth for yourself.

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Books

I’ve written many books. The overarching theme of most of them is the redeeming power of God. No matter the situation, God can carry you through.

Check out Borrowed Lives.

Distraught from recent tragedy, Meredith Jaynes takes pity on a young girl who steals from her. Meredith discovers “Bean” lives in a hovel mothering her two younger sisters. The three appear to have been abandoned. With no other homes available, Social Services will separate the siblings. To keep them together, Meredith agrees to foster them on a temporary basis.
Balancing life as a soap maker raising goats in rural Tennessee proved difficult enough before the siblings came into her care. Without Bean’s help, she’d never be able to nurture these children warped by drugs and neglect—let alone manage her goats that possess the talents of Houdini. Harder still is keeping her eccentric family at bay.
Social worker Parker Snow struggles to overcome the breakup with his fiancée. Burdened by his inability to find stable homes for so many children who need love, he believes placing the abandoned girls with Meredith Jaynes is the right decision. Though his world doesn’t promise tomorrow, he hopes Meredith’s does.
But she knows she’s too broken.