Dr. Cedrone, PhD

“Making Sense of God’s Purpose for Our Lives”

If you are presently enduring a difficult time of conflict or adversity, please remember that God never intends to “park” you in a valley to die of brokenness and despair. Rather, He promises to walk you through the valley to the other side (Psalm 23:4).

Rest assured that He will do this for you—in His time.

The valley is a season for growth, and your all-wise and all-loving Heavenly Father knows how much time is needed. Please do not attempt to grow into grace during this important season of your life by engaging in a routine of legalistic works or frantic religious activity; rather, trust the care of your Heavenly Father so that you can grow in it (2 Peter 3:18).

Remember: the perfect life needed for your salvation has already been accomplished for you in the Person of your Savior, Jesus Christ, and God’s word is clear that this perfect life has been given to all believers as a gift (Romans 6:23). Everything in relation to the standard needed for your acceptance with God is therefore a settled matter with the Almighty. For this reason, you can know that He is relating to you as His beloved son or daughter in Christ—as one who is fully embraced by His love and His care.

Please allow yourself to rest in this assurance of acceptance regardless of how much pain and anxiety you are presently experiencing. This is an area where sessions of Christian counseling can be greatly beneficial. These will help you to make sense of this experience by putting everything into a proper biblical perspective so that your faith (more precious than gold—1 Peter 1:7) will be strengthened rather than weakened by your valley experience. I can safely assure you that once you have learned important principles of grace and have also gained the necessary experience in Christ that your Heavenly Father knows you need, you will feel, once again, the intense comfort and affirming acceptance of His boundless love.

During your valley experience, never forget that God is always there for you, and He always has tender feelings for you. We see this divine mercy and compassion expressed repeatedly in the life of our Savior, and Jesus Himself asserts that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). For this reason, we can know with certainty that all the love and tenderness that we see in the life of our Savior is a true revelation of the heart of God.

Truly, our Father cares.

When we begin to appreciate what God has done for us in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, we cannot help but understand that He loves us (John 16:27; 17:23).

Trust Him to get you through this.

”Deliverance belongs to the Lord.”

(Jonah 2:9, RSV)

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If you would like more information about my practice of Christian Counseling, please visit my website, meaningandfulfillment.com.

All the best in Christ to each of you.

"He heals the broken in heart

And binds up their wounds.”

(Psalm 147:3, NKJV)