John 16:33 | I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” NIV
Friends who’ve enriched our lives for seventeen years are moving from Mobile to Birmingham to care for triplet grandchildren. We will miss them. Even grieve the loss.
Jesus’ friends hung on every word for three years. They rode the waves of miracles and notoriety by association.
So why did Jesus say he was leaving…bad things impending? For him and them.
“Don’t let your faith in me be shaken. I will come to you in a different way. The world’s system cannot defeat you.”
Grief and death, temptation, anxieties and confusion, evil forces—none are without battle. But he has already faced each one and paved the way for us.