The Cross and the Fear of Abandonment

It’s a day after Easter and stores are already hawking Mother’s Day gifts. The fluff of Easter is past, but the cross continues to show God’s ability to heal issues, like the fear of abandonment, that nip at the heels of adult children of divorce.

Carley’s dad left when she was six. After the divorce, she always looked for signs that her mother was leaving too. If her mom came home from work five minutes later than usual, fear would grip her heart. This was a distant memory until her husband came home late one night and she barked at him for no apparent reason.

Carley shared the incident with a girlfriend whose parents were also divorced. To her surprise, she too experienced fear of being abandoned when she was young. Her boyfriend’s unexpected departure, after a four-year courtship, reinforced the fear.

“I didn’t trust anyone,” the girlfriend said. “Everyone was held at arm’s length, and I was dying inside. Companionship was bittersweet. The allure of love was undermined by the aftertaste of feared abandonment. But one Easter, the Pastor taught how the cross showed God’s love and commitment to us. In sending Jesus to die for us—despite our sin-filled track record—God declared that He would never abandon us.”

“I’d made a lot of mistakes. By that point in my life, I believed that I actually deserved to be abandoned. What a horrible burden to live with. But I learned that when Jesus said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you,’ * He was assuring me of God’s unchanging love for me. Thankfully, the truth of the cross renewed my mind and heart.”

The Bible says Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn it. He came so we could have freedom from the sin and fears that weaken our relationships. Let the truth of the cross crush your fear of abandonment.

* Hebrews 13:5 [NKJV] Copyright© 2014 AdultChildrenofDivorce.net, Inc