Who said marriage and intimacy—the way God wants them to be, a depiction of His intimate love for us—would be easy? Marriage is not a conditional act. It's loving no matter what. It's how we're supposed to be with God—trusting Him with all our fragile parts.

You have to learn to live life in the middle of the danger. And trust that there's a bigger plan.

She needs you to be bigger than her fears. Stronger than her rejection. And yes, if you truly believe that she doesn't want you in her life, then you have to let her go, But a woman who opens her heart up wants to know she will be protected.

That we shouldn't base God's desire to help us on our opinions of ourselves. Otherwise we'd always be in over our heads. We need to start believing that he wants to help us. Even when we make mistakes.

And I realized that God hadn't abandoned me. I'd simply stopped trusting him. I thought my life had to be one way to be happy—but maybe . . ." He shook his head. "Maybe there is more for me. For us.

The difference is Gabe lets God fight his battles. He lets God work in people's lives, and he lets them be human. Trusting God protects him, gives him the courage to risk opening his heart and let out love. He knows he is safely in God's shelter. He won't crumble if your father, or even you, let him down. God will hold him up.

You've always spent your life looking forward, the destination in mind. But faith is stepping forward without knowing the destination. Your job, as a warrior of the Lord, is to listen. To walk in faith.

I'm saying that we don't know how God protects us. How he is there for us, but he is. We live our life seeing only our perspective—seeing our circumstances and judging God by what happens to us. But what if we judged God by what didn't happen to us? What if we started asking . . . God, what is your view? What did you protect me from?

God always answers. It's just a matter of how.

And hello, maybe you're exactly where you are supposed to be...maybe God used your issues to give you exactly what you wanted.

What if your story is better than you imagined and by holding on, you're only creating the ending you can see?...God has a bigger plan for you than you do for yourself.

That's not the answer. We don't stop living life just because bad things can, or will, happen. We just keep going forward, trusting in God's plan for us, even if bad things happen. God is still there, still in control. Still saving us. Still protecting us.