I have been a runner most of my life and I’m not talking about the cross-country type. My tendency is to get comfortable, become stagnant and then pull away from the Lord, but over and over again, God speaks to me. It’s sometimes a soft, sweet voice but sometimes the loud, stern voice of a father. He never gives up on me and, to quote a favorite devotional, “He sovereignly waits while I run.”

I wish I could say that my story is one of a woman who has faithfully followed the Lord, but I have walked away from God’s amazing love and mercy many times. I identify with Gomer, the prostitute spoken of in the book of Hosea. As the church, we are called the bride of Christ, but every time we choose to sin, we are like a woman leaving her husband and going after prostitution. Hosea speaks to us about how much our God loves us and how much He longs for us to turn back to Him, to stop walking away and prostituting ourselves to this world.

Our Logos Women’s Ministry walked through the book of Hosea recently and through it, God has shown me that I can trust Him with my life and with the life of my son. No matter how far or how fast or how long we run, God is always there, waiting patiently with mercy and forgiveness. He knows that we can’t make it on our own. When we’ve reached the end of our strength He is there waiting to pick up the pieces, to bandage our wounds, to heal us and to hold us in His loving arms.