As virtually all of you know, Sharon and I left our church after investing 15 years there. It was one of the toughest decisions of our life together. It was one we agonized over in the months preceding our decision, with many sleepless nights leading up to it.

It’s been almost seven months since that decision. To be honest, every Sunday for four months, while sitting in other churches, I would just cry. Literally. Every Sunday. Not from remorse over the decision we made, but just… sadness. My thoughts were consumed by that church: the friends I missed, the great times we had together, the victories won with God together, and all the things that led to our decision, too. I worried and fretted about the future and where we’d end up and where the church was headed.

It was only after meeting with another pastor that I finally reached a point where I found peace and victory. He pounded into my head and heart a life-tranforming truth:

“I am a child of God with the Spirit of God residing in me, and I live in the unshakeable Kingdom of God.”

It sounds corny, but in order to really “ingest” those words, I repeated those words to myself over and over. I have them taped directly over my computer screen at work. (You can barely see something taped to the upper part of my monitor) At some point near Christmastime, I finally was living and breathing them.

It IS a life-changing truth. There is nothing that is happening in my life (nor your life) that is going to upset the fact that you and I are children of God. What a loving God we have! As 1 John 3:1 says:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

We have the Spirit of God residing in us. He lives there! If we don’t put out His fire, He is able to pour Himself out into the lives of those around us.

Lastly, the Kingdom of God is unshakeable. The ending has already been written. Nothing the world or the enemy can throw at us can change the fact that we, ultimately, are victorious with Jesus in our lives. No amount of worry, no amount of fretting or wringing of the hands is necessary. In fact, it is wasted energy and wasted emotion. You and I live in the unshakeable Kingdom of God!

So maybe you’re where I was. Maybe it’s leaving your longtime church or maybe it’s a test result you just received or some other earthquake in your life.

You and I are Kingdom-dwellers. We are children of God with the Spirit of Jesus Christ Himself living in us, and we live in the unshakeable Kingdom of God.