We had a really good Bible study lesson this morning. The title of this post was the title of the lesson. Isn’t it great that God loves us despite our flaws? (If you don’t think you have any flaws, our video had one word for that: DENIAL.) God forgives us. God gives us second chances to try again with God’s help for the next go-round.
Imagine Jesus looking at you with love and understanding. He knows what you’ve done in your life. Jesus doesn’t condone your faults and flaws, but he offers you forgiveness and a chance to become who you were meant to be. Will you accept his forgiveness?
Then will you take the next step? Will you forgive others? Will you have the same grace and mercy to love flawed people as Christ loves you?
I’m up early. I couldn’t sleep. The dog woke me up at 2:30 and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I keep thinking of our upcoming worship gathering. I figured I might as well get up and get some work done. There’s always more work to be done at the end of each day.
I wonder if that’s what God thinks, too. When he looks at my life, does God think, “There’s always more work to be done in her. I’m not finished with her yet.”
I really do believe that’s the truth and I’m glad. God is busy at work refining my character and changing my life. Why? All so others can get a better glimpse of who God is. I bear God’s image. You bear God’s image, too. How do you project that image to the world?
A line from an old Steven Curtis Chapman song says, “Can they see God for who he really is, in what they see in you and me?” Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Maybe that’s what keeps God up at night.
“We reform others unconsciously when we act uprightly.”
Madame Anne Sophie Soymanov Swetchine (1782–1857)
Sounds to me like the old, “Actions speak louder than words.” We would all do well to remember this.
I had a busy day today: shopping and getting things organized for our “dry run” this Saturday night. Tonight I realized it had been a few days since I had written in my journal. For me journal writing is not just the practice of keeping a diary, although I do write down the events of the previous day, the high point, the low point, etc. But it’s so much more than that. When I journal, I spend quiet time alone with God, focused on God. I read the Bible, I highlight verses that stand out to me, I meditate on a phrase or two, and I concentrate, through prayer, on what God is trying to get through to me. Here are the verses that stood out to me tonight from the Old Testament book of Isaiah:
“Don’t be afraid. I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end–Because I am God, your personal God, … your Savior. I paid a huge price for you …. That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! So don’t be afraid. I’m with you. … I’m about to do something brand-new.”
Now don’t get me wrong. At this moment in time, I don’t feel like I’m in over my head, in rough waters, or between a rock and a hard place. Nothing could be further from the truth! But that still doesn’t change the fact that when I read these words, I feel more hopeful. I feel at peace. I feel overjoyed! Why? Because my Savior, Jesus Christ, lives. My God, my PERSONAL God, loves and cares for me. He will never leave me. I don’t have anything or anyone to be afraid of. Now that’s freedom! My prayer is that you who are reading this will experience this freedom, too.
I’m getting so excited. 3 weeks from tonight we will hold our very first “preview” worship gathering. I can’t help but wonder how many people will be there, if all the new equipment will work, if people will come back in March, how many people New Day will touch with our ministry, etc. As I was thinking of these things this morning, I ran across the following in the book Bread for the Journey:
“Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, ‘How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?’ There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all the shadows away.”
None of us truly knows what the new day will bring. Let’s just all sit back, with just enough light, and allow God to surprise us in amazing ways. Ways we could never imagine in our wildest dreams!
“Trust is the basis of life. Without trust, no human being can live. Trapeze artists offer a beautiful image of this. Flyers have to trust their catchers. They can do the most spectacular doubles, triples, or quadruples, but what finally makes their performances spectacular are the catchers who are there for them at the right time and the right place.”
“Much of our lives is flying. It is wonderful to fly in the air, free as a bird, but when God isn’t there to catch us, all our flying comes to nothing. Let’s trust the Great Catcher.”
(From the book Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen)
My prayer for you today is that you will know down deep in your heart that God is always with you to pick you up in those times when you fall. God is here for you to lean on, just at the right time and the right place. God holds you up today, enabling you to make it through each new day. If you haven’t already, take a chance. Fly to him now. Depend on him with your life. I promise you. You CAN trust God to catch you.
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” - Mark Twain
Tonight we’re going to talk and play bingo with the residents of Mansfield Nursing Center. Some may think that’s not a very exciting way to spend a Friday night, but we love it. I don’t know who is happier: the residents or us. It seems like no matter what kind of week we’ve had, no matter how hectic or chaotic our lives have become, we can’t wait to bring some joy into another person’s life.
We look forward each month to seeing Danny, a young woman confined to a wheelchair. And then there’s Willie, 97 years old and still going strong. And Marilynn, Jim, Mary, Lanny, Lori, Nedia, Berta, Flo, and all the rest. We feel a bond and a connection to these persons, all because God was leading us to look beyond ourselves to the needs of others.
How are you feeling? A little down in the dumps? Depressed? Unhappy? Come try some of the best medicine to take care of that. See you at the Mansfield Nursing Center tonight at 7!
One month from tomorrow we will have our first preview worship gathering. I’m really excited and a little nervous. There are a lot of details to keep in mind when you are a “nomadic” church. I’m very fortunate, though, that I have a great group of people to help. Having a great God on our side doesn’t hurt, either.
Sympathy sees and says, “I’m sorry.” Compassion sees and says, “I’ll help.”
What type of person are you: sympathetic or compassionate?
“Everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself.”
If only we could memorize and then live by that single sentence. Wouldn’t that make a great New Year’s resolution?