Backdrops For Blessings

Manna for your moment from my yard. Notice that every individual dew drop is distinct in its resting place upon the rose. This picture reminds me that like the rose catches the rain, God catches every tear. He compassionately holds each one with singular significance and gives them shelter until the Son tenderly wipes them away. God never wastes your tears. Sometimes they are tokens of joy and sometimes pain, but not one goes unnoticed or falls in vain. Every part of who you are matters to Him. When you feel the least loved or lovable, remember that like the dew finds respite upon the flower, we find refuge in The Father; and hope accessorized with faith whispers, moments when we feel bruised are backdrops for blessings.🌹

Freely Inadequate but Fully Accepted

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Are you feeling inadequate this morning?  Me, too.  As a matter of fact, I have been feeling incompetent for some time now due to a variety of life challenges.  Then last Thursday happened.

I was attending a dinner, and the speaker was talking about a very dark subject.  She was telling her story, and it was very far from pretty.  One thing the brave woman said with a trembling voice has captivated my thoughts since that night.  I am paraphrasing her words; I never thought Jesus could love and forgive a sinner as dirty as me.  Then one day I realized that my attitude about His forgiveness was equivalent to me putting Jesus back on the cross because He did not do His job right the first time and I could not do that.

Wow!  I have been thinking a lot about how many times I am crucifying Jesus again because I too am not feeling “good enough.”  The truth I often forget is that I am not good enough, never was, never will be and that is why Christ had to pay the ultimate price for me.

Jesus died for my inadequacies, and yours.  Being ashamed of them is a dishonor to Him.  He willingly gave his life to give me mine.  He suffered a cruel, undeserved death to complete me in all the areas I am incomplete.  Because He is whole, I am free to be broken.  Because he is perfect, I am free to be imperfect.  That is good news for a ragamuffin like me.

There is no need to twinge in light of my truth and no reason to cower to condemnation.  I am righteous because Jesus has risen.  Isaiah 61:10 says it best;  I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God!  For he has dressed me in the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.

I am prone, however, to forget what I know to be true.  I knew His promise, but I had forgotten.  I had forgotten, and thus, I had forsaken the Gospel.  Life has a tendency to court us away from the truth, but God has a tender character that carries us back under the shelter of His wings where we are allowed to be freely inadequate but fully accepted.  I am preaching this to myself today, friends.  I pray if need be you can find rest here, too.

Rest for the Riddled Today

 

Hey you, hey me, the thirsty, the desperate, the depleted, the exhausted…those barriers, wounds and struggles in our lives are not present by accident.   They are there by assignment.   Things that challenge us to our core either create or crush us.   They are available for our gain and God’s glory.   The difference in destroying us or defining us is our resolve to find the meaning and mission in our messes.

Trials do not always come from God‘s hands, but they come through them.   We can rest in that. He has touched every tragedy and challenge before we endured it.

Our tears are sifted by God before they are shed by us.    He has held them, and He will heal them in His time and according to His purpose.

The new year is sometimes more of the old, the hard and the worn out.   You are not alone.   Let your perspective be colored by God’s purpose, not your pain.   He is working on our behalf.   Believe it, look for it, expect it and never lose hope!   We can give rest to our resolving, riddled souls, because one thing is for sure, relief will come through God’s strength, not our striving.   It will be in His timing not our tweaking. Father, give us all the grace to REST in your sovereign authority today and all days. When we forget, gently turn us away from our struggles and back to your safe shelter.   Amen.