This week has been one of those weeks where you feel like you are struggling for everything and then all of a sudden you see how the Lord has grown you, not only in those few short days, but how he has been working for days, months, and even years.
There have been many nights this week where Michael and I have sat in silence, not because we were mad at each other, but rather because the Lord had silenced us and was working through our thoughts, our prayers, and even our emotions. There are many times I feel like a failure. I know that's harsh, but we always judge ourselves harsher than others would. I think that's okay, because I know that the judgment that I issue on myself only makes me run fast to the foot of the cross and plead for Christ to empower me with his Spirit to do what only he can do.
I am in daily need of his grace. Through self-reflection and God's kind conviction of sin in my own life, other's stories, and hearing the consequences of sin in various individuals lives, I was broken this week. I was seeking the Lord for help. I can't help myself. I can't help others. I cannot save anyone. But oh my, we have a gracious Lord who is the Savior. The One who came and lived sinlessly, as we cannot, and took God's full wrath that we had earned, which was God's just judgment for our sin that he paid on the cross. As Paul states so beautifully in Colossians:
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."
Oh how beautiful is the grace that has been extended to us in Christ. The Lord was teaching me, growing me in wisdom, and steering my heart toward the only place that it was created to desire - the cross.
There have been many nights this week where Michael and I have sat in silence, not because we were mad at each other, but rather because the Lord had silenced us and was working through our thoughts, our prayers, and even our emotions. There are many times I feel like a failure. I know that's harsh, but we always judge ourselves harsher than others would. I think that's okay, because I know that the judgment that I issue on myself only makes me run fast to the foot of the cross and plead for Christ to empower me with his Spirit to do what only he can do.
I am in daily need of his grace. Through self-reflection and God's kind conviction of sin in my own life, other's stories, and hearing the consequences of sin in various individuals lives, I was broken this week. I was seeking the Lord for help. I can't help myself. I can't help others. I cannot save anyone. But oh my, we have a gracious Lord who is the Savior. The One who came and lived sinlessly, as we cannot, and took God's full wrath that we had earned, which was God's just judgment for our sin that he paid on the cross. As Paul states so beautifully in Colossians:
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."
Oh how beautiful is the grace that has been extended to us in Christ. The Lord was teaching me, growing me in wisdom, and steering my heart toward the only place that it was created to desire - the cross.
