Devotions Its Ok to Start Again
"And I am certain that God, who began the practiced piece of work within you, will go along his piece of work until information technology is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Philippians 1:half dozen (NLT)
My darling mom died two years ago. I miss her every day. I don't call up anything quite prepares you for maxim goodbye to your mom.
After her funeral in Scotland, I stayed several days to help my sister, Frances, go through Mom'due south things. One treasure I brought home was the petty Bible that always sat by her bed. She'd received it in December 1942 when she was 13 years old. She wrote on i of the blank pages, "Grace is undeserved favor. It is love stooping."
We spent several hours going through Mom's large reddish box of family photographs. "Did y'all really hateful to have imperial hair?" my sis asked with a smiling, holding upward a photo that showed one of my more creative choices. "Yes," I said, smiling back. "Sadly, that was intentional."
I paused on a photograph from the 24-hour interval I graduated from seminary. I remember that day so well. I was 21 years quondam. My pilus in that season was dark and very short. I had to have virtually of it cutting off subsequently a disastrous experiment with a perm. I looked at my grinning face, confident I would now go out and change the earth for Jesus. I remember my mom saying to me that twenty-four hours: "God began this skilful piece of work in y'all, Sheila, and He volition keep His piece of work until you run across Him face-to-face."
I wish I'd listened to those words more carefully. I wish I'd understood the liberating truth that God is the i who begins His work in u.s., and He will complete information technology. I thought information technology was upward to me. I believed God's love was based on my operation, and I didn't ever want to let God down.
Take y'all ever been in that location? Studying that photograph, there was then much I would have loved to tell my 21-twelvemonth-one-time self. Beginning … I'd tell her to moisturize her neck. She'd understand that piece of advice afterwards in life!
But seriously, I'd tell her this volition non always be the life she imagined. I'd tell her she will autumn down over and over, but rather than sympathize the love of God less, she'll get information technology more.
I'd let her know her heart will interruption, only she'll survive. It will modify how she sees others, not equally causes to exist saved, simply equally people to be loved. I'd tell her to remove the merciless list of spiritual "to-exercise'south" she's carried inside because she needed to get everything perfectly right. I'd tell her it actually is OK not to be OK, because Jesus has already made her right.
These words may audio like a bumper sticker, but for me they were hard-fought truths.
I tried for years to exist the perfect Christian. It would accept many broken roads and heartaches to begin to grasp this truth: Nosotros're not called to pursue perfection; nosotros're called to pursue Christ, who is perfect.
I don't know what state of affairs you lot're facing correct at present, dear sister, but know that as yous are, you are loved by God. It's never been up to us to get everything right. Christ did that on the cross. As Philippians 1:6b tells us, "God, who began the proficient piece of work within you lot, will proceed his work until information technology is finally finished on the solar day when Christ Jesus returns."
If you feel you've fallen too many times, think you get to start over and over and over again. Grace is undeserved favor. It doesn't have a sell-by date. I read an former Chinese proverb that said, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." With God, it's never too late to start … again and again and again.
Heavenly Father, cheers for loving me today. And then often I experience every bit if I'm not good enough, merely I give thanks Yous for loving me every bit much on the days when I think I got everything wrong as on the days when I call up I got everything right. Thank you I get to come to You but the style I am, imperfections and all. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
TRUTH FOR TODAY
Romans 8:38, "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God'southward honey. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — non even the powers of hell can separate united states of america from God'south love." (NLT)
Lamentations 3:22-23, "The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Corking is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morn." (NLT)
RELATED RESOURCES
Nosotros've all experienced that moment when we wish we could showtime over. Failed marriages, lost friends, addictions, lost jobs. This is not the life we imagined, leaving us stuck, sad, shamed, scared and searching. Sheila Walsh encourages readers to face up the pain caput-on and and so start again, right where they are. Larn more about Sheila'south newest book, It'due south Okay Non to Exist Okay, when you click here or here.
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To hear more from Sheila, cease by her website.
Would you like your own copy of Information technology's Okay Not to Exist Okay? To celebrate this upcoming new volume, Sheila's publisher is giving away 5 copies! Just leave a comment, and yous'll exist entered to win. {Nosotros'll notify winners in the comments department by Mon, September 24.}
Reverberate AND RESPOND
What one matter could you practise today to remind yourself of God's love?
What's one unproblematic step you could take to start again?
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Devotions Its Ok to Start Again
Source: https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2018/09/17/never-too-late-to-start-again
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