In Love with His Word

By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.  I've committed myself and I'll never turn back from living by your righteous order.  Everything's falling apart on me, God; put me together with your Word.  Festoon  me with your finest sayings, God; teach me your holy rules.  My life is as close as my own hands, but I don't forget what you have revealed.  The wicked do their best to throw me off track,  but I don't swerve an inch from your course.  I inherited your book on living; it's mine forever - what a gift!  And how happy it makes me!
 ~Psalm 119:105-112 MSG

For Those of You Who Think You Know Me

For those of you who think my life is perfect, it’s far from it.

But I serve a perfect God who fills me with joy in spite of circumstances.

For those of you who think I have no stains in my past, you would be wrong.

But my God makes all things new and has redeemed me from the pit and broken my chains of bondage.

For those of you who think I’ve never experienced hurt, you would be greatly surprised.

But my God has the name of Healer and is the ultimate Heart Surgeon. 

For those of you who think I don’t struggle daily, please think again.

But my help comes from the Lord and His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses.

For those of you who think that I am a little over the top with my faith, and slightly obsessed with my Jesus…well, you would be right.  I can’t get enough of Him and never want to stop trying.

You see, I love him like I could never possibly explain.  Not just because of what he’s done for me, though it is vastly much.  I love him because of who he is.  And I know who he is because I am finally, in my 30s, beginning to invest my time into a relationship with him like I never have before. 

Did you know that it takes time to get to know someone?  It takes time and it takes effort.  It takes sacrifice of self.

There were many years of acquaintanceship between He and I.  We met in passing and made brief conversation, sometimes with short bursts of desperate prayers in times of great need.  And yet He was faithful to meet me where I was, as messy and messed up as I was, and welcomed me with open arms.  It was then that I realized broken-heartedly and with great repentance that he had been faithful all along, even when I was not.  And then He Who Restores, full of mercy and grace, began with me on a journey that we will continue on until the day we meet face to face.

It is not always easy, this journey.  But it is our journey.  And we walk it hand-in-hand – the Savior and the Found, the Deliverer and the Delivered, the Father and the Child.  He promises to never leave me.  He promises me a life of abundance.  He promises me a love that never fails.  And He who is Faithful and True, He who loved me while yet I was still a sinner, He who went as far as the grave to redeem my life, He…will…always…keep…his…promises. 

For those of you who think I have it all together, I don’t.

I am a broken clay vessel that is being pieced back together by my Potter.  My chips and cracks are countless.  But my hope is that He Who Pours out His Spirit will constantly flow through me, not just into me…that through my cracks and broken pieces, the oil of His Spirit might drip onto someone around me and awaken a desire to know The God Who Saves.