Friends... I must write this out. God has been working in my heart and opening up my eyes to certain issues lately, and for that I am truly grateful. It has been painful, wonderful, and stretching. Sometimes I can't think anymore because my mind hurts. And so, in a feeble attempt to organize my thoughts, I thought I would write it all for you all to see. Think what you will, pray hard, and consider.
Through our own personal walks with Jesus we each grow and learn more about our Saviour. We are refined, and taught, and encouraged. But we are always learning.
Things change through life as we discover more about God's grace and love and also about how we need to let those qualities live through us and affect our relationships with others.
Just because we made mistakes in the past doesn't mean that we were horrible and awful and that that previous life should be forgotten. I think God created us to learn from the past and even amongst all the bad, there are still positive kernels in there. We just have to look. And sometimes hard.
Grace is not an excuse for sin, nor is it an excuse to act the way we want no matter what. Grace is a marvelous and undeserved gift from God that we are to use for His glory and His glory alone. When I think about the fact that God loves me unconditionally and no matter what I do, I am still His child, my brain starts spinning. But that amazing gift we have does not mean we live our way. Oh how it should motivate, inspire and will us to live for Jesus... to live only for His great name!
Does this all make sense? Am I rambling? Probably, but thats ok.
My last point... God is great, we are not, His plans are perfect, and ours are messed up. So how can we view our spiritual growth of the past as negative when it is all God's doing?? We don't live in a perfect world, hence we aren't perfect... our churches aren't perfect, and what we do isn't perfect. But we should strive to live for Jesus... for He is perfection.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I believe it is wrong to see our past as negative and bad and full of error. Truthfully it is full of errors that we made: the sin we committed... but what happens in our lives occurs through God's will and we must learn and grow from it but at the same time thank Him for His love.
I love my Savior and am so grateful for the undeserved grace He bestowed on little wretched me and I pray that my life will be one that shines brightly for Him.
8 comments:
Great to see what God is doing in your heart. Hold fast to these truths as you go through the trials of life and see His faithfulness carry you through because you are His. Thank you Jesus!
Thanks for sharing your heart Hannah! Amen to all you wrote- thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit which whispers truth to our hearts!
Thanks Hannah. So very very true. Love ya muchos! =)
So good, Hannah! Thanks for reminding us all that the mistakes we've made and lessons we've had to learn the hard way in the past are really stepping stones to who we are and what we do today. Sanctification is such a long, often difficult process, but God's grace is always our faithful companion on the journey!
Love ya!
Good words Hannah! The message came across strong and clear. Josh and I like to discuss/contemplate these very truths. A hearty amen from both of us :) Thank you sister.
I agree with your other readers my friend, those are very good thoughts! I am thankful there is grace to cover our past, and strenght to do the future. Love you, fun to see you grow and get to read your musings.
This is so good, Hannah! Thank you for sharing your heart. I enjoyed reading it and agree with you 100 percent. Love you, friend!
Amen Hannah!! That is all I can say!!
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