Category: Faith

You Are Loved

You are loved.

Not because you get straight A’s or don’t get straight A’s in school.

You are loved.

Not because of your athletic abilities or lack thereof.

You are loved.

Not because of the good things you have done, or because of your past.

You are loved because you are His.

When you accept Jesus Christ as Savior of Your life and invite Him into your heart, you are His. And He loves you just as you are, the way He made you. Never forget that.

You are His masterpiece, and when He looks at you, He sees perfection. He sees a princess [or prince]. I know this can be hard to understand and even harder to really let seep into your soul, but just rest in the truth right now. You are loved, not because of what you have done, but because of whose you are. You are His.

~An excerpt from You Are Loved: Embracing the Everlasting Love God has for You, by Sally Clarkson & Angela Perritt

Unashamed Because of Mercy

Yesterday I did something that I was ashamed of. I felt discouraged, frustrated, angry, and embarrassed. But as I look back on the incident and on how things worked out, I see that God wanted to teach me a lesson.

I had been hearing a song by Big Daddy Weave on K-Love (my favorite radio station) for several weeks, called “Overwhelmed.” The music is beautiful, but it was the lyrics that really had me thinking:

God, I run into Your arms
Unashamed because of mercy
I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed by You

I know the power of Your Cross
Forgiven and free forever You’ll be my God

All that You’ve done is so overwhelming
I delight myself in You
In the Glory of Your Presence
I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed by You

The phrase “unashamed because of mercy” stuck in my head, and I meditated on it for the next few days. Little did I know that God would give me an opportunity to experience the shame that comes from messing up and then the grace and mercy that flow from His heart when we confess and turn back to Him.

I just wanted to encourage you today–if you’ve messed up; if you’ve done something that you are ashamed of; if you’ve sinned in such a way that it feels like you can’t be forgiven–REMEMBER. God loves you. He forgives you when you admit your sin to Him (1 John 1:9). He longs to show you His overwhelming mercy and grace.

Come into His presence with boldness and thanksgiving (Hebrews 4:16), and don’t be ashamed. God’s mercy is great enough to cover all of our sins.

Praise Him!

Our Time of Need

our-time-of-need

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

~Hebrews 4:15-16

Come to Jesus with boldness today to receive His grace and mercy–not because of what we have done or haven’t done, but because of who Christ is and what HE has done for us! Hallelujah!