Grace & Mercy, Unconditional Love

Lately I've been learning of what true Mercy looks like in action through failure and sin hindering God's good in my life. Sometimes it seems I had become so accustomed to the ordinary that even the words seemed to fall on deaf ears. As God grows and stretches me, He is also doing a lot of pruning. Areas of life that have gone by the wayside, or swept under the rug. Things "I had handled." Then, failure.

When forced to look square in the face the sin that so easily entangles me such as false humility, rage, envy, self-reliance, God tells me He's pruning. He's preparing. And I wait. Waiting again. But today it's different. Today I see that the beauty of waiting means resting in His great Mercy, and His healing hand of grace. Waiting means listening to Jesus, and spending deep time meditating on His promises found in His living Word. This is different because I'm not going through the motions. He and I are connected. It's not as though He wasn't there, but that I had drifted into relying on myself, and not spending time in His Word. For me, and truly for every believer, spending time in the Bible, studying, learning, seeking wisdom, is never time wasted. This book is alive. And through His Word we are pruned. Things are cut away that are hindering our true calling and purposes fully. We cannot think that we can do this life on our own. Subjecting ourselves to, in the words of LaCrae, HIS SANCTIFYING SURGERY. Think on that for a minute. He needs to meet us at our lows and bring us back new in His Mercy. How do we think so often that avoiding His voice in our lives through the Word that we are able to be rid of sin that traps us and holds us from living free? How can we fill every moment of our life with things that do not last? How can I Lord avoid you when you are right there calling? Why do I do this?

Lord, you will be my boast. You are my all. You are my life, Jesus. Thank you for reminding me of how often I fail, but it's there that you meet me and live through me. Me fully surrendered to you. Because it's not me. My Father, you love so mercifully! I don't deserve this, in any form but you give this love unconditionally. Thank you for bringing me back from the depths of sin, and for giving freedom through your Son. Thank you Jesus.