“In my sorrow I find comfort

In my weakness I find strength

Every time I reach out for You

Jesus You save me

You are my refuge

You are my shelter

You are my hiding place forever

I will run to You I will rest secure

In the presence of my Savior”

Jesus didn’t come to rescue pretty good people who look good on the outside. He came for the sick. He died for those who were still His enemies. He came for those who know they are spiritually dead and hopeless apart from Christ.

This is why it is so important to fix our eyes on Jesus. In the light of His perfection, our sin becomes painfully obvious. We are great sinners but Christ is an even greater Savior. Jesus came into the world not to condemn but to save sinners- oh what a glorious truth to know and experience personally! 

The wonder of following Jesus is this: the more we understand the depth of our sinfulness, the more we will be able to rejoice in our Savior.

Jesus is a gentle and kind Savior to those who recognize their great need for Him. He does convict and reveal our sin but He never condemns His children. He does discipline us but He does it out of a heart full of love, desiring we know the peaceful fruit of righteousness. His love brings such security because nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love we find in Christ.

I am always amazed by how God provides exactly what we need at exactly the right time. This has been one of my favorite parts of this journey, to practically get to see how God is strong in my weakness.  There have been many things along the way that have encouraged me to keep on even on the days it feels very hard to continue on. It is so fun to be able to wear clothes that used to be too small and it is so reassuring when I see I’m making better decisions than I used to. I’m being reminded of and spurred on in the importance of encouragement. I want to encourage others as I have been encouraged by others through kind words and thoughtful actions. Lastly God’s Word always proves to be alive and active as God often provides a verse, a sermon, and even a song that is exactly what I need to hear at that point.

Let us trust that the Lord is transforming us into new creations even when we aren’t seeing the results we would like to and we are tempted to give up. What a blessing of assurance it is when we do see evidence of God at work in our lives as He makes us more humble and dependent on Him.

Because Jesus bore all of our punishment and shame on the cross, we can be sure of our position before the Lord. So when the enemy brings up our past failures and we fear if God will still walk with us when we fall yet again, may we fix our eyes on Jesus and all that He has done for us. He is our assurance and confidence when our heart condemns us. We will fail often but He will never fail. Let us look upon the beauty of the Lord all of the days of our lives and find everything we need in Him.

so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:7-9)