Finding God in ordinary places Part 4
- Part 1: Finding God in Ordinary Places
- Part 2: Think of These Things
- Part 3: Searching the Heart
- Part 4: Failure and Forgiveness
- Part 5: Hearing His Voice
- Part 6: Meeting God at Church
- Part 7: God at Work
- Part 8: I Know God Cares
I always made home my first mission field. I read every Bible verse I could find on being a good wife and a good mother. I had high expectations of myself. I struggled for perfection. When I made even the smallest slip, I would condemn myself. I would be so disappointed.
Perfectionism and self condemnation had become a pattern in my life. A pattern that consumed my thoughts and sapped my energy, taking my mind away from God and focusing it on myself. Thankfully, at a time in my life when I was really putting myself down, God intervened. He spoke his love deep into my being. He reminded me of Psalm 103: 13b, 14: ‘The Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.’
The Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. – Psalm 103:13b-14
Genesis tells us God made man from the dust of the earth.
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. – Genesis 2:7
God knows me. He knows I am dust. He knows my frailties. Jesus didn’t die for perfect people. There are none. He died for the imperfect ones. Romans 5:8 tells us that ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were sinners Christ died for us.’
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were sinners Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8
God taught me to let go of the condemnation. I am saved and justified by the blood Jesus shed on the cross. It is a gift I can accept. It is all through him and not anything I have done. It is not because I am worthy. I am not. It is because he loves me, warts and all.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
I have learned to lean on Jesus and his love. I have learned to go easier on myself. I will not be perfect here on earth but I will walk in the shadow of Jesus or as close as I can get. When I fail, I will forgive myself, because God does.
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