{photo and design by Sara Torbett}
Dear You,
We all mess up. We all fall short. We all wish we could be a little bit better. And when that happens, we wonder if God still really wants to use us. People comment on our strengths or what they admire about us and we think, “Oh, if you only knew what I’m like in my worst moments.”
But here’s the reality: God does know you in your worst moments. He knows all the things hidden in your heart. He knows what you hide even from yourself. And he picked you anyway.
When he came up with his purpose for your life and formed a plan for what you would do on earth, he knew you would have struggles. Your shortcomings are not a surprise to him, and they’re not going to disqualify you from serving him. The only way that can happen is if you decide you won’t receive his grace.
As long as you are on this earth, you will be imperfect. And if you tell yourself you have to have it all together before God can use you, then you will wait the rest of your life. When you mess up, make it right. Then press ahead into all God has for you anyway.
You can’t disappoint God, because disappointment is about expectations. And expectations are about an unknown future. But God already knows everything, so he doesn’t have expectations. Past, present, and future are all equally real to him.
Disappointment is a distinctly human experience. So while the enemy tries to whisper, “You’ve disappointed God,” your heavenly Father is saying, “I already knew that was in your heart. Now that it’s come to the surface, let’s deal with it and move forward together.”
We all need grace. We all need forgiveness. We all need a second chance (and a third, a fourth, and more). That’s why we have Jesus.
God gave up his Son for you.
And he’s never giving up on you.
XOXO
(inspired by Ps. 139:1–16; Rom. 8:32; 1 John 1:9 and adapted from If We Could Have Coffee…{ebook})
{to-go coffee for your heart}
Welcome to the Coffee for Your Heart weekly link-up!
You’re an encourager so I’m asking you to pour out a little love with your words every Wednesday {link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post and then share it here with us. If you don’t have a blog, you can still stop by holleygerth.com to read the posts and join in with us.
If you’d like a writing prompt to get you going, here’s a list I created just for you: 30 Writing Prompts.
Pretty please use this new button in your post so others can easily join in with us {html code in right sidebar}…
And when you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!
I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth
{click to tweet}
