Day 2- You are Loved - Come as you are!

31 Days

toward

Abundant Life

Yikes! Day two of my 31 days of blogging journey...I knew it wouldn't be easy...but I had no idea it would be this hard so early...short little blogs and I'm struggling...and a broken computer to boot...praying I can keep to my commitment for the rest of the month... 

If this is your first time here reading this series you may want to read here first.

Day 2

You are Loved 

Have you ever heard the saying "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" or something similar? That was a motto I used to live by. That was what I thought life was all about. To live any other way would be boring and dull, and if you asked me then what a full abundant life looked like I would have told you that it would involve partying. The reality though was that I was not happy at all, in fact I was a very miserable person. I eventually got to a place where I was tired of it all!  Then one day I heard the gospel message:  That I was a sinner in need of saving.  "If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8) and "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"  (Romans 3:23).  That I needed to agree with God about my sin (doing wrong) and repent or turn from it "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance"(Luke 5:32).  That I then needed to believe that Jesus' death on the cross was sufficient for all my past, present, and future sins.  When I had done all that I could know that I am forgiven, cleansed, and accepted by God. "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).  Not because of anything special in me, but because of Christ and what He has done for me!  But not just for me dear sisters, it's for you too!!!  In response to all that I heard I fell flat on my face, confessed my sin, and surrendered my life to Christ.  After, I had such peace unlike anything I have ever known!  My life circumstances didn't change, but now I had purpose, peace, and a deep abiding joy despite the trials I still faced.  I also had God's Holy Spirit now living in me; comforting me, teaching me, and interceding for me (Romans 8:26).

What about you?   Are you tired of the life your living? Have you begun to awake to the fact that living life your way and on your terms has not brought you all the happiness and satisfaction it promised you in the beginning? What about all those "things" you keep hoping will fill that emptiness inside? Not quite doing it for you like you thought, huh? We can use "anything" to dull our senses to numb the pain and to drown out our thoughts, but it doesn't really work does it?

Dear one, hear my heart, I beg of you! I believe that if you are reading this then God has a message for you!  It's no mistake that you have stumbled upon this blog.  What are you going to do with the truths I have spoken here?  Perhaps you just need to hear that you can come to Him right where you are at and simply cry out to Him for life and life abundant!!! 

I'm praying for you, that you would stop resisting God and begin to know the depth, width, and breadth of His love for you (Ephesians 3:18-19).  I'm also praying that His Holy Spirit would cause you to have a a zeal for the things that He is zealous for and a deep abiding joy that can only come from being in a right relationship with Him! You are loved with an everlasting love!  So dearly loved by a faithful God who will never leave you, abuse you, or abandon you!

I want to leave you today with this one last thought: Elyse Fitzpatrick is passionate about the gospel and how it transforms our lives.  In her book titled "Counsel from the Cross" she said over and over again something similar to this:

"You are more sinful and flawed then you could possibly imagine. And you are more loved and welcomed then you could have ever dared to hope."  Let those words sink in deeply today!