AUGUST 9, 2023

 “Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last 'trick', whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

'But how?' we ask.

Then the voice says, 'They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'

There they are. There *we* are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith. 

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” 
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

PSALM 85-87

11Teach me your way, Lord,

that I may rely on your faithfulness;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

12I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

13For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths,

from the realm of the dead.(86:11-13)

ROMANS 8:19-39

35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^j

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^k neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

JOURNAL 

Sometimes life just gets the best of me...I get distracted, forgetful, and there are times when I really bl0w it. It is in these moments that I can understand how some just toss in the towel. The grind of life feels never-ending and everything seems bleak. Crawlng in a hole to hide or driving to some far off destination and starting over feel like welcome alternatives 

Yet when I come back to scripture I am reminded that this is just part of life. It is what all people face. It is part of our human condition and it is actually a necessary component where faith becomes my anchor. It is what keeps me stable, keeps me strong in weathering the storms. So in ways unexpected the storms, struggles, heartaches and frustrations of life are actually a critical part of life's beauty.

For Paul to declare that nothing can separate me from the love of God affirms this ember of hope. God's love and his spirit are within me and trials and tribulations will serve to reveal the truth of God. They will display the purity of his love in my life. Within the uncertainty of these times it is imperative to remember that God will work incredible good out of what seems to be pointless heartache.  Even when I blow it, even when I begin to lose heart, God is still faithful and still waiting and willing to embrace me...in my worst.  My faith in that outcome is key to joy and key to experiencing all that God has for me today in this gift of life. The God of the universe is my strength...what more could I ever want.

7The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

PSALM 28:7