JUNE 27, 2025

  “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” ― Walt Disney 

PSALM 50-52

 10Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.(51:10-12)

ACTS 27:1-25

21After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 

JOURNAL 

God has never required grand gestures. He asks for what only we can give—a heart that is honest and broken open before Him. David understood this. In Psalm 51, after the weight of his sin crashed down on him, he did not try to bargain or excuse it. Instead, he prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” He asked for restoration, not punishment. He knew God's mercy was greater than his failure. That is the essence of repentance, not groveling, but returning. Returning with trust in the One who forgives.

There is a difference between shame and guilt. Guilt can lead to repentance. Shame wants to bury you alive. But when we bring our sin into the light, God does not reject us. He restores us. That restoration brings confidence, not arrogance, but holy confidence that says, “I am forgiven. I am sustained. I am not alone.” That confidence becomes power, not our own, but His power working through us.

Charles Dickens once wrote, “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but I hope into a better shape.” That is the beauty of grace. God bends what pride made stiff. He breaks what was closed. But He never discards us. Instead, He shapes us into something stronger, truer, more alive.

I think of Paul standing on the deck of a doomed ship. A prisoner. Starving. Surrounded by men who had ignored his warnings. And yet he speaks, not from bitterness but from unshakable courage. “Keep up your courage,” he tells them, “for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.” He had nothing in that moment but the Word of God and the presence of the Spirit. And that was enough. Confidence is born when we believe God is with us...even in the storm.

Walt Disney once said the greatest of all secrets is confidence. Not the confidence that comes from self-assurance, but the kind that grows from constancy, curiosity, courage and most of all, belief. “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” I would add this: when you believe in God’s heart for you, believe it all the way. Especially when shame whispers otherwise. Especially when fear presses in.

There is joy in salvation. Not because the road is easy, but because we know the One who walks with us. Jesus said even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. I don’t need to muster something grand. I need only to offer what I have. That is enough.

So today, I return again to this truth: God is not waiting for me to be impressive. He is waiting for me to be honest. My confidence comes not from my perfection but from His presence. And that is more than enough to sustain me. Today is all I am given. 

20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

  MATTHEW 17:20