{grace}

"There's a girl in the corner

With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she's wandered
And the shame she can't hide

She says, "How did I get here?
I'm not who I once was.
And I'm crippled by the fear
That I've fallen too far to love"

But don't you know who you are,
What's been done for you?
Yeah don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade. "

I heard these lyrics one night and I was so touched by this song. There are so many times in my life when all I can see is my failure. Whether I am losing my patience too often with my kids or forgetting for the thousandth time to return a phone call or an email to a friend, or some personal struggle that goes much deeper than either of those, I all too often find myself feeling like I suck at life. The words in this chorus are so comforting....that reminder of God's grace and the fact that I am worth so much more than my greatest shortcoming. I have a few friends that are struggling greatly right now. My heart aches for them and my mind is constantly trying to wrap itself around where they are right now, how I can be praying for them and what they need the most to get through the trials they are facing. For one friend in particular, I can't help but see the need for grace. She has fallen far. Further than any of us could probably imagine going....but the thing is, she hasn't fallen too far. Jesus died for it ALL. The not so good, the bad and the really, horribly, downright ugly. I find myself being reminded for her sake that even though we don't deserve it, we have all been offered a great dose of grace. Thank God for that. Thank God that we can fail epically and He is still willing to take us in....if only we are willing to surrender to Him. If we were all defined by our lowest points in life and our greatest moments of failure, there wouldn't be hope for any of us...I'm so grateful to know that even though I don't deserve it and never will, it is Christ's work on the cross that defines me instead.

xoxo,

ali