Dear Discouraged,
I see you. I am you.
I see you, somewhere between who you used to be and who you are becoming in Christ. Striving for growth and progress along the journey to becoming “acceptable”, “adequate”, “effective”.
I see you, Discouraged, caught in a net of sin and hardship on the shores of the calling of Christ. Struggling. Fighting. So close, but with every reason and disadvantage to assume you will simply never make it. Thinking you will never enjoy the easy rock and flow of the calm waters in sight.
You've convinced yourself you cannot help your sisters on the same journey.
You believe you are too tangled, too broken.
Me too.
I am caught in a net of “where I think I should be”. It’s a disheartening illusion made up of judgments, standards, and comparisons. I am cursing my failing flesh for landing me in this dark place again. My big dreams of being used for His glory are sinking deep. I measure my progress and it is not enough. I am frustrated and I am tired. But I am not hopeless. (Click it to tweet it!)
We are not hopeless.
This net we feel caught in and disqualified by will not sink us. We do not need to be free of sin, free of hardship, free of struggle to move forward. (Click it to tweet it.)
Do not be paralyzed, sister. Do not submit to your struggle, but submit your struggle to God, because everything can be redeemed in the hands of the Father. Yes. Every single thing you count against yourself can be used to display the glory, grace, and power of the Gospel. This is freedom. Don’t become distracted from moving forward by untangling yourself and healing yourself.
God can move you and use you exactly where you are.
So let's get moving. Together.
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Laboring together [as God’s fellow workers] with Him then, we beg of you not to receive the grace of God in vain [that merciful kindness by which God exerts His holy influence on souls and turns them to Christ, keeping and strengthening them—do not receive it to no purpose]. 2 Corinthians 6:1
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Now I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel).
So much is this a fact that throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest [here] my imprisonment has become generally known to be in Christ [that I am a prisoner in His service and for Him].
And [also] most of the brethren have derived fresh confidence in the Lord because of my chains and are much more bold to speak and publish fearlessly the Word of God [acting with more freedom and indifference to the consequences]. Philippians 1:6, 1:12-18
Original photo via | Edited by JM
