You are not alone.
In fact, you're more known and loved than you could begin to comprehend!
How can I tell you this with confidence?
The One who finds me in my darkest moment is the One who seeks your heart in your darkest moments.
The One who hold my hand when I am stumbling is the One who is holding out His hand to you.
The One who speaks life to my dying hope is the One who holds the Words of everlasting life for your soul.
Who is this One? It's Jesus my friend. It's Jesus and He's got so much love for you too!
You see, before a day of yours came to being, it was written in the book of life.
Before you were named by your parents, went to school or decided who your friends would be, the Author of the universe already knew who you would become.
Before anything took you off the path to shine His glory ~ He loved you ~ and He continues to seek your heart.
And right now that might make you want to run and hide, or it might make you want to cry with tears of joy, it might make you want to run into the street and scream “Come meet the one,” or it might make you terrified and ashamed...
Whatever reaction your heart turns to, you can rest assured because I can tell you this one thing…. He only has love for you.
And we can stand in that truth of love because the entire Bible is one big long love letter from beginning to end. It’s one big long redemption story from beginning to end. It’s one massive story of the hero who saved them all ~ from beginning to end.
It's been Jesus from beginning until now and will be Him until the end (of which there will be no end ~ but that's a discussion for another time!)
What does the Bible have to do with the things that you face in your life now?
The Bible tells you that there is hope within reach, God’s Word tells you that for your wounds there is healing, for your loss there is gain, for your sorrow there is comfort and for your mourning there is dancing.
There is nothing that can stand in the way of Him reaching down to save you from it all.
Except your unbelief.
How do we know that He truly is all I’ve said He is?
How can we trust our innermost hearts to this Jesus?
Because it’s in His word, all the way through, but clearly written here in the Psalms.
Read through Psalm 139 (in the Message Version) and let it speak to your soul, let it turn you to believe!
(And while you are reading, just remember that for all the wonderful things David did in his life, for all the monumental and inpirational legacies ~ He was just as broken and made just as many consequential mistakes as you and me.)
(Psalm 139 MSG)
"God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too ~ your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful ~ I can’t take it all in!
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute~ you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God ~ you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration ~ what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them~ any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers ~ out of here!~ all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god~imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!
Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong~ then guide me on the road to eternal life."
Take a moment to read this wonderful Psalm.
And then re-read it
Again...
And again...
And again...
And trust yourself to believe it to be true for you..
Trust yourself to believe that there is a Saviour who knows you.
A Saviour who loves you and who has planned infinately greater thing for your life than you could begin to imagine.
And once you step into the place of fully believing Jesus is who He says He is and You are who He says You are (loved)...
You can pray like this...
Dear Jesus,
I’ve heard about You and about the wonder of Your creation.
I’ve heard about Your life on earth and Your death on the cross.
I’ve heard that You came for my heart and that even though I’ve walked through the darkness, even though I’ve walked through things I’m too scared to let anyone else see, I choose to believe that when You see me You don’t see my pain or my past.... But I choose to believe that when You see me, You see your child and You love me.
I am sorry for not turning into Your arms sooner and I pray for my heart to surrender to Your call.
I believe in You, I believe in Your Gospel, come into my heart, clean me up, make me new and give me Your eyes to see the wonder of life and the wonderful works You have for me on this earth.
Teach me from now and all my days forward what it means to live for You and what it means to shine Your name on the earth.
Amen.
~ X ~
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