the end of ourselves...the beginning of Him

Where I fall short, His grace begins.

D told me that she heard exactly what she needed to hear tonight at the Beware of Christians screening. About her inherent sinful nature, about Jesus' centrality to Christianity, about how the decision to follow Jesus is the hardest decision in life, and the one that's the most worth it.

At first, I felt an immediate twinge of regret that I decided not to go. I remember looking at the attendees (there were so many...) on the Facebook event about 10 minutes after it began, thinking about my struggles with not making Christian activity, but not completely shunning it either. I was also upset that I had been procrastinating all day on sending her those verses that I thought would lead her closer to knowing Jesus after the talk on Tuesday night.

My sin of delayed obedience (= disobedience) was not pleasing to His sight, and it really could have been a stumbling block. But He was more than faithful.

T asked me yesterday during discipleship about the story of Naaman the leprous. We had been talking about how God looks at the heart and is faithful to forgive and receive those who come with a contrite heart. But Naaman was such a grump and so unbelieving when he washed himself in the Jordan. Yet, through the faith of the servant girl and His overall goodness, Naaman came out healed and saying "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel."

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD that D, who almost always plans out every detail of her day, decided to go to the screening today out of the blue.
Praise the LORD that in a sea of people she didn't know, Laura saw her and called her name from across the room.
Praise the LORD for His kingdom come in the work and life of those four brothers who came to our university to share about the true Jesus.
Praise the LORD that although I have been whiny, ungrateful, lazy, and self-absorbed today, He heard my prayer (and everyone else's) to protect D's burdened heart. To not let the stumbling blocks that I or anyone other Christians in her life might have placed get in the way of her drawing closer to the Holy, Living, Loving Abba Father. That He would keep her far from falsehood and lies, and lead her to finally trust Him fully.
Praise the LORD.

My heart floods with gratitude - God, please please please let true gratitude become true repentance. I pray that You would strongly, gently turn me away from the blinding selfishness hindering me, hindering others in my life. I fall so very short as a discipler, as a sister, as a housemate, as a studiomate, as a daughter. I pray that You would provide me with people who will speak the truth to me (maybe not even in love, although I sure hope so), as well as show me how to speak the truth in love to others.

God calls us to be holy as He is holy.
But even as we sin and sin again, He is good. He is so faithful. His Word is living and active, and will endure forever.

"I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."