“The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.”

“For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Jesus Christ knows no shadow of alteration or change.”

We are broken people. Sometimes our failures feel small and unimportant, like a child with a scratch...when band-aid can magically heal a made-up flaw. But other times, the cut is much deeper and it seems that no amount of surgery could ever mend it. It feels as though our world is literally crashing down around us and sooner or later we are confronted with the painful truth of our inadequacy and insufficiency. But it’s in these moments that I am reminded of the grace that God shows to each of his children. Yes, we may miss the mark but these moments are the very parts of our story that make his love and his grace so great and so tangible that we can’t help but give every part of our being to Him. 

One of my favorite authors writes from a place deep experience of God’s grace. Brennan Manning was a recovering alcoholic but also a voice calling out in the wilderness, reminding us that we are great sinners but God is a greater Savior. Several years ago, I had the opportunity of sitting down for coffee and an interview with him.  It was a moment I will never forget. His writings have literally brought the message of God's grace to life for me and getting to listen to him speak, as he sat across from me in patchwork pants was hands down, one of the highlights of my life. One of his many nuggets of truth is knowing that, “When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God's gift of grace.” 

So instead of disdaining it, let’s live in it…walk in it…swim in it…let’s experience true grace from our Father. Choose to live in freedom today, knowing that nothing [and I mean nothing] can separate you from the love of our Father. 

“The church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we believe that the fundamental structure of reality is grace, not works–but our lives refute our faith. By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived. Too many Christians are living in a house of fear and not in the house of love.”