“One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are.” Henri Nouwen
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At my lowest point I find it easy to summarize my life through my mistakes and my brokenness.
I am a sinner. I am a failure. I can’t do something right.
These are the names I call myself.
Many of us get stuck here—stuck in this cyclical pattern of hating ourselves, hating our choices, and then making more poor choices again, so we can start hating ourselves even more. This is a deadly cycle.
Somehow, at my lowest point, I decided it was possible to change. So I pulled myself together and began to forge a new path in life.
I will not be defined by my mistakes.
I set out to prove myself worthy of my holy God. But something is not right.
A relationship with Jesus that begins with anything other than the penetrating love he has for us becomes a duty-filled, contractual relationship.
We begin to think of all the blessings we’ll receive when we do what we believe He desires.
But a relationship with Jesus that begins with his love and fills our hearts and lives, becomes a relationship of affection.
We do what we believe He desires because we love him, not for any prosperity or blessing that might come our way.
It’s His love for us, shown especially on the cross, that enables us to move beyond our past, into the great possibilities for the future.
I know that look you’re giving like you got something to prove.
‘Cause I have walked for miles and miles in that same pair of shoes.
You refuse forgiveness like it’s something to be earned.
But sometimes pain’s the only way that we can learn.
You can never fall too hard, so fast, so far that you can’t get back when you lost where you are.
It’s never too late so bad, so much that you can’t change who you are.
You can change who you are.
