The website of NC writer Megan Bean
Have you ever questioned whether you're redeemable? Have you nourished hope for an abundant, meaningful life, only to see it decimated by your own sin or failure? Have you looked at the remains and felt sure that, even if something new were to sprout, nothing could ever bloom?
Our walk with God requires a similar presence of mind. In order to stick with Him through a world of temptations and uncertainty, we need to keep our focus on Him and where He is guiding us.
By the grace of God repentance is possible. So how do we start?
Keep your Gospel shoes on. Because you have some walking to do. And you want all your footprints to spell Jesus.
A life following Jesus isn't an easy life. But it's the best possible life we could ever live. And it takes us to the best place we could ever be: the heart of God, the very definition of goodness. You’d think we’d rush to taste that goodness. What kind of healthy human doesn’t want to experience inner peace, to be truly and faithfully loved, to live with a sense that they and their lives matter? Yet we hold back....afraid the sweetness holds poison. Convinced the fruit we’ve been told is scrumptious will turn out sour or bland. Suspicious that the goodness is all taste and no nourishment for our famished souls.
It sounds obvious, yet sometimes we seem to forget. We get caught up in work, routines, and family duties and relegate friendship to luxury status. Or we get plunged into pain or struggle and try to soldier on alone. We think we have to do it, that our burdens are ours alone to carry, that no one can ever understand, that no one should ever have to share our struggle.
We can’t always control the way we feel in contentious situations. But with God’s help, we can control how we respond.
Like barns (not to mention houses), our souls can benefit from some “spring cleaning” to clear away spiritual muck and prepare us for service.
Yes, trouble may chase us. Pain may nag us. Sorrow might ambush us again and again. Guilt and shame may nip at our heels. But the only things that can keep up with us, day in and day out, all the days of our lives, are the goodness and faithful love of God. And like the Good Shepherd He is, He will send them after us relentlessly. No, scratch that – He’ll come after us Himself, bringing them with Him. Because that’s who He is.
Suffering when you can see the point is hard. Suffering when you can’t see the point is harder.
BeanSpired Editions 