We do not lose heart.
Corinthians 4:16
I’m unimaginably blessed. I woke this morning and began praying. Started thinking back on all the ways my life has been saved knowing Jesus as my Savior. I never found happiness apart from Him. Everything has purpose because He’s in it. Relationships mean more. When I lie down, He cradles me. When I wake, He comforts me. When I’m troubled, He calms me. When the temptation to feel alone lowers, truth pours like heavy rain showers.
Charlotte Elliot was once a famous London poet in the 1830’s. At the age of 32, she suffered from a serious illness which left her disabled until her death fifty years later. In the midst of her darkest days, her spiritual mentor César Malan, a Swiss minister and hymnologist, counseled her to replace her rage and inner conflict with peace and simple faith in God. She turned her literary talents toward writing hymns. By 1834 Charlotte had written, The Invalid’s Hymnbook—a collection of nearly 150 hymns. Just As I am, found in most North American Hymnals today, was one of them. I share this story because it’s crucial believers remember that though our bodies are dying—God is renewing our spirit day by day.
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Realizing we are spiritually needy, morally corrupt, unable to find the right path—Christ bidd’st us, “Come to Me.” Momentary confusion, a flash of fear, a splash of doubt are all part of the human condition—yet our mind is being transformed every single time.
“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and lasts forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on the things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
My church 