March 13

“We know what it is to have set ourselves to the work of our own reformation....And we remember.....the final and hopeless disappointment when we discovered, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we were utterly helpless, and then the joy that came, when in our helplessness we threw ourselves upon the mercy of God and found in Christ the redemption our souls had so long sought in vain.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 3/13

Now that I’m on the other side of that struggle I can see just how lost I was and want to hold the lantern for everyone I find groping around in the dark.  This morning I may have been too confronting with a friend.  I really won’t know until something changes.  Does she finally see where she’s going and make changes in her course, or will she just stay away from me and my lantern?  The only thing I can be sure of is that something will change because I spoke the Truth.  In doing so I was doing my own reality check.  Were my words spoken out of experience or did they ring hollow to me because I needed a dose of my own medicine?  I can see why sharing the Gospel is not negotiable when it comes to doing God’s will.  He has commissioned each one of us to go and bear witness to His redeeming Love.  The more we do it, the more we are shown the condition of our own hearts and if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God that He will take care of us no matter what. 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”  Matthew 28:19, 20