Blessed are the Messed Up

1-02-11

"Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy me, for I am desolate and afflicted."

                                                             Psalm 25:16

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. Wow, 2013. It does cause us all to think about the past and where we would like to hopefully go in the future.

I had a good discussion with a friend about the past and the mistakes we all make. When you a tendency toward trying to do everything perfectly, its easy to beat yourself up when you don't. Our past loves to beat up the present and threaten to clobber the future with reminders of who we are.

The Lord reminds me that we all mess up. We are all have issues and aren't going to do even easy things right all the time. He doesn't wag it in our face, God is just stating facts. Those facts don't destroy me as much as remind me where I am lacking.

That lacking shows I have a need for Him in everything I do. If I didn't see my need I would put the whole of life on my shoulders and whoa is me, how heavy life becomes.  Yet. The Lord uses my mistakes, like he uses my success, for good. That is an awesome reminder that my mess ups were already added into the equation. Its part of the whole plan.

It's not just that we endure or survive our shortcomings. We are meant to bloom from these trials. The book of James in the Bible talks about suffering as a joy and the way our faith grows. Without understanding that this is part of our maturing process, those are a mad man's ramblings. Yet, how much does our character in Christ, our trust in the Lord beyond our changing and temporary circumstances, develop once we step out of ourselves; out of our comfort zone.

So, I want to encourage you to step up and out from those clouds of the past. Look at  all the messed up things without and within you life as doors for the Lord to grow you. Don't beat yourself up let the Lord build you up for whatever lies ahead.