A word for those with eating disorders & self harm struggles

My body was broken so that you don’t need to break yours

My blood was spilled so that you don’t need to spill yours

Beloved, the cost of My life was enough to cover Yours. Trust Me and live.

But Noah found favour in His eyes

An act of mercy.

I wonder what it feels like, for Your creation to be made so very good, only for it then to turn against You in rebellion. I wonder what it felt like when You watched as what was beautiful turned rotten and perverted. For we saw what was attractive and just took it as we wished. We didn’t care who was hurt in the process; we didn’t care for Your will. We saw what would bring themselves pleasure, and we took it.

Isn’t this inherently the problem with our world? That people see what attracts them, and we make up their mind to just take it?

And it grieved Your heart. I’ve felt regret before. When that pain of, “what if I hadn’t?” just tears into your heart. God, we forget that You have a heart. We forget that You grieve. A Father, who provided only the best for His children, stands by as we tear down everything that He made to be good. And Your heart breaks. We had no intention to ever turn back to You; We had every intention of continual evil. 

O Lord, may sin grieve me as it grieves You. May the pain of man’s rebellion pierce my heart as it pierces Yours.

And yet, there was a glimmer of hope. A man called Noah, who found favour in Your eyes. You could have started again completely. We failed You. We were given the power to choose, and we failed You. You could have wiped us out, every one of us. You could have started again with a new batch, made without the mercy and gracious gift of the choice of obedience or disobedience; without the choice of life or death, of what You wanted for us or what we wanted for ourselves.

But You didn’t. You knew already that You were going to redeem Your people and restore this brokenness. You were willing to be patient.

And so, Noah found favour in Your eyes.

The hope of life after the flood. 

His promises stand forever

God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
- Numbers 23:19

I hear Him. I hear His promises. He says, Cast your cares on Me, and I will care for you. He says, Come to Me, you who are weary, and I will give you rest. He says, his light and momentary affliction is preparing you for an eternal weight of glroy beyond all comparison. He says, I will give you My Spirit and He will be Counsellor. He says, Where My Spirit is, there is freedom. He says, I will heal you. He says, I will give you a new heart.

Beloved, do you believe Him? Do you believe all the promises He has spoken to you? Do you believe that when he says that when you turn back to the Cross in repentance, that your addiction and lust and self-harm and selfishness and anger and greed and foolishness is forgiven? Do you believe that He has cast away your sin, as far as the east is from the west? Do you believe that He will heal you? Do you believe that one day you will wake without the depression? Do you believe that one day you will look at your body and see beauty? Do you believe that one day you won’t be afraid?

Beloved, He is not a man. He is far greater, and when He speaks, He speaks. He is the very definition of Truth. Trust that He knows what He’s saying. Stop doubting His promises. What He says will come to be. He loves you and on that matter He will not change His mind. His promises stand forever, for great is His faithfulness. They will be fulfilled, beloved. You will see the light break.

today is a hard day. please join me in prayer

Today is the day of Ray Anderson’s funeral. Please join me in this prayer:

Heavenly Father, we lift up the Cameron and Anderson family to you today. Lord, we give You such praise for changing Ray’s heart and revealing Yourself to him, waiting patiently for him to turn to You for ninety years. I thank You for Your mercy and for the joy and hope we have in Christ. Lord, as we mourn the loss of our friend and brother, I pray that You surround this family with love and comfort. Help them to feel Your warmth at a time that is so difficult. May today’s funeral be a wonderful witness to those who don’t know You. May You be with Shirley as she grieves the loss of her husband. May You remind this family of the joy that is to come, where they’ll be reunited again before You for eternity. Be glorified today, Lord, and turn Your face to shine on this family and bless them in Your love. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

(Please, if you’ve prayed this prayer with me, ‘like’ this post. Please feel free to reblog it. This family is incredibly selfless and they bless so many people. I would love for them to know that they are cocooned in prayer, and have as many people praying for them as possible.)

Don’t you know? He loves you so much. He did everything He can to open your eyes to see just how much He loves you. Hasn’t He changed everything for you? Don’t you wake up with purpose and with hope and life and freedom? Don’t you know how much He loves you?

He loves you.
He loves you so much.

Oh, how how He loves you.

Our God is jealous for you. People don’t understand this. Don’t you know? Don’t you know how absolutely and completely loved you are? He is jealous for you because He can’t bear to see you give your heart to things that will keep breaking you and breaking you and breaking you? He is jealous for you because He knows that He can offer you such beauty and security and joy and delight that nobody can and He wants you to see how much He loves you.

My heart is beating so violently. Please, if you call yourself a child of God, open your eyes to see how much He loves you. See the crown of thorns, and the spear in His side, and the nails in His hands and feet and the suffering and the lashes and the spit on His face and see how much He loves you. See how much He was willing to go through because He was jealous for your heart.

Children of God, open your eyes and see how much He loves you. See what hope you have. Start understanding how much mercy and forgiveness and love you have been shown. Understand it so you can see how precious it is. And live your life so radically, completely for Him. Sell all you have for that pearl, that treasure. See how much He loves you, and see it in a way that means your life just shines how much He loves others. Please.

You have hope. You have such hope. See how much He loves you, so that others can see how much He loves them. Please. Don’t hold back. Love and love and love and share the hope He has given you - because some have never tasted it and with our apathy and our unwillingness to be bold, they never will. Please. He loves you.