mercy

Can I be real with you?

I don’t always have answers.

I don’t always have a plan.

I don’t always know what to say.

I don’t always know what it’s going to look like or how it will turn out.

Do you relate?

Thank goodness. I’m not the only one. ♥

But that doesn’t mean that God can’t use my life or my words. And it doesn’t mean that He can’t use your life or words, either.

Because we have mercy and it’s enough.

It’s enough because we’ve been given mercy. 

…Immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Ephesians 2:1-6 (The Message)

Think about it. In those times when you needed help or encouragement, you didn’t want pat answers.

You didn’t want anyone to fix you.

You didn’t want to step into someone else’s one-two-three plan to success.

Maybe, like me, you just needed to know that you mattered and that you hadn’t messed up so bad that you were beyond reach.

Or perhaps you wanted to know that tomorrow would be better.

Maybe, just like me, you wondered out loud if God had a plan for you.

And that’s exactly what mercy offers all of us.

Sometimes, sweet friends, we have nothing to offer but mercy to our children, to our loved ones, to strangers, in our marriage, to our world, to our community, to our neighbor, to ourselves. . .

. . . and it’s enough

Actually, it’s more than enough.

Because it helps us love a person right where they are.

It helps us hold up our anger anger or resentment or burden of the past and ask God to replace that woundedness with His presence.

It helps us to close our mouth and just.be.there.

micah6_8

Sure, there are times when mercy will lead you to speak or to act. Certainly, there are times that mercy will lead you to walk beside them as they find their way.

And yes, there are times that mercy will lead you to wrap that child in your arms or draw you to your knees on the behalf of someone you don’t even know.

But you don’t have to have all the answers. You aren’t required to fix anyone else.

Instead you simply receive what Jesus gives and then you turn around and offer it to another.

Suzie