This is my story...

Tonight our church service was a special one. It was a service especially dedicated to preparing our hearts for communion. I love these services, my family happily informs me this is because I'm 'introspective'. I'm not sure how this can be true but they assure me that it is. Whatever the case may be, I love to sit and soak in the messages given in these special times. I love the connection with my ministry, the closeness of knowing that the hearts of my brothers and sisters around me are also turned to God and seeking His face in their lives. Tonight's service was especially special for me. It was one of those times when you feel God reach down and hold your heart and say "Its ok, just keep following Me". 

The thing that was imprinted most deeply on my heart tonight was the song "Blessed Assurance". Think about these words for a bit. 

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Oh what a fore-tase of glory divine! 

Heir of salvation, PURCHASE of God, 

Born of His Spirit, WASHED in His blood. 

THIS is my story! THIS is my song.

Praising my Savior, all the day long. 

Perfect submission, ALL is at rest, 

I in my Savior, am happy and blessed! 

Watching and waiting, looking above,

FILLED WITH HIS GOODNESS, LOST IN HIS LOVE! 

THIS is my story, THIS is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long. 

Sometimes I forget the simple truth in this song. I forget that my past, my hurts, my mistakes, my struggles, my family, my house, my car, my job, my grades, my looks, my style... None of that is what I have to share with the world. None of that actually matters all that much unless it shows Jesus to the world. You know how sometimes there are things that you think that if someone knew that about you then they just wouldn't want anything to do with you? Well, what if that is really not even a factor? What if feeling that way, letting that hinder relationships, is really a tool of satan to try and destroy those relationships? What if, really, we are defined solely by the blood of Jesus Christ and His healing redeeming work in our lives? If we are truly filled with HIS goodness and lost in HIS love, won't that shine for Him in ways that nothing else can? Perhaps it is a choice after all. A choice to BE who we think we are, to let our hurts and heartaches and failures control us, or to BE His. Simply His. If He is our life, and THIS FACT is our story... We are PURCHASED by God at a very high cost. Which means that we have value. He paid the same price for each of us, so none of us has the right to say we are less valuable than anyone else. Period. Doing so is doubting God's justice and wisdom. We are WASHED in His blood. Each of us. Regardless where we have been, what we have done, or what we'v been through, if we are washed in His blood then we have absolutely no right to believe ourselves unclean. Regardless how we may feel. To do so is to doubt the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our own sins, or from the sins of others. God touched my heart through this song tonight. He knows how to take care of my heart :)