One of my very dear friends gave birth to a BIG 12lb boy... he has already been nicknamed Big Ben... lol. I have already experienced what it feels like to love a newborn. I remember very clearly holding Krista's youngest Brityn for the first time and also my nephew Ryan. Both times I was overwhelmed by the amount of love that I felt for them. Yesterday the same thing happened. As I looked at him through the window of the nursery my heart was bursting with love and joy for this sweet new life. I am so excited to be a part of his life and look forward to how God uses him to change the world(:
I got to spend some time with my girls yesterday(: Love, love, love the amazing friends that God has blessed me with. They are so encouraging and I love how God-centered these relationships have become. A few things stuck with me from those conversations and then today I read this:
By grace is the weak made strong, after he becomes conscious of his weakness.
St. Augustine
Only after acknowledging where we fail can we be made strong. We MUST seek out those things in our lives that keep us from growing.
Acknowledging where we are weak... where we fail, is hard. It hurts, there are tears, sometimes anger, other times shame. It is never easy... yet so very necessary.
He is the potter, I am the clay. Forever in His hands, He molds me, making me into something beautiful, not a clue what it'll be. Sometimes He has to scrape off a piece, other times a whole bunch must come off. It's painful and I don't like it. However, if He doesn't refine me then in the firing I will crack. I don't want to crack so I allow Him to trim here and trim there. I follow Him as He slowly crafts me into His masterpiece.
The beauty in discovering my weakness is that His grace abounds.
When I fully acknowledge the ugliness of my sin, only then can I see the full beauty of His grace.
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