I'm not planning on adding a prayer of the day everyday, but since I've been inspired these two days, I thought I would post them in the hopes that maybe someone out there will pray for me as I go through my day and maybe someone out there will be encouraged by what I write because who knows who else might be going through the same sort of stuff I'm going through...
It has become increasingly clear to me that I am too hard on myself. I don't let things go easily, especially my own shortcomings. I've been told that I need to forgive myself, have grace with myself, allow God's grace to cover me, not be so focused on the "ideal man." It's been told to me a hundred different ways by a hundred different people. And I really would love to have grace with myself but in the face of my flaws, that can be especially hard. It's so easy to act like I'm having grace with myself when I'm not struggling through some of my more grievous flaws or when I'm having a particularly easy week. It's infinitely harder to have grace with myself when my flaws really come to the surface and either hurt me or keep me from what God wants me to do with my life or even worse, hurt someone else. But those are the times when it is most important to have grace with myself because otherwise I will become stagnant and be unable to act upon the good that God has already placed within me. I do hear His voice and His prompting in my life and though I might not always listen, that shouldn't keep me from following at all. If that makes sense, great. If not, sorry.
All that to say, my prayer for the day is this: God, give me the courage to have grace with myself in the face of my own shortcomings.
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2 comments:
Hey Ryan!
I know what you mean. I struggle with a similar incorrect thought in my head. I hear "God is tired of forgiving you on this one - you have used up your chances..." That is a lie from the enemy, but it feels so real sometimes.
I don't want to be one of those friends who just throws some Christian platitudes at you and then goes away, but your prayer for today brought Rom 5:7-9 to mind:
7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
That kind of love still applies to us. God accepts us and loves us - faults and all.
I appreciate being able to read about your thoughts and prayers!
Hey, buddy....just dropped in to see your latest and wanted to give you some encouragement. I have struggled with this myself. I know you are a big reader...have you read "Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning? If you have, go back and read some of it...If not, you should definitely pick it up...it has been a tremendous help to me...in knowing that I am Abba's Child, that he made me exactly the way that I am and He loves me no matter what. Nothing I do will ever change that fact...nothing you do will change it either...
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