Thankful

Today I am just so thankful for a gracious, merciful God. I am so thankful for a God that is able to love me and works things for my good through my mess. I am thankful for a God that although sending His Son for me was already far more than I deserved, He does not stop there. Upon believing and accepting the death and resurrection of His Son as a payment for my sins he sealed me with the promised Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13) to grow even closer with Him and enjoy His presence like no other. All this even when I set him aside. Even when I look to other things in my life to bring me joy and satisfy me, which let me say, they never do. His mercies are new every morning and His love is steadfast. He is the only person that truly knows me from the inside out yet he still loves me.

I attended David Platt's Secret Church on Good Friday of this year and he said something that really stood out. The orphanage he and his wife were adopting their first son from had to testify in court that no one wanted the boy they were trying to adopt. He said person after person sat on the stand and said "No one wants him...No one wants him... No one wants him." All the while he and his wife wanted to jump up and scream "WE WANT HIM!" He was giving the illustration that this is what the Lord does for us. But what really set deep with me was the realization that God -- the only person who knows everything about me. He knows how desperately sick and deceitful my heart is. He sees all of the sin in my life daily. He sees everything I hide from everyone else. He sees the stuff that no matter how much anyone in my life says that they love me, if they saw all of this about me, they would not love me, but HE says I WANT YOU. He. Wants. Me. He is the only person, in his holiness and perfection, that could JUSTLY say I want nothing to do with her, yet he loves me more than anyone else could ever imagine. That my friends is so amazing to me. It is the truth that I want tattooed on my forehead. :) He loves me, He delights in me, He desires to spend time with me. And let me tell you (in case you haven't heard) this is not some special connection I have with God. That's Him. He feels the same way about every single person He created. His love is unconditional, unfailing, and from everlasting to everlasting. Heck HE IS LOVE (1 John 4:8)! I do not even know what love is apart from him.

So today I am thankful, for the opportunity to spend time with Him, and despite my wanderings, like a good shepherd, He leads me, and he says to me "..I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord." Hosea 2:19-20 FOREVER. In rightousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness. I am His. And I am thankful.