"All These Things"

God, You are good.

Your mercy DOES endure, Your grace IS enough. Just as I sing, You are all these things.

When I stop singing, You are still all these things.

When I forget to sing, You are still all these things.

When my mouth sings, but my heart is detached, You are still all these things.

I am fickle, I am weak. I love with condition. I crave what I do not have. I crave more of what I already have.

But,

I am not lost. I am never without hope. I am forgiven. I am glad.

Your grace covers all these weaknesses. You are my completion. You are everything it turns out I am seeking.

No matter the clenches I am in, just Your presence around and IN me fill me with a hope that I could not have placed there myself.

A hope that allows no bitterness. A hope that fights back what my nature wants to cling to so tightly. A hope that ALWAYS comes through. A hope that endures the challenges to bring about growth. Not just surviving, but growing.

A hope that stays through the hard and the good, not making hard times disappear, but bringing endurance and perseverance through it all, giving me a greater good.

I am so very human. You expect this of me. In fact, you created me this way. So why would I expect perfection of myself, or knock myself down for not reaching it? You do not shame me for my faults, why should I feel like I need to?

Not that I stand for status quo. I do strive to follow Your way. To live in Your light. To live apart from this world, but embracing the beloved souls in it.

You know where I will fall short. It is not a shock to You. This is why so long ago, You gave Your own life to save me.

My heart is far behind, but You are carrying it with You.

When I doubt, when I believe, when I desire, when I cry, when I hesitate, when I hurry, when I fall, when You lift me up, when I sleep, when I dream, when I wane, when I grow, when I know, when I don’t – You are still ALL these things.