“It doesn’t matter who you were; God cares about who you are becoming.”

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 891-892). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

He really does care!

Bob says, “I didn’t grow up in the Church, and while I speak at quite a few faith gatherings, one thing I’ve found to be true is that people don’t grow where they are merely informed; they grow where they are fully accepted. Before we go any further, let me get this out on the table where we can talk about it. You are loved and accepted. One hundred percent. No qualifications. No prerequisites. You can’t be good enough, smart enough, or nice enough to be loved by God. He decided He would love you before you decided you were interested in loving Him back. Even if God is no big deal for you, your life is a big deal to Him. You are some of His most creative work ever. Pursuing your ambitions needs to start from a position of acceptance, not compliance. Compliance only lasts until you decide you’re not going to comply anymore. We won’t be able to get to the best parts of our lives and faith without accessing the best parts of acceptance.”

He goes on, “Like me, you are easy to love at times and not so much at others. Be honest—you know this is true. You are capable of being both a jerk and a relational genius, and you have immeasurable untapped potential. If you want to get to the worthwhile parts of your life, let’s get some of the genius out of the bottle (and maybe leave a little more of the jerk inside). Sometimes it’s easier to accept someone else than it is to accept yourself. The fix is easy. Give yourself a hug or two on this journey. Even if you’re not a hugger, do it anyway. It’s not going to make your hair fall out and it probably won’t even leave marks. It’s said that fish grow to the size of their bowls. If you’ve been stingy about giving and receiving love and acceptance, get a bigger bowl. You’re going to need it.”

He continues, “You’re probably doing a couple of things right and are a hot mess in other areas of your life. Me too. Accept it, but don’t delight in it. Don’t give your lesser angels the room and don’t resign yourself to perpetually screwing up. You are in as much need of tremendous love and grace and kindness from God as we all are. Don’t hoard what you’re learning about these things either. Learn something new, and then get it in play. It’s what we do with what we know that lets the world see who we really are.”

He then says, “Most of us have all the information we need, namely that God is love and He loves and accepts us completely. Have you messed up? Of course. What we need in order to launch forward with our ambitions is a clearer sense of what would be worth our time to pursue once we embrace an unreasonable amount of grace and acceptance. Along this journey, you’re going to have to become a ninja at spotting anything in your way that is counter to God’s love and is selling you a bill of goods that makes you question whether you’re absolutely loved and accepted by Him.”

And we needed to hear that today, didn’t we?

Yes, yes!

“God does big things with small deeds.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2011-05-02) from his book, Cure for the Common Life (p. 115). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I don’t know how you feel about what you are doing and how it can make a difference. You may feel that it is so small and not even worth the effort. Max says, “Begin. Just begin! What seems small to you might be huge to someone else. Just ask Bohn Fawkes. During World War II, he piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes was able to land the plane. “On the morning following the raid, Fawkes asked his crew chief for the German shell. He wanted to keep a souvenir of his incredible good fortune. The crew chief explained that not just one but eleven shells had been found in the gas tanks, none of which had exploded. “Technicians opened the missiles and found them void of explosive cha...

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...

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