Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
During this last semester of seminary, I have never been more thankful in my life that the God we worship is full of love and overflowing with grace. The content of the classes I was studying was wildly fascinating and informative, but each class demanded more from me than I had to give. I spent much of the semester feeling like I wasn’t enough. There were days when I felt like I wasn’t qualified to be a pastor because I couldn’t seem to be as prepared for class as I wanted to be, or when I did feel adequately prepared for class it meant that my house was an absolute mess or that my dogs hadn’t received as much of my attention as they deserve. The constant stress I was putting on myself made me more cranky than I would like to admit toward my sweet spouse, whom I’m also thankful is full of grace, and admitting that I am not superwoman felt like a huge failure.
Sitting in the worship center this past Sunday morning listening to The Rooted Community’s band practice “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury, I was both relieved that the semester is over and overwhelmed that God loves me just the same on this side of such a difficult semester as God did before the semester. The words of “Reckless Love” felt like a warm hug from God:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Life is always messy, but life got messy last semester. The incredibly liberating news for me, and hopefully for you also, is that God is not afraid of the mess. In fact, the middle of our hot mess is exactly where God wants to be. We cannot hide our messiness from God, so we might as well invite God into it.
The messiness of life held within God’s reckless love sounds like an appropriate combination, doesn’t it?
Written By: Jenny Spidell
Check out “Reckless Love” below!