Christianity Oasis Forum

[kimby]

Welcome!

Thank you for introducing yourself and letting us get to know you! I look forward to getting to know you more.!

I am with you in the walls! I know what it is to deal with them, to have them get in the way and yet also feel they are necessary. We can work in that demolition together!

[dema]

God loves you. As you are. Right now. The things you do hurt you. God knows that and wants you to change. But he still loves you and wants a relationship with you now. Not later when you are good enough. Because we are never good enough. Jesus died when we were yet sinners - and the only reason we are redeemed is because he did.

I imagine you know all that. Have heard it many times. But it applies to YOU. NOW.

[dema]

Another reminder - God changes you with your participation. You really can't change you. But you can participate in letting God change you.

And he wants to, because he does love you so much.

[dema]

If you believe that you will fail you are more likely to fail. If you believe you will succeed you are more likely to succeed. Please, don't call yourself stupid or say anything else negative about yourself. With God's grace you will improve. Please, get used to both saying and believing that. With God's grace you will improve. God doesn't give up. God never gives up.

God bless.

[kimby]

I have heard two things over the years that made God's love and grace come across in a different way to me, helped me understand it in a way I hadn't before.

I had taken a group of teens to a youth event. One of the speakers talked to them about God's love. He asked them to imagine their worst sin, the thing they were most ashamed of. He then told them that in that very place, God loved them as much as He ever had. Wow.

I heard another speaker once say that God is never disappointed in us. I didn't get it until he went on to explain. Disappointment is based on unmet expectations; God doesn't expect, He knows. He isn't surprised by anything we do, therefore, He isn't disappointed.

You talked about not wanting to ask for forgiveness over and over. I have to imagine that God forgives us knowing exactly how many more times we will fall. He loves us. He cheers us each time we stand. He forgives us each time we fail.