A whisper flitted in as I was reading God’s word the other morning. Words that spoke volumes to me of worth, love, and a deep sense of caring. Words that I have read many times before, but at this moment they soothed my anxious heart and calmed my uncertainties.
God knows what we need just when we need it and blesses us with this gift at just the right time. The other morning during my quiet time with Him, He heard the deep longings and struggles in my heart and His words filled the space with delight, erasing the doubt.
For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17 NLT
God is with us, He delights in us and He calms all our fears. This truth should be enough, but if I am truthful, I forget and when I do I am left with doubts. God desires to fill the cavities of our unbelief with His truth. We just need to accept the gift of grace that He freely extends to us.
On any given day, I find myself holding tightly to my broken reality, afraid to let go, somehow believing this is my only choice. It leaves me gasping until I find an outlet for the shattered pieces.
God delights in taking our broken reality – making it whole. He delights in who we are, who we are becoming and loves when we crave closeness to Him. God takes our reality and makes it His reality laced with love, grace and redemption.
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God takes each broken shard and carries it as His burden, healing the doubt, hurt, unworthiness and desire to break free into His certainty.
God takes our doubt and replaces it with confirmation of purpose.
Our unworthiness becomes beautiful validation in the eyes of God.
Our hurt is released and God washes it away with His gift of grace.
When we crave a relationship with God, He provides a freedom in Him that speaks of unending love, delight and grace.
As I prayed the other morning and allowed God’s words to become my words, I learned that my worth, purpose and freedom are found in God. He is the reality I seek and His delight is what I want to hear.
How does knowing God delights in you help you to connect your reality to God’s reality?
Blessings of grace along the way,
Mary
Linking with the lovely Lisha @ Give Me Grace
“He delights in who we are, who we are becoming and loves when we crave closeness to Him” – these words spoke peace and healing into my broken, weary and discouraged soul. It’s a challenge to fully see and accept that God loves me, and a cause for awe and gratitude to hear how He loves us all now, just as we are, on the way to what we will become by His grace. Thank you for being such an ardent chaser after God’s own heart and a keen listener to His whispered words of hope and consolation. They benefit us more than you know. Bless you, Mary.
You’re welcome and thank you for blessing me with such keen insight and love each week when you come to visit. I can’t imagine how you feel on a daily basis or how discouragement might be the first thing you think of instead of delight. But God tells us He delights in us and the power and healing in that one word is such a gift to me. There are days I am plagued with self-doubt or thoughts that I am not good enough, but God takes those words, crushes them and says “I delight in you”. I pray you feel this sense of delight even on the days that you are feeling worse physically. He loves you unceasingly and never wants you to forget that.
This is so enlightening, Mary! I’ve never really thought about it in these terms before. I mean I know God loves me now – but I never really thought, He loves me now – as I am in the process of becoming all that He has for me to become. He takes delight in my learning, my growing. And not just me, He sees and loves everyone this way. It changes our/my perspective enormously when we/I view other, sinful, human beings through the lens of this great Love. Thank you for this, friend.
You are welcome and thank you for being here as always. When I realize that God delights in me as I am and in all that I can be, it is so freeing to me. I will never tire of hearing Him tell me he is delighted because as an insecure person, I need to be reminded over and over. Thank you for blessing me with your insight and encouragement.
Hi Mary! Knowing that God delights in me is something I have to keep telling myself. I get bogged down with wondering if I’m doing everything right, or if I’m doing it well enough. I appreciated your sentence list of how God changes our negativity to beauty. That is one wonderful Father we have!
Blessings,
Ceil
Thank you for your kind words. The words from Zephaniah have been ministering to me a lot lately. I need to hear God’s whisper telling me he delights in me especially on those days that I feel the opposite. God loves to show us all the good about us and to draw us close with His beauty. I am thanking God for His delight and for beautiful friendships such as yours. Blessings!
This is so encouraging, Mary. Thank you for writing so transparently. We face many struggles, anxieties, and uncertainties, don’t we? It’s so easy to forget the truths that verse speaks. It’s incomprehensible that God actually delights in us and rejoices over us with singing, that He longs to calm our fears. This especially jumped out at me – “God delights in taking our broken reality – making it whole.” Seeking His reality with you! Hugs!
We know the truth but when we need to grasp it we seem to forget that it is right there in reach. I will never tire of hearing that God delights in me. That is a truth that fills my heart with love and wonder. May we both continue to seek God’s reality and know that it is right there whenever we need it. Praying you have a blessed week!
I love when He whispers. ‘Peace, be still’ is my favorite …
Thank you for sharing what He’s whispering into your loving heart, Mary …
God whispers a lot. I just need to be still and listen. When the words begin to repeat, then I know God is trying to get my attention. He is very good at doing that. Praying you have a blessed week!
Learning to let go and not strive so much helps me to trust in God’s reality, instead of my circumstances. Sometimes it is hard to grasp that freedom comes from surrendering to God, rather than the freedom to do what I want!
It seems like an oxymoron ( not sure this is the word I want) to know that freedom comes from surrender. However, until we let go we don’t know what it is like to hold on. Your comments always add so much to the conversation. Thank you for being here!
I love this truth, Mary: “God takes our reality and makes it His reality laced with love, grace and redemption.” Amen!
Thank you Lisa! God craves a relationship with us and is just waiting many times for us to want the same thing. I am always glad when you stop by here! Praying you have a blessed week!
Mary, this is such a great reminder. I really should memorize that verse in Zephaniah! “God takes our reality and makes it His reality laced with love, grace and redemption.” This is so encouraging. I’m glad to be your neighbor at #GiveMeGrace today! Blessings to you.
Gayl- I know you have had a difficult week. I hope you pray the words from Zephaniah over yourself. God delights in you just as you are. Please know I am praying for you and your family.
Such a timely reminder for me my friend. Thank you so much for sharing. That verse is priceless! Love & miss you, Val
It is one of my favorite verses too. I was sharing it as much for me as for others. I am glad it blessed you too. Love and miss you too!!!
So good to read your transparent words about the REAL way we live this Christian life, connecting the dots between doubt and hope, the temporary deafness and then the realization that God has been singing over us all along.
Blessings, Mary.
I spend a lot of time connecting the dots between doubt and hope. Thankfully God is patient and is willing to show us over and over. May we both see how God delights in us this week.
Mary,
So many times I have to line my thoughts up with God’s Truth. Often I find that my thoughts don’t line up with His reality. Daily, sometimes, hourly I need to realign my thinking with His. You’d think I’d simply “get it” by now. But, I believe that God honors our wanting to be in line with His reality rather than following our own mind’s path. Good reminder and encouragement this am.
Blessings,
Bev
Thank you for sharing how hard it is for you too. I fell like the more I know God’s truth, the more I forget it. I am grateful for a gracious God who gently reminds us over and over and over. May we both be encouraged by God who would love nothing more than for us to get it the first time!!! 😉
It is so easy to forgetting, isn’t it? I’m so glad that God keeps reminding us!
I am thankful that God reminds us and loves us even more every time we forget. Thank you for being here! Happy week to you!