magnify the LORD

When I think of the worse things that have happened to me...and there are a few that have devastated me in different ways...worse fear, affected me for life, broken my heart, lost loved ones, emotional and physical pain, screwed with my mind...yet what do all these mean compared to the best thing that has ever happened to me....SAVED AND FORGIVEN, CREATED NEW.

If I was to weigh them on a scale would all the pain and hurt outweigh the joy of my salvation???

Even if I feel pain for the rest of my life here it will never outweigh being SAVED FOR ALL ETERNITY. I realised this today.

I am reminded of some of the words of amazing grace and Isaiah...I was lost but now I'm found, blind but now I see, given beauty for ashes, a captive set free, a prisoner released from darkness, a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. These all describe me, describe what it means to be saved.

I will magnify the LORD who is worthy to be praised. I am saved. I am saved. I am forgiven. I am forgiven.

My husband is saved. This is no small miracle. My husband was an atheist. He knew God existed for me, but not for him. Even if Jesus walked on water in front of him he would still disbelieve. It just didn't make sense to him. And now he believes. The impossible made possible.

He is saved. He is forgiven. Created new. He was blind but now he sees. Amazing grace.

The LORD loves us. The Maker of Heaven and Earth knows our names. He moved heaven and earth to save us. What is impossible for man is more than possible for our LORD.

I can't say: I am saved BUT it cost me everything. If I truly understand what it took to save me, transform me, then the cost is nothing in comparison. I am saved AND YES it cost me everything. It was worth it and more.

I can't live without the LORD. My sins are too overwhelming and my pride too great. My days of independence are long gone. Obedience is my choice. Why? Because I cost the LORD his life. It took everything to wipe away my sins.

It's easy to take it for granted because the LORD made it seem so easy to change me. But I didn't overcome my weaknesses, my sins. The LORD did. He removed them as far as the east is from the west. Why? Because he knew I couldn't do it. I would have drowned. This doesn't make me strong. The LORD is my strength. I can never take this for granted.

He restored my innocence and gave me a choice I thought I had already made...to choose life. Joshua's words I make my own:
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, (whether the idols in your life, the lust of this world, whatever you devote your time and energy to above the LORD) But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.