Today is for me.
Because sometimes I write what I think is a just-okay post and dozens of you leave comments about how much you needed to hear it. And then there are days I write the oh-this-is-it post. The words just flow off my fingers and I feel the ideas hum in my heart. And only one or two of you seem to connect.
I’m still going to keep writing. Even if only one or none of you says, “This was for me.” It doesn’t matter.
So I guess today, this post is for me.
[I mean it can be for you, if you want it to.]
But honestly, today I’m writing because I need to tell God I’m grateful He still wrote the Story even if only for one person, me.
People say that God would have sent Jesus to the cross for just one of us. That sounds silly right? Regain relationship with humanity even if humanity was only one person? And what if that one person was adulterous, sinful, angry, bitter, hopeless me? Would He have still redeemed the human race for that?
The answer is “Yes.”
It embarrasses me that He loves me that much.
God wrote the Story, the amazing, painful, beautiful Story for each one of us. He knew that we would murder and betray, that we would cheat and wreck and steal. He knew that we would hate and commit suicide and live for ourselves only. He knew that some of us would never love Him in return.
Yet He still came for me. He wrote for me.
And in some tiny, pitiful reflection of that, I will still write for you.
And for Him.
He is so good to us! Praise the Lord for setting us free and loving the unlovable. Thank you for sharing your heart my love. I feel the same way.
Thanks for writing for me.
I am always enlightened by your perspective on things. You see things so much more deeply than I do and it changes me. I visit your blog daily and comment frequently, but your words always stay with me (whether or not I have a moment to connect in the comments). You are an inspiring person! Thank you for writing what God has put in your heart.
It is truly amazing to me that God loves ME that much. I don’t love me that much….but He does. I am thankful, and sometimes don’t understand why, but I have faith that He is just waiting for me to get to heaven one day, when it’s my time, to give me a big ol’ hug…and I can envision Him saying in my ear…”Well done Sarah, you did good. I’m so very proud of you!” It makes me tear up just thinking about that. Thanks for reminding me about how much He truly does love ME!
thank you for writing!
Sometimes I feel like it is impossible to understand what God’s love is. It’s too much, it’s overwhelming. I can’t quite grasp what true unconditional love really is. But that’s what faith and relationship with Him consists of for me: trying to understand these things.
I sorta wrote something similar to this.
Love you.
I love that He came to “Sav(ior)” us…to save us from selfish free-will choices, our temptations, our unbearable pain. He is on our side…saving us continually from ourselves. Love, love, love!
Wow, I love reading your blog. I don’t always comment only because I do not feel that I am a writer. Words do not come to me as easy as they do for others. Know that even if you no one comments you have touched us, or should I say me. Thank you for keeping me centered and continuing to bless me with you insight.
Thank you for today’s blog…and every day you write you touch my heart, my life, and my family & friends…I usually share your blog on my facebook!! I also want to take a moment and thank you for being so transparent in all you do and say. Your genuiness and love for your family and God really come through and that goes a long way in my book!! Have a very very wonderful Christmas holiday with your family & friends!
With love,
Kat
Sarah,
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog every day. It’s just one of the things I do. So thank you so for your words & for giving us all things to think about.
[...] read this post by Sarah Markley. It got me all choked up before my first cup of coffee this morning. And made me [...]
Thank you.
Sarah,
NEVER doubt the power of your words and thoughts based on the number of comments you have. Seriously, your blog is the first thing I check right after emails. It ministers to me daily. Sometimes I comment and sometimes I don’t because I am still letting your words sink in and want to think about it. I feel like you are a dear friend that I have known for years. You put into words what I am thinking. I love your heart for God and how you express it!
Michelle
Hi Sarah,
Sometimes your words hit me right between the eyes!! So much that I can’t even comment because (to be honest) I am so convicted that I just walk away and pray for a softer heart that would repent and not just be sorry.
I really think God is ministering to me during this time through your blog.
Love-Oly
THANK YOU SARAH!!!
u also write for me
YES! Even if I were the only one on earth, He would have still died for me – but it would have been ME, MYSELF who would have to put those nails into his hands and feet. Could I have done it – oh, wait, I DID!!!
Sarah,
When I first read your post this morning, I immediately thought of 2 Cor 12:9 (in regards to your feeling like you get more comments from the ‘just okay’ posts that you share – - “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I echo many of the other responces already made that you shouldn’t base your effectiveness as a writter/encourager on the comments you see…some people probably just don’t feel articulate enough to respond. Your thoughts are deep, profound, and meaningful. Sometimes it’s hard to put a finger on the the right way to respond ‘out loud’ in this platform, I would venture to guess. If only blogs had a ‘like this’ option, as you see on facebook!
Just continue to write as the spirit leads. Always write for HIM (in addition to you)as your main audience staying true to the passions he has naturally instilled in you. We will be blessed and encouraged as a result (I am!!).
You are a wonderful ‘vessel’ and God has certainly blessed you in such a way that you can artfully share some of His TREASURES through your gifting to others through the written word). (see 2 Cor 4:7)
I think you are very talented and the things you lay out for us here on your blog could easily be published as a daily devotional (I have a friend that’s published in this area if you are interested to view her writers blog)
I hope you are encouraged.
Cheers!
Don’t you love that it is a gift, given without expectation. I can’t imagine giving that gift. I can’t think of the last time I gave any gift without expection. I always pick a gift based on the reaction i think the person will give, I would never give a gift that I thought would be rejected. How amazing our God is.
Sarah…your blog has become an integral part of my life. It’s the first thing I check when I turn on my computer each day. It what I recommend to all my friends. I don’t always post (in fact rarely) in part because I am not a writer and could never express myself so eloquently as you do. Just know that even if only one or two (or none) post a comment, you have touched everyone who has read your beautiful writing.
The last few weeks I have been asking God to help me understand his love for me. I literally cannot grasp the fact that Jesus went to the cross for me. Its unfathomable to me. An as messed up as I am…he loves me….like unconditionally? Amazing.
Thank you for writing….it really does bless me in so many ways
Thanks for reminding me about God’s lavish love, astounding grace & extravagant acceptance…….He is for me, not against me, and He delights in Me!
God’s love is SO-o much wider, broader, higher, deeper, than we can dare to imagine, hope or dream! That’s what makes it so absolutely wonderful, mind numbing, heart pounding, feet jumping! Cause it’s like NO OTHER! In catching a small glimpse of that, experiencing a faint taste of Him we rejoice, sing, dance and worship Him as God! There is NONE like our God. He alone is God, He alone is Worthy, He alone is grace upon grace, sitting on Heavens Mercy seat, inviting us, compelling us to COME to Him, enjoy His love and Love Him wildly in return.
What a different world it WILL BE when we all grasp such extravagant love, become lost in it and can’t do anything else but share & give it away to others, everyone we encounter. Wow!
Thanks Sarah!
Amen Sarah. So humbling, isn’t it?!
Sarah, I just love you so much!
You speak to my heart pretty much every single day… sometimes I have the strength to write and tell you so, other days I just shut down the computer and find myself it tears at the foot of the cross, begging God to restore my marriage and bring me fully back to Him.
I so desperately want to live and walk everyday keenly aware of the grace that I live in. How can I extend it to others if I am so unaware of my own need?
The message version of Matthew 11:28-30 is so beautiful…
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you will recover your life. I will show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you will learn to live freely and lightly. Matthew 11:28-30
The idea of just getting away with Jesus, this Jesus that would have done it all just for me, and learning from him the UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE is such a beautiful image. We often think we have to work so hard to find it, to give it, to really live in it, but it is supposed to be EASY and rhythmic, we receive, we give, and life is free and light.
Thanks for the reminder to live in grace.
I have to be honest and say that I have real difficulty believing that Jesus would have died just for me. My first reaction was to think, “what a waste that would be”. Yet, I want to know this to be true from the depths of my soul.
Oh, I can so relate! Sometimes the posts that touched me the most…that flow from my fingertips…only gather one polite comment or two. And then one that I think is so hum-drum that I almost didn’t post it results in emails from strangers on the other side of the world saying they needed that.
But perhaps that’s it. Perhaps the ones that touch us are for us. Not that we shouldn’t post them, for we need to be honest and transparent, and sometimes those posts that meant the most to us, did so because they met a weakness…and that is a demonstration that the world needs to see.
But why do we post things that don’t feel as inspired to us? I admit, sometimes I’ve done it because it had been too long since the last post, or because it was on my “to do” list. Yet then, when the emails come, I see that God is the one who put it on my list, and He spoke through me even when I wasn’t consciously listening.
I pray that, this year, you and I and Cindy and every other person using the Internet to testify of His goodness will become, even more, His mouthpiece. And that we will know, as His prophets did, what He wishes us to say in every word we type and post.
-Katie <
http://www.HopeIsCalling.com
(This is a re-posted comment. I’m wondering if WordPress trashed my first try because I added my blog URL, so I’ll leave that off this time. I wrote:)
Oh, I can so relate! Sometimes the posts that touched me the most…that flow from my fingertips…only gather one polite comment or two. And then one that I think is so hum-drum that I almost didn’t post it results in emails from strangers on the other side of the world saying they needed that.
But perhaps that’s it. Perhaps the ones that touch us are for us. Not that we shouldn’t post them, for we need to be honest and transparent, and sometimes those posts that meant the most to us, did so because they met a weakness…and that is a demonstration that the world needs to see.
But why do we post things that don’t feel as inspired to us? I admit, sometimes I’ve done it because it had been too long since the last post, or because it was on my “to do” list. Yet then, when the emails come, I see that God is the one who put it on my list, and He spoke through me even when I wasn’t consciously listening.
I pray that, this year, you and I and Cindy and every other person using the Internet to testify of His goodness will become, even more, His mouthpiece. And that we will know, as His prophets did, what He wishes us to say in every word we type and post.
-Katie <