where waves grow sweet

A waterfall of grace

If you have ever been to my office, you will know that my desk is littered with yellow post-its of reminders, lists, and bible verses. But only one post-it gets center stage on my monitor, where it is constantly in my line of vision and persistent in its call to my heart. Written with sharpie in my neatest lefty printing is my current center stage post-it, which happens to be one of the most thirst-quenching statements I’ve ever read…

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” Matthew 9:22

I spent a very long time – maybe even hours – writing a post on faith and strangling it to death with thought and effort. It missed the simplicity of what I have known as the beautiful words of that verse pour over me like a waterfall; the relief I feel as I picture Jesus speaking them to me.

Some might feel condemned by those words, thinking that they don’t have enough faith to be made well. But faith is not an emotion. It is not brought about by trying hard enough to believe. It is simply an acknowledgement that what God has said is true. It is the same understanding that drew us to Jesus in the first place for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. It is as simple now as it was then. And we need him as much now as we did then.

This week has been hard. I managed the first couple of waves with grace, but lost my breath and bearings as they kept coming. Temptation hit and I failed. Insecurity came and I yielded. Doubt whispered and I listened. It is heart-breaking to me when I want so desperately to do what is right and to please God. But he can only be pleased through faith, which cannot be earned or brought about by any measure of my goodness.

So tonight I cling to the robe of Jesus and acknowledge that it doesn’t matter what I see, hear, feel, or know about myself. It doesn’t matter if, like the woman with the issue of blood, I have reached the end of my resources. It doesn’t matter that my goodness is a filthy stench. What matters is that when the Lord looks at me, all he sees is his righteousness. So by faith I say, “Let God be true and every man (including myself) a liar.” And I am trusting that those kind eyes will turn my way and say, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.”