"For whether-so that we be foul or clean, we are all one in His loving. For weal nor for woe He willeth never we flee from Him."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 76)
When we fail, when we doubt, when we forget God, when we get angry, when we struggle, we can feel like running away from God because we feel ashamed, not good enough, or unclean. We may think He won't accept us or is disappointed. We may feel something is between us. We may think we need to clean ourselves up somehow before we can approach Him again. We tend to see a difference in our relationship between when we are "doing okay" spiritually and "not doing okay."
But God sees no such difference! It is all the same in His love, and we are always the same in His love. The negative and fearful thoughts are simply lies. They are accusations against us that just aren't true. For God never wants us to pull back from Him because He never pulls back from us. Whether we succeed or fail, in good or bad moments, our relationship with Him never alters at all. None of us are perfect. We all fail at times. This doesn't change our union relationship with God one little bit! So there is nothing to feel afraid, hesitate or ashamed of. God is not rejecting us, disappointed with us, or turned away from us. We don't need to clean ourselves up before He'll allow us back in His good graces or His presence. Why? Because we never left His good graces or His presence! We are always clean before Him with the cleanness of Christ! We are always accepted and one with God. He is always happy with us, whether we have just had a big spiritual victory or a big fleshly failure. We are always the same to Him! This relationship is one of grace, not law. It is not about some perfect performance we need to have. It is just about being loved. It is just about communion. It is just about being family together, sharing life together. Perfection is not required and isn't the focus. Love is the focus! We need His love even more when we fail or struggle or have hard times. God knows this and is even MORE tender and loving and caring with us when we fail! He is CLOSE to us when we are down, struggling, or broken-hearted. He is even ATTRACTED to weakness, hugging us even closer and pouring the grace on even more. For where sin abounds, grace abounds even MORE! How good is our God! How wonderful to be in this permanent friendship with Him.
"The Lord is close to those whose hearts have been broken. He saves those whose spirits have been crushed."
Psalm 34:18 (NIRV)
"Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.."
Romans 5:20 (NIV)
"He said... 'I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.' Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power..
2 Corinthians 12:9 (TLB)
A Prayer: Thank You for being there for me, even when I fail...especially when I fail!