Resurrection Life

"And not only this, but falleth it not to me to give a gift that [shall] be better to him, and more worshipful, than his own wholeness should have been?—or else methinketh I should do him no grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

God has given us a precious gift in Christ, the gift of eternal life, life that is found in the resurrection life of Christ Himself. This life is far better than anything Adam knew, even better than life in the Garden of Eden, even better than life when there was no Fall.  

The resurrection life we've been raised up into with Christ is beyond the reach of death. It goes on forever and cannot ever be extinguished. We have life forever with God! This resurrection life is beyond the reach of sin and evil. Those things don't and can't exist in this life! We are in a place where those things are already conquered. We are already victors over whatever struggles or sins that are in earthly life. We are in a whole different realm now, the realm of sinlessness, pure love and holiness. For everything is new here. Whatever of the old life that pulled us down, hurt us, made us feel ashamed or gave us regret is gone - it has passed away and all is totally healed and well, totally right and pure. We are in the place of ultimate peace and joy, for it is God's own peace and joy that we experience here, which can't be stolen away or lost! We have ultimate security in this resurrection life, because with Christ we have already been raised up to heaven. We don't have to worry about whether we will get there because we have already arrived! So there is perfect security, knowing we are already safe in heaven and thus, can never be lost or perish. We are reigning in heavenly places in Christ. That means we are not underneath any circumstance or problem; instead, we are already reigning over it with Christ. We have relationship with God the Father that is beyond wonderful, because it is more than just a human's relationship with God: it is Christ the Son's relationship with the Father! In Christ we have been brought into the perfect relationship with our Father and have a bond with Him that can never be broken, because it is the secure bond between the Father and the Son! This resurrection life is beyond our wildest dreams, and it is already ours in Christ! 

What a wonderful reward and gift the Father has given us, which more than makes up for the difficulties we have here on earth. Where sin once abounded, grace truly super-abounded! Where once all seemed lost, now all is found. Where once there was sin and death, now there is light and eternal life! And we don't have to wait till later to experience this resurrection life with God, because it has already started for us. We are experiencing eternal life right now, in fellowship with the Father and the Son, and there is nowhere to go but up from here! This is the life we were always meant to live, in union with Christ. For He Himself IS resurrection life, our true life, eternal life inside of us right now, endless life that we take partake of in the heavenlies right now! Isn't He so wonderful?

"And the testimony is this: God has given us eternal life [we already possess it], and this life is in His Son [resulting in our spiritual completeness, and eternal companionship with Him]."

1 John 5:11 (AMP)

"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life."

Colossians 3:3-4 (MSG) 

A Prayer: Show me the reality of the eternal, resurrection life I have in You!

A Gift for All Our Woe

 "Then saith this courteous Lord in his meaning: Lo, lo, my loved Servant, what harm and distress he hath taken in my service for my love,—yea, and for his goodwill. Is it not fitting that I award him [for] his affright and his dread, his hurt and his maim and all his woe?" 

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, she saw that the Lord had pity on His servant because of the harm he suffered when he fell in the ditch, and that the Lord had joy because He knew how highly He would raise up the servant in helping him. He even says it is fitting that He reward the servant and give him a gift for all his pain and trouble! We so often think our falling deserves anger and punishment. But God looks on our falling and sees all the pain and suffering we go through here on earth because of the presence of sin or evil, and He wants to not only raise us up but also reward us and give us a gift for all our troubles. It seems crazy to be rewarded for sin! But God sees our sins and failings as a trap we get caught in, or a slavery we suffer in, rather than something we truly want or choose with our deepest heart of hearts. And He wants to make it up to us for all the pain and sorrow and suffering we go through in this world because of sin. Jesus came and not only entered into our death due to sin, but He also raised us up into His life due to righteousness! We have been raised up with Him into His very life, endless, eternal, resurrection life, the God life! This is far better than Adam ever had it in the garden. This life is far better than any great life we could have here on earth physically. This is endless spiritual life, life in the heavenlies!

"Even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2:5 (NLT)

A Prayer: Thank You for raising me up with Christ into a life far better than I could ever imagine! I love You!

God's Response to Our Sin

"His loving Lord full tenderly beholdeth him...now with a double manner of Regard: one outward, full meekly and mildly, with great ruth (compassion) and pity,... another inward, more spiritually,... highly rejoicing for the worshipful restoring that He will and shall bring His Servant to by His plenteous grace.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

What happens when we fall into mistakes or sins? What is God's response? According to the Parable God showed Julian, His response is not blame, anger, condemnation, or in any way pointing out any fault with us. Instead, His response is firstly compassion, feeling for the difficulties we have in this world due to temptation, evil and sin, sorrowing with our every sorrow and hurting with our every hurt. And His response is secondly great rejoicing! Why would He be rejoicing? He rejoices because He knows and focuses on the finished work of His Son and how He has already turned every sin that we fall into and every shame that we feel into restoration, righteousness and honor by His marvelous, abundant grace! He rejoices that His grace trumps sin every single time and has already done away with all sin, guilt, shame and lostness through the work of Christ, which work is already finished. When a work is finished it means we need to add nothing to it. It is simply done and over. Any dealing with sin is already over and done by Christ. That means there is nothing left for us to do about our sin at all! Let's simply respond as God does to our failings and shameful feelings: let's have compassion on ourselves for all that we're going through and let's rejoice at the completed victory of Christ over all sin and shame at the cross where He took away the sin of the world forevermore! Let's not call ourselves sinful or dirty or guilty or bad. Let's call ourselves holy and clean and forgiven and purified because that's what Christ has made us through His finished work! We are not identified with sin but with Christ. We are not full of sin or guilt but full of Christ's righteousness and honor. That's reason to be compassionate with ourselves and every other person here on earth who sometimes fails. And that's reason to be joyful and affirming of ourselves and every person on earth who has been cleansed already and made perfect in the perfect obedience and righteousness of Christ the Savior of the world!

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 1:29 (ESV)

"One good act that Christ did makes all people right with God. And that brings true life for all."

Romans 5:18 (NCV)

"God has shown me that I am not to call any person unholy or unclean."

Acts 10:28 (NASB)

A Prayer: Every time I fail, help me remember Christ already took care of that one and I am still righteous before You by His finished work!

Not Bad, Just Wounded

"For only his goodwill and his great desire was cause of his falling; and he was unlothful, and as good inwardly as when he stood afore his Lord, ready to do his will. And right thus continually his loving Lord full tenderly beholdeth him."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Julian saw in the revelation from God that mankind had a good will or nature both before and after the Fall. She could see no fault that would cause man to be blamed. Mankind remained unloathful and inwardly good even after the Fall. So we see that even though humanity sinned or had a fall into delusion and believing lies, the true inner nature of humanity as God's children created in His image and likeness never changed. People remain basically good, just as God made them, it is just that with the effects of death and confusion and temptation and the broken environment in the world, it is very hard to live according to our true nature as God made us. It is like we have a wound or a blindness we cannot heal or an enslavement we can't get free from. But the nature God created us with is still there. He still holds us in His hand and is still present with us. We are still His creations, His children. We still bear the image of God and have worth, dignity, and honor. Our basic natural drive is still to love, to do good, to seek God. Sin has devastating effects, but no sin or evil can destroy the image of God in a person. No sin or evil can destroy a person's basic dignity. No sin or evil can alter or destroy the nature God created us with, which is just part of our makeup and part of who we are as humans. There is still good in people. There is still God in people! 

Christ came to rescue the good creation of God, to heal the wound we couldn't heal, to heal our blindness and restore our sight, to bring us back to ourselves and back to experiencing the relationship with our Dad that is our birthright. He came to break the hold of sin, lies, corruption, evil and death. He came to show His very good creation how loved, accepted, beautiful and good they always have been and always are to Him! He reminds us of the flawless inner person we truly are within. He came to show us He doesn't fault or blame us for our falling. He simply rescues us from our falls, lifts us up, binds our wounds and makes us whole and healthy again, hugging us till we believe everything is ok!

"The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound].

Luke 4:17-18 (AMPC)

A Prayer: Thank You for assigning no fault or blame to me but instead healing me of all my wounds and bondages!

Affirmation, Not Accusation

"I marvelled how this Servant might meekly suffer there all this woe, and I beheld with carefulness to learn if I could perceive in him any fault, or if the Lord should assign to him any blame. And in sooth there was none seen.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the parable God showed Julian, the Servant fell while on an errand for the Lord. And Julian saw that the Lord did not find fault with the Servant or blame him in any way. It seems so amazing to think in light of this parable that God did not see any fault or blame in Adam when he fell, nor does He see fault or blame in us when we fall. He is not a God of fault-finding or blaming. He is not in the business of shaming, condemning or looking to find things wrong with us. He is a God of who constantly uplifts, accepts and affirms us and points out what is right with us. He is not law but grace. He is not a Judge who points out and punishes wrong but a Friend who points out and supports what is right. His stance toward us is gentleness and love and acceptance. He works by love rather than judgment. He overcomes evil with good. He strengthens us by grace instead of law. He makes us holy by His love. He makes us greater by gentleness, not harshness. The enemy accuses us, the law condemns us, but God saves us and builds us up! It is wonderful to think that God is not accusing us, finding fault with us, or blaming us for sin. He is truly always on our side to support us and affirm us. He is there to remind us of the positive about us, the fact of our belovedness, the truth about our good nature, and His love and support call out the best in us and free us to live up to the good He sees in us always!

"There is no need for you to think that I have come to accuse you."

John 5:45 (PHILLIPS)

“God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!"

John 3:17 (TPT)

A Prayer: It's almost unbelievable to think You will never find fault with me, blame me, or even judge or accuse me. Thank You for always building me up and seeing what is right with me!

Saved by His Life

"In which woe he suffered seven great pains. The first was the sore bruising that he took in his falling, which was to him feelable pain; the second was the heaviness of his body; the third was feebleness following from these two; the fourth, that he was blinded in his reason and stunned in his mind, so far forth that almost he had forgotten his own love; the fifth was that he might not rise; the sixth was most marvellous to me, and that was that he lay all alone: I looked all about and beheld, and far nor near, high nor low, I saw to him no help; the seventh was that the place which he lay on was a long, hard, and grievous [place]."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Adam's fall affected humanity by the introducation of confusion, corruption and death. Humanity suffered physical, mental and psychological troubles in a broken world that tended towards death. People struggle with self-hatred, sickness, depression, anxiety, and a sense of alienation from God and others. We can feel and act blinded, weak, confused and lost. We succumb to many temptations and then find ourselves trapped in cycles of sin. We cannot overcome the reign of sin and death in this world. We need a Savior or Rescuer. How wonderful that Jesus came and rescued us from all those effects of the fall! Christ gave the very best He could give to solve our problem - He gave Himself. Into our sense of alienation from God He brought the knowledge of His presence and union with us. Into our sickness and weakness He brought His own wholeness and strength. Into our anxiety and turmoil He brought His peace. Into our loneliness and depression He brought His companionship and joy. Into our addictions and self-absorption He brought His freedom. Into our legalistic rituals and self-condemnation He brought His acceptance and grace. Into our doubts and confusions He brought the truth of His love. And into our death He brought His resurrection and eternal life! We could not cure our wound, but Christ could. Though the wound of sin and death was deep, Christ's power and love and life is deeper, greater, stronger. The Great Physician healed us, saved us, brought us back to life, wholeness, freedom and union relationship with God. We are saved by His life, given so freely for and to us!

"Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this."

Titus 3:6-8 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You that You have shown Yourself stronger than any sin, evil, problem or trouble. Thank You for Your great salvation that covers every area of my life!

Believing a Lie

"The most mischief that I saw him in, was failing of comfort: for he could not turn his face to look upon his loving Lord, which was to him full near,—in Whom is full comfort;—but as a man that was feeble and unwise for the time, he turned his mind to his feeling and endured in woe."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

What is the main thing about sin? It is believing a lie, a delusion. In the first sin, humans were tempted to believe a lie about God - that He wasn't good, that He was not satisfied with them, that He was keeping Himself back from them - and they were tempted to believe a lie about themselves - that they were not good enough, that they were lacking, that they needed by their own effort to become better or get something that would make things better. The truth all along was that God was and is good and always satisfied with us and always present with us, and the truth all along was and is that we are good, and we have all we need from God and that we are always with God.  The big lie was to try to get us to believe we needed to become like God or close to God when we were actually already like God and close to God. Falling into these doubts and confusions has a terrible fallout, because we can withdraw from God in fear or shame, feel we are on our own to make life work, or look at ourselves in self-hatred and try by the knowing of good and evil to 'fix' ourselves.  This is the effect of following the law. But grace is still present and still the ultimate truth, not law!  No matter what lies we have been led to believe about God or ourselves, the truth still stands! God is good, loving, kind and always with us, always for us, always helping us.  And we are good by nature and always in God's presence, always loved by God and always accepted by God. Christ came to remove the lie and all its effects in our lives so we could stop living according to the lie of who we are not, struggling to measure up by law or self effort, and begin to live and thrive in the truth of who we are, and the truth of God's presence, love, grace and life that has always been our birthright as God's dearly loved children!

"God cannot get [mankind] out of His thoughts...He has made man all but equal to Himself, He crowned him with His own glory and dignity.."

Hebrews 2:6-7 (MIRROR)

"His mandate was to rescue the human race from the regime of the law of performance and announce the revelation of their true sonship in God." 

Galatians 4:5 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for being the Truth that dismantles every lie that I have believed about myself or about You!

Accidental Fall

"The Lord looketh upon his Servant full lovingly and sweetly, and meekly he sendeth him to a certain place to do his will. The Servant not only he goeth, but suddenly he starteth, and runneth in great haste, for love to do his Lord’s will. And anon he falleth into a slade (ravine), and taketh full great hurt. And then he groaneth and moaneth and waileth and struggleth, but he neither may rise nor help himself by no manner of way."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable of the Lord and the Servant that God has shown Julian, the servant is eager to go on his way to do the will of the Lord. The Lord is looking on the servant with love and sweetness, and when he sends the servant out to do an errand, he doesn't harshly command him or act fearsomely. He sends him out with a gentle voice, and the servant quickly goes out to do all his Lord says. But then he falls into a ravine and is hurt. We see in this parable that the servant is ready and willing and delighted to follow his Lord's will. In his eagerness though, he trips and falls into a ravine and can't get out. 

From this simple story, we can see something about how God sees the fall of Adam or humanity. From this story, we can say God sees the fall as an accident, not something done on purpose by evil or malicious intent. After all, we call the sin of Adam "the Fall," not "the Jump" or "the Rebellion." The servant doesn't choose on purpose to go against the Lord's command and thus intentionally jump in a ravine. No, the servant is intent on doing the Lord's will and accidentally falls in the ravine while running to complete the Lord's assignment. To see the Fall as an accident is a comforting way to see what happened to Adam and Eve. After all, they were dwelling in innocence in the Garden of Eden and had had no experience with or wisdom about handling temptation, lies, confusion, or wrong. The early church father Irenaeus said that Adam and Eve's thoughts were "innocent and childlike." Of Adam, he said, "The man was a babe. He had not yet the perfect use of his faculties [he was not yet mature through experience or learning]. Hence he was easily deceived by the seducer." God would then see Adam and Eve as innocent and naive children who were easily duped, not as rebels bent on consciously planning or willing evil. So God would see us the same way when we fall into sin, or "stumble," as the Bible says. To stumble is to accidentally fall down, not to maliciously rebel. Deep down we are kids who don't know everything, get tricked and confused, and fall down. God, like any good parent, treats His kids with love and care when they fall down; He goes and hugs them and picks them up and soothes any wounded places they have. Yes, the Fall was tragic and brought many terrible effects, but it is reassuring to know that God is a loving Father who sees us as basically good little children in need of help and rescue, not punishment and anger. 

"For we all stumble in many ways."

James 3:2 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for having compassion on me and for helping me up when I fall!

The Lord and the Servant

"I saw two persons in bodily likeness: that is to say, a Lord and a Servant; and therewith God gave me spiritual understanding. The Lord sitteth stately in rest and in peace; the Servant standeth by afore his Lord reverently, ready to do his Lord’s will."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Julian is given a parable or story by the Lord to help her understand how God sees us. In this story she is shown a lord and a servant. The lord is representative of God and the servant is representative of Adam, or humans. The initial view of the lord is that he is sitting in rest and peace. This speaks of God's attitude towards us. He is at peace with us, at rest with the human creation He made. He is not agitated, disappointed or upset with us, but is content with us and pleased with who he made. The initial view of the servant is that he is standing before the lord with respect or reverence, and that he is ready to do as his lord asks. This speaks of our attitude towards God. We are created very good and in God's image. By nature we naturally reverence God and long for His ways, long to please Him. We were not made naturally rebellious, suspicious, sinful or uncaring with respect to God. We are by creation naturally aligned with Him and wanting to do His will. This is the basis of our relation with God and this foundation has not changed, no matter what mistakes or confusions have come throughout our history. God is still at peace about how He made us, knowing what He put within us and knowing our true good nature even when we forget or don't live according to it. And we still find deep within us a longing for God and a longing to do what is right and loving and pleasing to God. What peace it brings to know that our basic makeup as beings created in God's image is good and even godlike, even if we don't always live that out. And what peace it brings to know that God is never against us but always believes in the good in us, for He knows how He made us and knows that inner goodness is still there inside of us, no matter what!

"People...are made in the likeness of God."

James 3:9 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for always believing in me, and always being at peace with me!

Not Sinners, Not to Blame

"We be no sinners and not blameworthy."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)

Even though we are taught that we are sinners that deserve blame and condemnation, and even though we can look at our lives and think that we are sinners that deserve blame and condemnation, God sees us differently. God sees us as He created us, with a nature that is good because it is in His own image and likeness. God sees the essential truth about us, even when we or the world around us cannot see it. To God we are not sinners but holy children of God. To God we are not worthy of blame but worthy of love and honor. Yes, we think, say and do things that are wrong, but those things don't define us and they are not the deepest thing about us. The deepest thing about us is our creation in God. He made us His good children in His image and that never ever changed. It never ever can change. We can see ourselves as good deep down, not sinful. We can see ourselves as appreciated and honored,  not blamed or condemned. He has only ever known us as innocent little children who don't know what they are doing. He has only ever seen us as good little ones that are trapped and in bondage to sin, rather than evil ones responsible for sin. Good little children trapped or enslaved by evil need rescue and help and liberation, not punishment or blame. Jesus came and destroyed the sin that bound us, freed us from the tyrant that held us captive. Christ paid the ultimate price to show us who we really are and to free us from any and all evil and confusion that held us captive to sin and death. The children of God are rescued, they are freed, they are saved! We are not sinners, we are not blameworthy; we are good, we are innocent, we are precious, we are loved! And we are freed from the sin that was unnatural and foreign to us, free to be who we have always been - holy children of God!

"The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death."

Romans 8:2 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for rescuing me from bondage to sin and death!

Sin Is All Gone

"In God that sin was all done away."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)

Christ didn't come just to forgive sin, pay our debt for sin, take our punishment for sin, atone for sin. He came to take sin away! It is gone, doesn't exist anymore, is not on us or part of us. It has been annihilated and destroyed in our lives. We have been brought over to resurrection life, the heavenly and eternal and invincible life of Christ Himself, for we are part of His body and are in the realm of resurrection with Him, sharing in His victorious, endless, sinless life! We are truly in a realm, in a  place, where sin does not and cannot exist, the realm of being in the risen Christ. For there is no sin, blame or death in Christ, and that is where we are. We are beyond the reach of sin, shame, blame and death. We are in Life now and we are never going out! For in Him "sin was all done away!"

"He came to eradicate sins, that there is not the slightest bit of sin in Him."

1 John 3:5 (VOICE)

A Prayer: Thank You for putting me beyond the reach of sin, blame and death - in You, in Your risen Life!

Holy as the Angels

"Then was this my marvel that I saw our Lord God shewing to us no more blame than if we were as clean and as holy as Angels be in heaven."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)

Guilt, blame and shame seem to plague us sometimes, with feelings not just of guilt for things we have done but even shame for just being who we are. We can feel not only wrong in our behavior but wrong in our very identity. Yet God does not show any blame, condemnation or accusation towards us. He never shames us for what we've done or who we are. In fact, God doesn't see anything wrong with who we are at all. He sees what we often cannot see: the good, noble person He created. No matter what our behavior, thoughts or feelings, our identity remains unchanged. We are simply His children made in His good image and therefore, good. God even called us "very good" when He created humankind. So while we see ourselves as messed up, shameful or bad, God keeps on seeing the truth about us, seeing us as pure and clean as the angels in heaven! This is how He has always seen us and always will, simply as little children who are innocent and sweet, who get in messes but really don't know what they are doing, who are essentially good by nature, who are beloved and valuable. Christ came to take away the sin and death that plagued us and to bring us righteousness, but this was all for us, so we could feel clean and pure before God and be able to enjoy relationship with Him without fear or shame. For our Father God has never lost sight of our true innocence.  He has held onto our true identity all along. He has seen us as innocent kids all along. He has called us pure and holy as the angels all along! He is holding us in His arms right now as a Father would hold his little child, rocking us to sleep and singing over us a lullaby of innocence, goodness and belovedness. We are His very own darling children who are perfect in His eyes. Nothing could ever change that!

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

1 John 3:1 (NIV)

"He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn."

Psalm 37:6 (NLT)

A Prayer: Thank You for never shaming me but always affirming me!

How God Sees Us

"By the tempest and the sorrow that we fall into on our part, we be often dead as to man’s doom (judgment, decree) in earth; but in the sight of God the soul that shall be saved was never dead, nor ever shall be."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)

Here on earth man and man's law judges us all guilty sinners worthy of the punishment of death. Man's justice tends to say that wrongdoing must be punished or paid for. The payment required for heinous sin is death. The Old Testament law of the Bible highlighted this type of justice and showed man's desperate need for mercy and grace in the midst of the law's decrees of guilt, condemnation and punishment.

Yet God's way is so different and is seen in the New Testament. The law only brought condemnation and death, and increased the amount of sin. Yet God's way of grace eliminated condemnation, freed us from death and took away sin! The law considers us dead because of sin, yet God never does. God only sees a pure child of His very own, who has needed healing and help in all its suffering, and who Jesus came to seek and to save. To God we have never been too far gone, wretched dirty sinners, willful rebels, or as good as dead. To God we have always been good-hearted souls who have been trapped by evil delusions and needing of rescue and liberation.  Even when we did the worst thing and killed God's only begotten Son, Jesus said we didn't know what we were doing. Christ conquered sin and death for us and brought us to new life with Him in the resurrection, life beyond the reach of sin and death, life in relationship with Him forever. God has seen us in Christ all along, has seen us as new creations in Christ all along. He has seen us pure and innocent, clean and holy, alive and free. He has always seen us in Christ's resurrection life, running freely and joyfully with Christ, vibrant and victorious. He has never seen sin on us or seen death holding us. He has always held us in light, in love, in life! He has always known sin and death weren't the truth about us. He has always known purity and life were the truth about us. He has always known us as His good children, and He has always known He would bring our true identity to light and expression through Christ!

"You are not under law but under grace."

Romans 6:14 (ESV)

"Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people."

Ephesians 1:4 (CEV)

A Prayer: Thank You for always seeing the truth about me - righteousness and life in Christ - even when I could only see sin and death.

Already in Peace

 "Contrariness is cause of our tribulations and all our woe, and our Lord Jesus taketh them and sendeth them up to Heaven, and there are they made more sweet and delectable than heart may think or tongue may tell. And when we come thither we shall find them ready, all turned into very fair and endless worships. Thus is God our steadfast Ground: and He shall be our full bliss and make us unchangeable, as He is, when we are there."

Julian of Noriwch (Ch. 49)

Right now we are changeable in our thoughts and behaviors. When we see God's love for us, we find it easier to relax and love ourselves and others, and we find ourselves to be more at peace within, which is in alignment with God's own nature of love and peace. But other times we may lose sight of God's love for us or suffer tribulation so that we may temporarily see only through our physical senses, and we may find ourselves in turmoil, frustration, tension, struggle and even anger within. Yet we are still aligned with God's peace and love within, even if we can't always see or feel it. And all those feelings and even behaviors that come from frustration, anger or unpeace have already been taken by Christ, who absorbed all our pain, sin, suffering and wrath on the cross, and brought up to heaven transformed into righteousness and purity!  So every negative emotion or even sinful thought or behavior we may go through here on earth has already been taken away by Christ and turned into righteousness, peace and beauty. On the cross He became our sin and we became His righteousness. That is an eternal event that is applicable for all time. All the struggle, anger and strife within us has already been pacified and transformed into love and peace by Christ through His finished work. 

So how do we handle those irritated or tense feelings? Maybe we can treat them the same way God does, for He always extends love and peace, and Christ in His love and peace embraced us at our worst moment and melted away all the angst of the world, making us all clean and pure and alright. So we can extend grace to ourselves, just as Christ always does. We can love ourselves in our dark moments, knowing that's not the deepest thing about us, but that the deepest thing about us is the peace of God. We can know that in Christ we have actually already won over any negative thought with the truth of His peace, knowing that all that anger and hurt has been healed in heaven and we will see it manifest visibly, either here on earth or when we arrive in heaven.  But either way, we have been made unchangeably good, calm, peaceful, victorious and sweet by Christ, and that's heaven's reality right now!

"When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up."

Psalm 94:19 (MSG)

A Prayer: Your peace is already reigning over my restless mind.

He Ministers Peace to Us

"God is our very Peace, and He is our sure Keeper when we are ourselves in unpeace, and He continually worketh to bring us into endless peace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

He is always ministering peace to us, the peacefulness of His own presence. That means God's peace is always dissolving any and all struggle, tension, anxiety and stress within us, and it will keep on ministering to us till we come to rest. His peace is like the gentle waves of the sea lapping continually onto the shore, caressing the sand and soothing with rhythmic sounds, like the rocking of a baby to sleep. In His presence we find perfect peace that this world cannot give and cannot take away. We find the peace of heaven, eternal peace, the peace of knowing God has everything in His hands and everything will be okay, everything is okay somehow. He is constantly leading us by the still waters of His heart, constantly restoring our soul, constantly filling our cup with His perspective, His calmness, His own Spirit. He quiets all the clamoring voices, saying "Peace, be still," till we hear only His whisper to us and know only His presence with us. Nothing can reach us here to disturb or challenge this calm place we are in with Him, in His arms, in His strength, in His peace.

"It is My own peace that I give you."

John 14:27 (GNT)

"He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul."

Psalm 23:2-3 (NKJV)

A Prayer: You are my peace.

The Work of Goodness

"(We are blissfully safe:) that is to say, full pleased with God and with all His works, and with all His judgments, and loving and peaceable with our self and with our even-Christians and with all that God loveth, as love beseemeth. And this doeth God’s Goodness in us."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

What does it mean to be experiencing the bliss of our salvation? It is to be pleased with God and His works, understanding that He is all love and never harms or does violence. It is to be pleased with all His judgments, knowing that His judgment is positive, calling the whole world innocent and clean. It is to be loving and peaceful with ourselves, accepting ourselves just as we are and seeing ourselves as God's good children, because we know God loves and accepts us just as we are as His good children.  It is to be loving and peaceful with all people, because we know that they too are all God's children, loved and accepted by God and therefore we are all one big family of God. We don't have to strive to be like this or work at it. God's goodness naturally produces this effect in us. His unconditional love and grace naturally softens our hard edges, eases our tension, dissolves self-hatred and calms any anger. We find ourselves relaxed and able to enjoy God, ourselves and others. We love as Christ first loved us. This is the beautiful result of God's grace and love within us. This is what true Christianity is all about: not judging and harshness and rules and punishment, but love and grace and peace and unity! This is the birthright of every child of God, this is what it's like to be in God's family, this is God's love goal and promise that He will fulfill in us!

"We love because He first loved us."

1 John 4:19 (NIV)

A Prayer: Because You love me, I love myself and other people.

Securely Safe, Blissfully Safe

 "Though we, by the wrath and the contrariness that is in us, be now in tribulation, distress, and woe, as falleth to our blindness and frailty, yet are we securely safe by the merciful keeping of God, that we perish not. But we are not blissfully safe, in having of our endless joy, till we be all in peace and in love.."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

We can rant and rave, get in trouble, lash out at others and hate on ourselves, yet all the while God holds us in His arms and loves us unconditionally. No matter how we blow it or mess up, due to our weakness or simply being blind to how loving God is and how He is always with us as a Friend, it doesn't matter. We are still securely safe in His arms. Nothing can take us from Him or His love, even our own mistakes, ravings, weaknesses or blindness. Nothing! We don't really enjoy that safety, though, till we hear the good news of Christ being in us and us being in Christ, in perfect love no matter what, as innocent children of God free from all our sins. When we hear this wonderful Good News, that we are safe with God no matter what and always will be His innocent children held in His arms, then we can relax and begin to find peace with ourselves and with others. We are then blissfully safe, enjoying more fully all the safety, belonging, love and harmony that is already ours in Christ. It's like when a scared, upset child wakes up from a bad dream to find themselves safe at home, and they relax and are able to smile, play and enjoy family life. They were always safe at home, they just needed to wake up and realize it. So we are always in God and securely safe whether we know it or not, and when we do realize and experience that and it affects our lives, we are blissfully safe in God's endless joy, peace and love.

You are my hiding place; You, Lord, protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

Psalm 32:7 (AMP)

A Prayer: To know I am safe with You -  no matter how I act or how I feel - fills me with joy! I just want everyone to know they are safe with You!

Sheltered in His Love

"For though we feel in ourselves, [frail] wretches, debates and strifes, yet are we all-mannerful enclosed in the mildness of God and in His meekness, in His benignity and in His graciousness. For I saw full surely that all our endless friendship, our place, our life and our being, is in God."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

So often we can be in turmoil or have negative thoughts or emotions within us, tensions and strife within ourselves or with other people. But still, even in the midst of those tumultuous inner storms, we are enclosed in God's love and goodness and peace. We are living in a palace of peace, God's own heart, even when we don't feel that peace completely within us. God wraps us up in His love, kindness and gentleness even when we don't have love, kindness or gentleness.  He holds us closely in peace and quietness and acceptance even when we are not accepting others or ourselves. We may think we are wretched, may sometimes feel and speak and act wretchedly, but God still holds us close in love, still holds us close in peace, still calls us His beloved friends. He is our real life, not the crazy thoughts and feelings inside our brains. Our true self, our true place, is in Him in infinite peace and love, not in any stormy, antagonistic or troubled thoughts that come along. We're always wrapped in His friendship and always cherished in His heart, and no feeling, thought, word or act from us could ever change that. So whether we always feel or know it or not, we are always held safely in the shelter of His love.

"You are my hiding place. You will keep me out of trouble and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free."

Psalm 32:7 (VOICE)

A Prayer: You are my shelter from angry thoughts and troubled feelings. I am Your beloved one, found in Your peace and love.

Where God Is, Is Peace

"For I saw full surely that where our Lord appeareth, peace is taken and wrath hath no place."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

Wherever God is present, there is peace. In His presence there is never any striving, any tension, any strain. In His presence unrest disappears, agitation fades away, turmoil dissolves into stillness and rest. He is always saying into our stormy feelings and circumstances, "Peace, be still." Anger and discord, struggle and conflict just cannot exist in His presence. He is our Peace. With Him we find the quietness, the tranquility, the calm we are looking for, all within His eyes of love and friendship. With such a great and loving Friend, we feel safe and at peace and only want to extend safety and peace to those around us. In God is true peace, and we have that peace in Him right now. We have not our own peace or any peace from the world, but God's very own peace. That is the peace we live in today!

"God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:7 (GNT)

A Prayer: With you, I just can't stay mad or upset for long! You always bring my agitated mind to rest. 

Dissolving Our Anger

"For He that wasteth and destroyeth our wrath and maketh us meek and mild,—it behoveth needs to be that He [Himself] be ever one in love, meek and mild: which is contrary to wrath."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

God works in us to dissipate and dissolve all the tension, antagonism, anger and strife within us. He soothes our hearts, calms us down and fills us with His loving perspective. He loves us unconditionally, no matter how hateful and wrathful we feel or act, and this gracious stance toward us melts our defenses and brings our stormy hearts to stillness and peace. If God loves us even when we act out or feel so frustrated, He will always love us, and knowing this love and gentleness and kindness brings us to feel loving, gentle and kind as well. If God is always drawing us by His love to gentleness and peace, doesn't that mean He Himself embodies gentleness and peace? Such gentleness and peace is the opposite of wrath. Our God draws us away from anger and toward humility and love, because that is how He is. God is gentle and unwrathful, so to be godly is to be gentle and unwrathful. This peaceable character of God is seen in the fruit the Holy Spirit bears in us, the fruit of God's own nature:  peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness and self-control. We have a God who is only full of humility, kindness, gentleness and love. The essence of His character is this gentle and peaceful demeanor toward all people, no matter what they are like. That is what He brings us to be like, because that is who He is. Wrath is truly foreign to God's character!

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Galatians 5:22-23 (NET)

A Prayer: Thank You for having no wrath or anger towards me, ever. I never need to be frightened of You. And thank You for getting rid of my own anger! 

Friendship is the Opposite of Wrath

"For wrath and friendship be two contraries."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

Anger or unrest is the exact opposite of friendship and peaceful relations, so anger or wrath never applies to the attitude of God towards us! He is always holding us close in the bond of perfect friendship and His attitude is always perfect accord. In fact, Christ has brought us into the friendship circle of the Trinity itself, which is the most perfect friendship and most agreeable fellowship of all. There is complete accord, openness and always-pouring-forth love among all the members of the Trinity, and that is the friendship bond that we live inside in Christ. This fellowship of the Trinity knows only concord, unity and peace; wrath and animosity and tension do not exist here. And because Christ has brought us inside this Trinity fellowship, wrath and tension do not exist for us, either. We are safely sheltered in the perfect, tender, gentle friendship of God!

"Our Leader Jesus Christ has welcomed us to fully participate in the same friendship that He and the Father enjoy."

1 John 1:3 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: I love being caught up in the love relationship of the Trinity family! I have found my home and it's right here in the circle of Trinity love!

Always Our Friend

"Therefore to the soul that of His special grace seeth so far into the high, marvellous Goodness of God, and seeth that we are endlessly oned to Him in love, it is the most impossible that may be, that God should be wroth."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

God is always our Friend, always, always, always. He is the Person we can count on to always be there for us, always support us, always cheer us on, always believe in us. He is the One we can count on to always love us, care about us, understand us, be on our side and by our side. We are oned to Him in love, the highest bond of friendship. When we feel we are friendless, we aren't, because we always have this Friend like no other to walk through anything with us and always have our back. Looking at Him, seeing how He is just pure goodness and pure love, seeing how we are bonded together in friendship with a bond nothing can break, we see that there is no way God could ever be angry with us. No matter what we do or how we fail, even if we turn our back on Him, He won't turn His back on us. He won't reject us, won't leave us, won't get irritated with us. He is our Friend.  We just cannot change God's demeanor towards us. His demeanor is unfailingly loving, open, tender-hearted, accepting and loyal. He is loyal to us and at peace with us no matter what. He is only one way - friendly. That is His permanent way of being and His eternal character. That is just who He is. That is what His love means, what it means to say that "God is Love" - it means we always have a Friend in God!

"A friend loves at all times."

Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)

"Love is patient and kind....It is not irritable."

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NLT)

A Prayer: You are the best Friend I could ever have. Thank You for never getting irritated or angry with me. Thank You for always extending kindness and love to me!

Grounded in Love

"Our life is all grounded and rooted in love, and without love we may not live."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

It is so comforting to know that our whole existence is held within the love of God. His love for us is the ground of our lives, the reason and purpose for which we were created, and the very source from which we were made. We were literally made of love, made of God. His love for us is like the root of our life, from which we sprout and grow and flourish. In fact our lives cannot flourish without the nourishment of God's love. His love is supporting our life, keeping us in life, keeping all of creation in life. How wonderful to find that the One who holds this created cosmos together is wearing a smile, is for us and not against us, is constantly loving us and not judging us, is gentle and good! At the heart of the Universe is a Personal God who is Good, who is unfailingly kind, who is pure Love! This whole universe is built on the foundation of God's Love for us all! We would not even exist without His love. God, who is Love, is the center of us all, the center of all that exists, and He holds up all things through the Son, who is the exact image of Love and holds all things in His hand by the power of Love. This Love is the heartbeat of all creation, the heartbeat that echoes through our lives at all times, beating out the enduring message: "I love you without condition and My love for you will never end." We are being held right now in the arms of a Love that will never let us fall, never let us down, never let us go!

"In Him all things hold together."

Colossians 1:17 (ESV)

"Your love has always been our lives' foundation, Your fidelity has been the roof over our world."

Psalm 89:2 (MSG)

A Prayer: I'm so thankful that Your love is holding me right now.

No Need for Forgiveness

"Our Lord God, anent (with regard to) Himself may not forgive, for He may not be wroth: it were impossible. 

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

From God's perspective, He has no need to forgive because there is nothing He sees as an offense. Forgiveness is letting go of an offense, but one can't have or need forgiveness if noone is offended. God is not offended by us. The sin in our lives He sees as sorrow and suffering, not as willful and wicked offenses against Him. He looks at us and sees friends and beloved children, who are weak and get caught in traps, who fall in ditches and can't get out, who are deluded by sin and become enslaved to it against their true will. From His point of view there is an infinite understanding of why we do the things we do, with our life history, influences, wounds and struggles. His infinite understanding, patience and love for us mean that He is not offended by us. He simply has more compassion for all the pain we are going through from the sin that so easily entangles us. God is not offended by us! So of course He is not angry or wrathful. Of course He sees nothing to forgive, has no need to forgive. God loves and understands us and pities us in our suffering from the tyrant sin. He is always on our side against the things that hurt us, even if it seems we sometimes foolishly choose those things!

"As a father is kind to his children, the Lord is kind to us....He knows that we are weak humans."

Psalm 103:13-14 (EASY)

A Prayer: It is a great relief to know it is impossible to make You angry with me! It is a great relief to know that I could never offend You!

To Slacken Our Wrath

"The mercy of God and the forgiveness is to slacken and waste our wrath."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

It is eye-opening to see that salvation is all for our benefit, not God's. We have a God who is always loving us, always accepting us, always has His arms open wide to us in friendship, always expresses friendship towards us. Since He never turns away from us, never gets offended with us, we see that salvation isn't to change God's mind about us but to change our mind about God. We may feel resistant to God out of fear or guilt or out of confusion because of erroneous images of God that we have been taught.  God  breaks down the walls of defensiveness and fear we have built up against Him. He shows us in Christ that He is all loving and gentle and friendly. He gives us all forgiveness and has compassion on us as those who are wounded and in bondage and need rescue and help. So Christ's loving act on the cross slackens and dissolves our wrath, not God's. It appeases us, not the Father. It reconciles us to God, not God to us. It was all for us! We needed saving from lies, confusion, fear, shame, anger, struggle, bondage and pain. Christ rescued us. He rescued our minds from the lies we were caught in and rescued our bodies from death. Now we can walk with God in peace and love and acceptance and joy! What a Savior and what a salvation!

"Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

Psalm 116:7-9

A Prayer: Thank You for always being at peace with me.Thank You for dissolving the anger inside of me so I can enjoy Your friendship! 

The Reward Grace Won for Us

"For I saw full surely that ever as our contrariness worketh to us here in earth pain, shame, and sorrow, right so, on the contrary wise, grace worketh to us in heaven solace, worship, and bliss; and overpassing. And so far forth, that when we come up and receive the sweet reward which grace hath wrought for us, then we shall thank and bless our Lord.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

The law says that those who sin deserve pain, shame and sorrow. But grace says that those who sin receive solace, worth and bliss! How can this be? It is because Christ through grace has won a reward for us in heaven. He has bonded us with Him and we are standing in His perfection and joy, and all the blessings of heaven that are His, He shares with us. This is not something we have to earn or maintain perfect performance in order to have. This is a gift, this is what grace is all about! We are under grace, not law. So no matter what human judgment on earth may say we deserve, in heaven grace is pouring out love, acceptance, glory, honor and bliss on us! These gifts are all freely given to us in Christ, and are the heavenly and eternal reward that grace has won for us! That means that no matter how we blow it down here, we are known as righteous ones in heaven, we are winners already in heaven, we are glorified and honored in heaven, we are given the bliss of heaven! It's a free gift that Mr. Grace Himself, our beautiful Lord Jesus Christ, has won for us and gives to us freely and unconditionally, with no strings attached. 

"How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him."

Ephesians 1:3 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for the blessings You have already given me freely, by grace!

Grace Overpassing

"For I saw full surely that ever as our contrariness worketh to us here in earth pain, shame, and sorrow, right so, on the contrary wise, grace worketh to us in heaven solace, worship, and bliss; and overpassing."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 48)

We may be failing here on earth, may have struggles and hangups that we never seem to overcome. We may struggle with shame or guilt or condemnation. But the reality about us is that we are actually already a totally new and pure and complete creation in Christ, resurrected with Him and reigning with Him in heaven. We are not failures, shameful and unworthy, or ruined, or lost. We are not truly in the realm of sin or death, where law and punishment rules, at all. We are truly in the heavenly kingdom, Christ's kingdom of love, where grace rules. We are already receiving honor and bliss that overflows in superabundance. Our righteousness, purity, and wholeness can't be improved upon because it is the righteousness of Christ in us. Our relationship with God can't be any better. We are already perfect, sinless, one with God and victorious. Christ has done it all for us in defeating sin and death and shame in our lives. There is nothing left to be done about all that. So we can enjoy what He has brought us into already -  new creation life, sharing in His resurrection life. We are living resurrection life even now. All because of His overwhelming gift by grace!

"Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 (MIRROR)

"He took our sorrows, our pain, our shame to his grave and birthed his righteousness in us. He took our sins and we became his innocence."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Show me my new creation reality in You!

Grace Works

"Grace worketh: raising, rewarding, endlessly overpassing....Grace worketh our dreadful failing into plenteous, endless solace; and grace worketh our shameful falling into high, worshipful rising; and grace worketh our sorrowful dying into holy, blissful life."

Julian of Norwich (Ch.. 48)

Grace, wonderful grace! Grace is God's blessing coming to us always, without our effort, earning or even asking. That is because grace has nothing to do with law or requirements or self-effort. We don't have to work to gain it and we cannot by any failure lose it. Grace is unconditional. It just comes. It is unconditional love, unconditional acceptance, unconditional gifts, unconditional blessing! Grace is God turning every bad thing into something wonderful, beyond even our wildest dreams. That is because grace doesn't just abound, it superabounds! Failure has been turned into comfort, falling has been turned into rising, death has been turned into life, all by the finished work of grace done by Christ for and in us! 

By grace God raised us up with Christ into His resurrection life, life that is unconquerable and invincible, life that never ends, life that is always fresh and sweet and good, life that is always full of God, full of love, full of joy. By grace God made us to ascend with Christ to heavenly places, and we are seated with Christ before the Father in heaven, so we are reigning over every problem and sin already. And by grace we have been bonded into the relationship of the Trinity and take part in the relationship of the Father and Son. You could not ask for a more perfect, wonderful, stable, intimate, deep, amazing or eternal relationship with God! That is the essence of eternal life, to know God so fully and intimately and enjoy Him! All this we have by grace, and it was accomplished completely in and by Christ before we were even born! We were born into a state of grace and could never be "out" of it. Christ has made everything so safe and secure for us. All that is left is to see what we have already and enjoy this wonderful life with God that we have by His grace.

"This is how grace rescued us: sin left us dead towards God, like spiritual corpses; then comes the resurrection of Christ, in that moment, He simultaneously co-quickened us. While sin proved how dead we then were, grace reveals how alive we now are.

(As much as we were co-included in His death,) we are co-included in His resurrection. We are also elevated in His ascension to be equally welcome in the throne room of the heavenly realm where we are now seated together with Him in absolute authority. We are in Christ Jesus.

Timeless perpetuity (the eternal future) will continue to tell of the surpassing excellence of His grace towards us. Grace exhibits excessive evidence of the fact that we are embraced in God’s kindness because we are associated (positioned) in Christ.

Your salvation was a grace thing from start to finish, you had no hand in it; because it is all God’s gift to you, because He believes in you."

Ephesians 2:5-8 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your wonderful grace that blessed me in Christ beyond my greatest imaginations!

Mercy Works

"Mercy worketh: keeping, suffering, quickening, and healing; and all is tenderness of love."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 48)

God's mercy or compassion works in our lives no matter what. We cannot fall too far and cause it to stop working in us. No matter how low we go or how big a mess we make, His mercy still works in our lives, His compassion still works in us. 

Mercy keeps us. God's compassion holds on to us through all our trials, sufferings and failures. It keeps us safe and sound in Christ always.

Mercy suffers with us. God in compassion feels all the hurts we feel and suffers all the things we suffered. Christ took on the weight of all the sin and sorrow and pain of the whole world on the cross. He bore it away so we don't have to bear it. 

Mercy quickens. It is God's compassion that raises us up from the dead and dark places our minds get trapped in, the death and darkness our bodies are susceptible to. God in compassion brings life to the dead, raising us up with Christ to new life, showing us there is always hope and always a happy ending. 

Mercy heals. All the wounded places in us get comforted, soothed and healed by the love and compassion of God. He has entered into our sickened minds and healed them from the inside out, dispelling the darkness with His light. He is there. He cares. He hurts with us and heals us. He loves us and lightens us. Mercy works so beautifully in our lives, never ceasing, never failing!

"I've picked you. I haven't dropped you. Don't panic. I'm with you. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you....I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go."

Isaiah 41:10, 13 (MSG)

A Prayer: Your mercy never fails me.

Mercy in our Falling

"We die in so much as we fail of the sight and feeling of God that is our life. Our failing is dreadful, our falling is shameful, and our dying is sorrowful: but in all this the sweet eye of pity and love is lifted never off us, nor the working of mercy ceaseth."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

It was when Adam and Eve lost sight of God, and who they were to God, that they fell into sin and death. God is our very source of life and being, and losing sight of Him and our identity as His good children causes us to sink into wrong beliefs and behaviors. It brings only corruption and death. Yet His mercy and love never lift from us. His sweet eye of pity and love still rests upon us. He remains the source of our life and the One who holds us in His hand. He refuses to let us go into nothingness and death; He rescues us and lifts us up into eternal life with Him in Christ! This is a finished work. The victory over sin and death is already won. We are saved and safe. We are brought up into the relationship Jesus has with the Father, a relationship that is secure, eternal, unchanging and perfect. We are in a perfect relationship of perfect love with God. And it all began with the lovely and unceasing mercy, pity, kindness and love of God for us, His created children!

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."

Titus 3:5 (NIV)

A Prayer: Your love and mercy saved me!