I don't recall ever backing away from declaring my belief in God, or watering down my own faith in response to someone else's condemnation or ridicule of my faith. I have always found it very interesting that everywhere I've ever worked, people have "just known" that I was a Christian, even though I rarely ever broadcast my beliefs or morality.

God knows my heart and its ways. He knows my profound love for Him and my life-long genuine desire to love Him with every breath, every choice and in every encounter. I'm not perfect and have strayed down many dusty roads in my life. I'll never be everything He and I have wanted me to be...but that's precisely why I need Him and why His mercy is such an amazing gift.

Yes, I'm a chameleon, sometimes for love, sometimes out of fear. But I know that He loves me, I know that He sees what nobody else sees. I know that He knows me better than any other human will ever come close to knowing me. And with trust in His continuously professed love for me, I too am able to stand before God, painfully aware of my sinfulness, but sure in my heart that we're okay with each other. He knows that despite the evidence of those dusty detours and unwise choices along the way, I've lived just about every possible moment trying to be a better daughter and disciple for Him.

I think it's precisely my experience of His steadfast mercy and unfathomable love that gives me the courage to be more compassionate and understanding of others who struggle along their own dusty detours and mucky patches of unwise choices.

[ January 03, 2006, 08:23 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]