Just As I Am…

There is a line in the movie Bridgette Jone’s Diaries where friends salute a friend and say “To Bridgette Jones, Just as you are” and they celebrate her the way she is. She has messed up regularly, she has fed them horrible soup, has been silly to the ninth degree, but the fact is, she is still loved by her friends…..just as she is.

God is that way in my life. I am silly, I mess up regularly, I am less than He made me and know it….but God’s love…God’s acceptance of me….is not based on perfection, but His choice to have created me and love me just as I am, even before I loved him. One of my personal beliefs is that God calls us to love others, as they are, not as we wish they would be. The concept is completely opposite of what the world teaches….to risk loving that which is imperfect, to accept imperfections, to love despite the imperfections we see, experience, or feel. However I am humbled each and every day I remember quite clearly as I look into the mirror that God indeed, loves me despite me.

Yesterday was a very surreal day. A business meeting that happened because God arranged it in March despite all odds….He gave me a new role in the lives of others that I never saw coming, nor knew it could happen, yet God knew and has prepared me for years for it and it is so my heart’s desire to work for Him. I gathered with friends in Brentwood Tennessee for a dinner that can only be described as fantastic…the food, the fellowship, the fun, we laughed and laughed and laughed together…..later caught in a rainstorm as 3 girlfriends and I were picking up girlified necessities at Kroger of all places…you know the stuff….nail polish, removers, cutesey things, makeup…fun fun fun night at the hotel….despite me. Later emails with one of my most favorite people Thelma Wells and I am privileged to be working with her in Brentwood today along with one of my dearest friends….

God is God and we are not, yet even in our imperfections (and there were many yesterday alone for me) He loves us just as we are. It is my hope that indeed I can learn to share His love to others….just as they are….and share the mercy and grace that is daily bestowed on me.

God is good….Praise God that I don’t have to be perfect!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”(2 Corinthians 12:9)