Music Monday: “Just As You Are,” by Ryan Stevenson
by: Debbie Waltz
I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe summer has ended already. If you’ve read this blog recently, you know that I’ve had caregiving issues over the last few months; without going into detail, those issues have resolved themselves, and I can focus on other things, such as my writing. Honestly, I’m nervous about how the writing coach thing turns out. I hope she can remove some barriers I’ve created, like a lack of creativity and knowing my character’s direction. I am missing the spark of when I started the book, but I have to believe God will finish something He starts. (Philippians 1:6)
Strangely enough, this kind of problem doesn’t exist while I blog. I just write what I know. Not only does this help me process my thoughts, but it also helps me make sense of them. I hope that expressing my fears and doubts to you, my readers, also gives you the freedom to do so. I’m not as strong as people think I am. Sometimes, I lose sight of what’s important. But that’s what makes me human.
But here’s the good news: God knows everything about us and accepts us, anyway. Romans 5: 6-8 reminds us: “You see, at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
But that doesn’t leave us off the hook. Such a selfless gift requires a response from us. Not born out of duty, but out of an attitude of gratefulness.2 Corinthians 15: 14- puts it like this, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again
Ryan Stevenson’s song can be accessed here: