Verses I Love

Today at her blog, Kelly is hosting Show Us Your Life – Favorite Bible Verse.

I wanted to participate in this one although it’s hard for me to narrow down my favorite verses! God uses the Bible to speak many things to me in different seasons of my life.

In high school, my favorite verse was Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I love the security this verse gives to us, as children of God. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I suspect that I loved this verse so much because it soothed my fear of rejection/abandonment. Subconsciously, I thought I wasn’t good enough to be loved unconditionally. It’s something that I still battle, but God reached out to me through the words of a pastor. He explained that there is nothing good I can do to make God love me more, and there is nothing bad I can do to make God love me less. God’s love is purely unconditional. His love is not based on what I do; it is based on who God is.

There is another verse that I had not noticed until recently. In the past few weeks, God has been putting this verse in front of me almost daily—through the words of a stranger, in a devotional I read over email, throughout a book I found in a used bookstore. I know that God is purposefully directing me towards this verse. I am working through what he is teaching me and I plan to write more about this journey of trading ashes for beauty . . .

Isaiah 61:3

And provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

I wanted to end by sharing the passage that this blog is named after:

Psalm 45:1-2

My heart is stirred by a noble theme
as I recite my verses for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
You are the most excellent of men
and your lips have been anointed with grace,
since God has blessed you forever.