The power of a word

I was talking to my pastor the other day about the things that God has been doing in my life recently.  And the directions for service and ministry that he is leading me to, and both the fears and excitement that go along with that. And I told her that the overriding emotions I had with all that was going on were gratitude and humility that God is still giving me the opportunity to grow and to serve despite all the things I’ve done wrong and all the ways and times I’ve turned my back on him.

And her response was “And God loves you with all of those things. And God is going to use you for something we can’t see yet. How awesome is that?”

And I agreed that it was pretty awesome and I went on with the conversation. And then, this morning, I started to think more about what she said. And I went back to read exactly what she said and I realized that what she said wasn’t what I thought.

She didn’t say And God loves you despite all of those things. She said And God loves you WITH all of those things.

Which isn’t actually the same thing.

What a difference that one word makes.

God loves you despite all of those things means God can still use you even though you’ve been damaged or you’ve messed things up more times than you can count. God loves you WITH all of those things means that God will use those ways that you’ve been damaged and ways that you’ve messed up to glorify him and to touch others in ways far beyond what you could ever imagine. It means God loves you just as you are. With all the wounds, with all the scars, with all the sorrow, with all the pain. God will use those things to reach people for his kingdom. He will use you in ways that you couldn’t have been used without those experiences.

God loves you and he loves me WITH all of those things.  And he will use each of us, if we allow him, for things that we can’t yet see and can’t even imagine.  And that is awesome indeed.