no matter what you’re going through, God’s love is deeper still
I visited a place recently from my past. When I walked through the door, memories flooded my mind. I immediately felt a sense of shame and condemnation, even though the faded memories were from half a lifetime ago!
Shame wrapped itself around me, like an icy blanket. And for a moment, I forget that I am not who I was. I am not my past. I am not my mistakes. I am not my sin.
The enemy would have loved to hold me hostage to my past. But God doesn’t consult with the enemy about my past when he is mapping out my future.
That day, I felt God whisper into my heart, “Girl. I already rescued you from that pit. There’s no good reason to go back.” His words were warm enough to melt the icy blanket that had wrapped itself around me.
Where are you today?
Are you in pit? Are you in need of a rescue? Maybe your pit is shaped like mine — in the form of your past mistakes. But maybe you have fallen into a pit on account of what happened to you. Maybe you are in that pit right now, overwhelmed by the circumstances of your life.
No matter the shape of your pit, you probably know that it’s impossible to climb out on your own. Most of us reach a point in our lives where we’ve fallen into a pit so deep that we think we’re beyond rescue. No matter how deep we have fallen, God’s love is deeper still.
God’s arm is “not too short to save” you from wherever you are right now (Isaiah 59:1).
No matter how deep your shame, He is deeper still.
No matter how deep your grief, He is deeper still.
No matter how deep your debt, He is deeper still.
No matter how deep your loneliness, He is deeper still.
No matter how deep your trouble, He is deeper still.
No matter how deep your personal hell, He is deeper still.
A Story of a “Deeper Still” God
It was World War II. Two Christian sisters — Corrie and Betsie ten Boom — were in a pit, not because of what they did, but because of what was done to them. They were imprisoned in a concentration camp as punishment for hiding Jews in their home. In the midst of a living hell, Corrie remarked at the depth of the pit they were in. Betsie replied, “There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”
Those words were not spoken from the comfort of a pulpit, but from an agonizing pit of unimaginable depth. “He is deeper still.”
That is our hope today.
No matter what we face — and no matter what our past will try to tell us — He is stronger, bigger, and deeper still.
Love this, Jennifer! I have been there too. Some of my past wasn’t so long ago so it has been a challenge trying to figure out how to use it as a testimony to glorify God. I feel like a fraud sometimes (says the voice of the enemy, right) but I know God knows my heart more than anyone, including myself. Blessings to you!!!
I needed this today, Jennifer….so if you wrote it for no one else (which obviously is not true! 🙂 ), then please know that you wrote it for me. I’ve been asked to share my abortion testimony during the two services this coming Sunday. I’ve shared this openly in my book, one of Carol Kent’s books, online, and in interviews. But I’ve truly panicked about doing this in church. But I know I am assuredly NOT defined by my past. Christ has forgiven me, thrown my sin of abortion in the depths of the ocean to be remembered no more (other than to help others), and has set me from degradation and shame. Thank you for sharing this dear one, and if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, should God lay me on your heart, I’d covet your prayers. I know there are many women sinking in the pit of abortion shame, and I long to see them set free.
Love
Lynn
Such a comforting reminder that God is always deeper than whatever pit we are in. I sometimes still slip into that pit of past abuse, but God has again and again proved His love is deeper. Thank you, Jennifer. Blessings and hugs!
YES! A million times YES!