Did you always know Jesus?
I have known about this man Jesus for most of my life. Growing up in a family with a nun for an aunt, a great uncle who was a priest. I knew Jesus.
I could recite prayers just like everyone else. And yet I walked away anyway. I heard of His grace but never accepted.
I was broken, hurt, and didn't want to be noticed and wanted to be noticed all at the same time.
And one day, even though lots of people didn't see my brokenness held together by the worlds Arlene's tacky glue, it all fell apart.
I wanted to know Jesus and love Jesus and tell people about Him.
I know that people looked at me like they look at the city of Detroit. There are beautiful parts but also parts so broken that they don't seem like they can be helped or even want to be helped.
But deep down, they know they want it.
I looked at a building today, it's a beautiful building that someone put new windows on and is fixing up on the inside too so that life will soon be in that building, laughter and tears, and I thought about how so many prayed for me. And how one day, someone, Someone, came into my life and brought a love and a life I never knew could exist.
I pray that today, the end of 2013, for the city of Detroit that it will have love and life like it never knew possible, that it will flourish and praise Him who brings life to all things.
Just like those who prayed for me, I'll pray for Detroit and may it shine like the sun. Better for it's brokenness because then and only then will it know Who healed it.
The Lord replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things! Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things! Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:19-27 NIV)
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