Sound of Surviving Blog

Have you ever felt like there’s not a single person in this world who could possibly understand what you’re going through? Like you’re drowning but have already slipped underneath the waves, and no one noticed? Have you ever felt worthless, insignificant, forgotten, or ashamed of who you are? No matter how hard you try, life just seems to get harder and harder, or you fall further behind. Please keep fighting.

There is one who has been through it all. Jesus walked this Earth as a human, faced the same trials, afflictions, and temptations we face, and died on the cross for us. He rose again on that third day so that he could lift us up during our darkest times. He loved each of us so much, that he came and suffered and died for us so that he could be there for us, always no matter what. We might not feel like we deserve Jesus to understand us or to help us through, and we don’t but he has given us his grace. Ephesians 2:8 states. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.” We are not perfect. But Christ knows that, and he loves us anyway.

No matter how far gone we think we are, God is the father in the story of the prodigal son. Even though the father’s younger son goes off on his own, and tries to live on his own, when the son returns home ashamed of himself, the father sees him from a long way off and is so overcome with love and joy. The son tries to tell the father that he has sinned and isn’t worthy. But the father ignores his son’s words, saying to his servants, “Quick, we must have a feast to celebrate my son coming home!” The father’s oldest son complains, for he has stayed with and helped his father, but the father replies with, “For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!” When we come to Jesus, we are made new.

There are lyrics from the song “You Are More” by Tenth Avenue North, that say, “You are more than the choices that you’ve made, you are more than the sum of your past mistakes, you are more than the problems you create, you’ve been remade.” Jesus is waiting for you with open arms, to come to him, like the father in the story of the prodigal son. And all of heaven is rejoicing, and celebrating when we do.

We were not made to be self-sufficient; we were made to go to God in both good times and bad, and to depend on God. He is a God who loves us despite all our faults and our weaknesses. He has wiped our dirty slate clean. You are wanted, God chose you. You are a child of the One True King. You’ve been remade. You Are More.