This week we talked about name tags in our sermon series titled Love Can. The idea is that we all wear name tags but those name tags don’t have to stick. Actually those name tags aren’t ours to wear. These name tags are false, fake, and do not define us. 

This week’s music post is a song I fell on accidentally. I heard it playing on the radio and knew this was the one. The message of this song, Survivor, is that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Our name tags, our past, our issues no matter how big they may be. None of it changes who we are.

There’s a line in the song that really resonates in my heart. I thought I had fallen too far from your grace. When I’m being honest, really brutally honest, I have to admit I’m a mess! I’ve thought things that are just not right. I’ve said things that are downright hurtful. I’ve left things undone that I should have done long ago. I’ve hurt people with my thoughts, words and actions. I’ve even neglected my relationship with God. I don’t read my bible as often as I should. I don’t pray as intentionally as I know that I should. Is there room for me in God’s arms?

The answer is a resounding yes! For every day that I wander around aimlessly lost in my own way…for every moment that I fight to find a place in God’s arms…for every second that I fail to do the good I know I should do. Yes in all of these times, God is there. He’s with me every step of the way.

God is the ground that keeps me standing. He’s the gentle, guiding hand that keeps me going on course. He’s the steady shoulder upon which I can lean. He’s the shelter under which I find safety. There’s nowhere I can turn that will put me outside of God’s amazing grace. He pursues me even when I don’t want him to! I’ll never understand it. I honestly stand amazed by the way he cares for me. But I’ll take it!

I’ll take every minute of his grace. Without it, I’d never make it. Without his grace, I’d be lost and alone. Without his pursuing love, I wouldn’t be the survivor that I am today. Because of the love of God in Jesus, I’m alive in a way that I never could have been before. And because of this new life, I have a new name – Child of God!