Some Days

Some days I feel so joyful,
Some days close to despair.
Some days I feel like praising,
Some days I just don't care.
But every day through joy or sorrow,
God's love is changing me,
So no matter how I'm feeling,
I'm sure of victory.

Some days I see God's glory,
Some days I really know.
Some days I'm close to heaven,
Some days my faith is low.
But every day God sends His Spirit,
To make me more like Him,
So that when my heart is broken,
His Christ-life can begin.

Some days I feel God near me,
Some days He hides away.
Some days I feel so guilty,
Some days I cannot pray.
But every day He calls me righteous -
Sufficient is His grace!
So that when He comes in glory,
I'll be his masterpiece.

I wrote those words many years ago at a time of my life when I was really struggling. As Christians I think that it's important that we don't go around pretending that we have everything sorted, that we have a fantastic prayer life and that we feel God's presence every moment when there are times when this isn't true. Despite our circumstances though, we need to confess what is true about God... and to do that even when we think we have let Him down.

Firstly He wants to change us and He will use whatever circumstances we find ourselves in to do that... even if it's all our own fault (which usually it isn't). He can do that by His Holy Spirit if we are willing to let Him. Being victorious over things that we can't control doesn't depend on our feelings, it depends on what God did to give us that victory.

Secondly God wants us to be like Jesus and that's not an impossible dream. A new Christian asked me once if he would ever be like Jesus and I said 'yes'. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. " (1 John 3:2). It is often only in those dark, heartbroken moments - when it hurts so much that you can't move, that something deep inside you is opened up and God is allowed to touch that place. Being like Jesus requires a transformation deep inside our soul and although God doesn't want to see us heartbroken, He will use our heartbreaks to reach parts of us that otherwise we would never expose.

Thirdly God declares us righteous, not because of what we do, but because of what Jesus did. Grace reaches down from heaven and says that it doesn't matter how wrong we are, we are going to be declared right. Only grace can ensure that one day we will be God's masterpiece... whole, complete, just like Jesus. It will take a lifetime and more, but it's going to happen.