“My heart has been in Your sights
Long before my first breath
Running into Your arms
Is running to life from death
And I feel this rush deep in my chest
Your mercy is calling out
Just as I am You pull me in
And I know I need You now”

Run to the Father, Cody Carnes

“⁴ For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵ He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— “

Ephesians 1:4-5:

From before the creation of the world – before the foundations of the Earth was laid – God in His infinite wisdom knew you.

Not only did He know you – all of your flaws, faults and failures included – but He loved you.

Not only did He lay the foundations of the Earth – but from the very beginning He was laying the foundation for our redemption and salvation. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.

I faced a lot of rejection as a kid. Not at home – but at school definitely. Being born with a clubfoot and walking with a limp, unable to participate in the activities that many of the other kids participated in – I was a bit of a pariah on my good days and prey for the piranhas on every other day.

There would be more rejection as I grew older.

We all face rejection – some of us more than others – but all of us feel the sting of being pushed aside, all of us face the burden of not feeling good enough and all of us carry our insecurities – often on our sleeves.

Whether this rejection is in the context of family, sports teams, career opportunities, romantic relationships, social groups – we realise that it is not realistic to believe that we will be celebrated or even accepted everywhere. We all face rejection in varying degrees of severity.

I would, later in life, become a drug addict. I would embrace my outcast status and separate myself even more from my community, my family and even myself.

I had a very strange relationship with Jesus during this time. I kicked against God and His plan for my life – I tested His love and His grace like a rebellious teenager tests his parents. I could not understand or comprehend this kind of love – this love that would see me at my worst and still choose me.

Yet, as much as I rebelled and as much as I was kicking against His love and His will – I did not let go of Him either. Whenever it seemed like I was slipping too far I would reach out – and like a child grabbing the leg of his fathers pants or the seam of his mothers dress in a crowd – in the midst of the chaos and the noise of my life I would grab onto the hem of His mercy and His grace.

Like Saul I kicked against the goads. Like Jacob I wrestled with God during this time.

But thank God He never separated Himself from me.

Jesus hung on the Cross with open arms welcoming the sinner, the downtrodden, the weary and the lost – “come to me and I will give You rest!”

With arms wide open He hung on that Cross.

The face, the grace and the embrace of God is found in Jesus Christ.

Today I beg you to come to this conclusion – that no matter what rejection you have faced – no matter what mistakes you made and no matter what your burden of insecurity looks like – God chose you!

Before He said “let there be light” the light of His love was shining on your future.

We just have to open our eyes and see it.

Today I beg you to come to this conclusion – to realize that people might have pushed you aside in the past, but God calls you closer. People might have disappointed you, hurt you – even hated you – but Jesus is the love of God made manifest. God chose you from before the heavens were imagined, since before the creation of the Earth – He knew you. He loved you. He chose you.

Flaws and all.

You might have fallen from grace. Circumstances, situations and the storms of life might have you feeling broken, battered and unloved – you might be at the bottom of your rock bottom right now – but God is calling you to get back up and to start running from death to life.

He is waiting with open arms.

It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done – it doesn’t change His love for you – what matters is where you go from here.

Run towards freedom. Run towards healing. Run towards restoration.

Run to the Father today.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your great and unfailing love. I thank You for the mercy and grace You poured out upon the Cross for me. I thank You Lord that when I come to You my sins are washed away, my shortcomings are cast into the deepest depths and my iniquity removed as far as the East is from West. I thank You Lord that in Your presence there is freedom from addiction, healing from hurt and deliverance from insecurity and fear. Open the eyes of my heart today Lord so that I might see Your love shine here in my life today. I might have felt uncared for, unloved and pushed aside by people and through situations in my life – but You will never leave me or forsake me. Flood my life with Your presence today. In Jesus Name. Amen.