Keeping a Christ-centered perspective is difficult. I have found that just when I think I have my focus in the right place and I feel I am moving forward, the enemy is there to take me right back down to his level.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the lies. They often seem logical and realistic. “It’s really just practical”, I tell myself, as I sink into thinking I am not good enough to obtain the life God has laid before me.

Why is it easier to sit in the muck of our sin and failures when we have the gift of being clean and free? Perhaps because it is easier to hide in the ick, than to be exposed, cleaned and put on display to be His light. Maybe it’s that we know, at the end of the day, that sinking in the mire is what we deserve.

The beauty is that God’s mercy doesn’t give us what we deserve. His grace allows us access to things we don’t deserve. Life will inevitably bring an abundance of hills and valleys.

We likely won’t always keep the right perspective, but when we are able lift our eyes to the One who inexplicably calls us His sons and daughters, he responds with comfort, joy, and peace beyond our understanding.