When It’s Your Story, You’re Grateful For The Mercy

Originally written in 2019. “Boyfriend” is now “Husband.”

My boyfriend and I have been going through The Encounter TV series. (It is a show where people encounter Jesus. A great series that I highly recommend). I was judgmental about one episode saying, “That’s it? No repentance? Just forgiveness with a simple, ‘I’m sorry Jesus’???” I was upset that the woman had not shown genuine turmoil and grief over her sin. But that with a simple “I’m sorry” she was forgiven. (I was having a Jonah moment post Nineveh’s repentance. Jonah 4).

When it’s your story, you’re grateful for the mercy.

The very next episode was about a doctor, and a girl who almost died because of a DUI. It hit close to home. Close is an understatement. It was a direct hit, square between the eyes. As I watched her lay lifeless on the hospital bed I thought, “Oh Lord, I have no idea what you saved me from…countless times, time and time again.” (I myself was an alcoholic).

In my heart I was so repentant. Saying, “I’m sorry, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.”

Shift scenes to her awake in a hospital bed talking to Jesus. She asked Him, referring to His scars, “Do they hurt?” and before the line was delivered, I knew the answer in my heart. Jesus speaking directly to me, “No [Tesia], they remind me of how much I love you.”

Those words bring tears to my eyes even now. Touching places in my heart I didn’t know were still tender. Jesus loves me. Jesus died for me. Jesus offered me mercy when I was so undeserving. And all I can say is, “I’m sorry, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Let me serve You with all that is in me. I am so sorry for all the ways I hold back now. I am so sorry I ever think You are underserving or unworthy, or the task You have asked of me too hard. I’m so sorry Jesus. Thank You. I love You.”

When it’s your story, you’re grateful for the mercy. Mercy beyond comprehension. Overwhelming mercy. Grace washes over you like a flood. How can this be? How can it be that the God of the universe died for me? Because He loves…me? A love so great I can’t grasp it or fully understand it.

“Jesus died for you. Jesus loves you.”

I hear those words all the time. So many people have heard them before. But how does a heart really resonate with the truth? How do our beings fully comprehend what God has done for us and what He wants to do in us?

When it’s your story, you’re grateful for the mercy. When it’s your salvation, your freedom, your deliverance, the Cross of Jesus Christ becomes a story too good to be true. We can’t fully comprehend what has been given to us, we are in awe and amazement. Life. Life has been granted in place of death and the Giver is so good we cannot help but offer our entire selves and life back to Him. When it’s your story, the Cross suddenly becomes the most powerful & wonderful symbol on the planet. When you grasp deep in your heart what Jesus did for you, the judgement towards others disappears; and of course, you want Him to offer life to as many as possible.

“‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

What is your story? Do you truly live a life of gratitude thanking God in every thought, word, and action for the life He has given you? Do you truly live for Jesus? Or do you live for yourself and your own comfort. Grateful for the life God has given you, but still thinking you have ownership and rights to your life above Jesus? Do your actions say this, even if your words don’t? Where do you go? What do you watch? Who do you hang out with? What do you listen to? How do you spend your free time? These are all the answers of the heart to the question: is Jesus the Lord of your life? Or are you?

We don’t get to see beyond the point of “I’m sorry Jesus” in the episode with the woman. We don’t get to see what happens after the credits role and the woman is faced with trial and difficulty. But that’s where it starts. Mercy & Grace.

Mercy. Being pardoned from what you DO deserve.
Grace. Being given what you DON’T deserve.

It starts with receiving freely God’s mercy and grace.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” -Ephesians 2:8-9

“Mercy triumphs over judgement.” -James 2:13