Trust.

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."

Have I lost my flavor? I have become tasteless because of the draining powers of the world? Have I lost what makes me good because I've allowed myself to be drawn in by the blandness of material possessions?

"You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

Have I hidden my light? Or worse, have I let it dim? Have I let the world's darkness cause me to be ashamed of the light I possess and try to fit in with them?

These are questions that I began to ask myself as I read these challenging words from Jesus. Every time I think that I have this relationship with Jesus thing down, I let it slip out of my fingers again and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of letting my saltiness go tasteless and hiding the light that God has placed inside of me... but alas, I always let it happen. But that is not what this blog is about. This blog is about the fact that I am blown away by God's amazing grace that always puts the flavor back in my and helps me find the courage to show my light again and again. Time after time. There's only one letter that separates grace and the grave, and that is how close I was to it without God's grace. One step away. I don't think... scratch that, I will never know how amazing that is. It is unimaginable that God would choose to bestow His grace on me... ME!

I have been having such a hard time lately, and today was just the sticky, gross icing on the flavorless cake. I have let the world's flakey and fleeting problems get in the way of just trusting God and in His faithfulness. Andrew and I were watching the history channel special on the Bible and I was reminded of how important trust is while watching Abraham and Moses have to trust God through the craziest and strangest (most of the times devastating) circumstances. Then God shows me this passage in Matthew 5. Andrew is always telling me how I need to trust God... but looks like my stubbornness needed a good, loving slap in the face from God. I want to trust God like they did. I need to.

God,
Please give me back my flavor. Help me to hold out my light unashamedly. I want to show the world your goodness, grace, and faithfulness so that they will praise You, my Father, in Heaven!
Amen.