The Greatest Gift

Today, I turn 24. Wow… It’s even hard to type it. 23 was such an amazing year, full of new chapters and trusting God’s plan for our lives. He has blessed me with so much more than I ever deserve – a husband who loves me faithfully, a family who is so supportive and always a little crazy, friends who I can laugh til I cry with but who also sharpen my faith, a church that has become like our family in Arkansas, a youth ministry where Aaron and I can serve alongside each other, a sweet/infuriating dog who has become an amazing companion, an apartment I love, more food than I’ll ever need to eat, and a wardrobe of clothes I couldn’t come close to wearing. Yes, God has certainly lavished His riches upon my life, but the greatest of all of these gifts is the promise I am given in Ephesians 2:1-10. This passage is my favorite in all of Scripture, and it always leaves me in awe of what my Savior did for me.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Ephesians 2:1-10

I was dead, but now I am alive and have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places… All because of the great love and mercy of my God.
And THAT is the greatest gift.

Happy Tuesday!