I love the part in My Big Fat Greek wedding when Ian and Toula are talking and she reminds him that they met when she was working at her family’s Greek restaurant. She says something like, “I was going through my frumpy phase until, well, just now.” He responds, “I don’t remember frumpy, but I remember you.” I love that.

That’s what we strive for as believers. To see each other and remember not the colossal failures and fiascos and screwups, but to remember the good. To see not the messed up past of a person, but to see forward to what they are becoming and will one day be in Christ.

If we’re honest as believers, we have to admit that we are weak, broken messes who don’t have the answers and who lose their way frequently. We’re not as strong or wise as we think we are. Even our best moments are filled with fears and doubts, striving and self-loathing, hiding and excusing.

As we mature, we see not how much less we need grace, but how much more desperately we need it every single moment of every single day. We need each other. We need to forgive and be forgiven constantly, starting with ourselves. We need to be real and open and transparent with each other, carrying each others’ burdens and sharing their joys and sorrows. We constantly need to be restored and revived, to keep each other honest, and each of us need to know that we are worth the effort it takes and that no true believer ever gives up on another true believer.

As a believer, I can say through Christ, “I will be your eyes when you can’t see, your voice when you can’t speak, your light in the dark when you’ve lost your way, your friend when you feel alone and deserted, and your biggest fan when you feel most discouraged and most messed-up. I will be your burden-bearer, your hope-restorer, and your faith-rebuilder. I will do my best to show you what the love of Jesus looks like through my words and my actions to you.”

Let us love each other radically and fully. Let us show the world what true faith looks like, as opposed to those who just carry the name Christian but deny it with their lifestyle. Let us win the world by our own lifestyle of radical love, passionate faith, and unswerving hope in Jesus Christ.

I want to be a friend who never, never, never, never, never, never, never ever gives up on you. And I mean never. No matter what you say or don’t say, you can’t lose my friendship. You may give up on your end, but I will never give up on my end. Why?

Because that’s what Jesus did for me. Jesus, the Friend above all friends, the Friend who sticks closer than a brother and laid down his life for me. He never gave up on me, so I can’t ever give up on you. That’s the deal.

I know what I’m describing isn’t the norm. When someone’s harsh words cut deep, it’s hard to remain in friendship. When someone’s silence cuts deeper still, it requires something beyond myself to remain.

And so my friendship with you is really Jesus loving you through me. I can’t on my own, I will fail you every time. I will let you down, get all OCD, and tragically mess things up. I on my own will run you off.

But Jesus is the Friend who is teaching me to be a better friend. No, better yet. He’s the Friend to me who’s a Friend to you through me. It’s His power that sustains any friendship I have.

I want to be the friend that encourages and cheers for you. The one who laughs with you at times and cries with you in other times. I want to be a friend who will do whatever I can to help you, to see you become all that God in Christ meant for you to be.

I want to be someone who will lay down my life for you in a thousand small ways, to give up my rights for you, give up my own set ways of doing things for you.

That’s the kind of friend I want to be to you, and because of God in me, I am slowly becoming just that.

Thank you, friends, for not giving up on me and for seeing through my fears and false fronts and neuroses to the real me. To the Jesus in me. I will be forever grateful!

I have acted shamefully. I have said and done things I wish I could take back, especially on Facebook. But that’s not who I am.

I  have believed the lies that the devil told me in my moments of weakness. He told me I was worthless with nothing to offer any girl and nothing to contribute to the world and that the world was better off without me in it. But that’s not who I am.

I have royally screwed up everything at certain points in my life. I have lived out of shame and fear and not out of sonship and love. But that’s not who I am.

I have driven friends away. Some who are still friend on facebook won’t talk to me anymore or respond to any of my posts because I was too clingy and needy and scared them off.  But that’s not who I am anymore.

My Savior and God set His affection on me and called me Beloved and gave me worth by loving me. He thought I was to die for and has told me repeatedly how fond He is of me. That is who I am.

My God has called me by a new name. Not one given to be by my failures or shame or guilt or fear, but one bought with precious blood and written on a white stone. That is who I am.

My God has made my brokenness beautiful, turned my mourning into dancing, turned my shame into praise and renown, and called me friend. That is who I am.

My God is transforming me more and more every day into the image of Jesus and His life is growing inside me, taking over, as the old ways that led to defeat are put to death. That is who I am.

Who am I? I am the disciple whom Jesus loves. I am my Beloved’s, and He is mine. I am beautiful and strong and handsome and redeemed and forgiven and made new. That’s who I am from now on!

This is my prayer for you. That you know you are loved more deeply and more passionately than any movie stars could convey or romance novel portray. That love isn’t something you feel or something you can find or lose or fall into, but this love has a name. And that name is Jesus.

My prayer for you is that you know this Jesus. I don’t pray for you to be religious or spiritual, but to know the Jesus who saw you in your bleakest moments of despair and lowest point of depravity and was willing to suffer agony and die for you. Not only to die for you, but to take all that despair and depravity upon Himself.

My prayer is that you know that all those who pointed their fingers at you and told you how God was fed up with you were wrong. God has not given up on you, nor will He ever. He offers you a new life, a second chance, a clean slate. All you have to do is reach out.

My prayer is that you would reach out and say the most beautiful words in the English language– “Jesus, save me.” You would call out for Him, admitting that you have sinned and made a royal mess out of your life. That you are a sinner, that you are fundamentally broken and can’t fix yourself.

My prayer is that you would throw yourself on the grace and mercy of Jesus. Give Him all of your life for the rest of your life. Let Him lead you wherever He wants, because He will lead you into the best places, better than you could ever have dreamed.

My prayer is that you would find that He is faithful in the good and bad, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, until death. And even past death. He will walk with you through storms and sunshine. He will sing over you in times when you feel like your world is ending.

My prayer is that you are captivated and enthralled and ravished by this Love, by Jesus Himself. May the God of the universe romance your soul and win your heart.

Say YES to Jesus. Lay down your heavy burdens and take His light yoke. If you want to know more about how to say YES to Jesus, you can reach me at GMendel72@united.net.

That’s my prayer for you.

(I know I am treading on dangerous ground, but I believe this is what Jesus would say to us as American believers in our comfortable, exclusive churches on Sunday)

You say you love Me. You say you want to follow Me and know My will for your life. You talk about how much you love  Me and want to know Me above all else. But let Me ask you some questions.

I was that badly dressed man who came to your worship service late and sat in the back. Did you see Me?

I was the girl who stood on the outskirts of your circle of friends and listened while you spoke to each other. Did you talk to Me or even notice I was there?

I was the One selling newspapers on the side of the busy street during rush hour, hoping for enough money to buy a meal since I hadn’t eaten in five days. Did you give Me money or buy Me something to eat?

I was dying of AIDS in a hospital all alone with no one to sit beside Me while I was gasping for My last breaths. Did you come to visit Me?

I was the child who was on the verge of pneumonia from not having a coat to wear when it was below freezing outside. Did you clothe Me?

I was the widow grieving over the loss of her husband, not knowing how I was going to make ends meet or how I would even cope with life alone. Did you bring Me words of compassion and warm hugs?

You say you want Me, but you overlook the least of these. You say you love Me, but you don’t show it to My children. You say you want to follow Me, but only so long as it is to places you know where people you know are.

Repent and come back to your First Love. Love Me by loving the poor, the needy, the broken, the brokenhearted and the lonely. Show them My love. Be My hands and feet. Be Me to them.

Then you will find Me. Then you will know Me. Then you will know my Love not in part, but the whole.

May your driver’s liscense be revoked. Not in the literal sense, hopefully. May it be in the spiritual sense.

Then you are reminded that you are not driving the car anyway, no matter how hard you grip the wheel. Or how much you try to steer the wheel to turn in a direction more to your liking. Or how much you step on the gas or stomp on the break. Simply, you are not in control. God is.

But one thing I’ve found in 38 years of living is this. While I may not always go where I want to go, or where I think I need to go, where God takes me always turn out to be the best places I could have gone. That’s where I have met people who have blessed me and changed me. That’s where I have been a part of seeing miracles happen and seeing God move in mighty ways.

I’m thankful beyond words for all the God-detours in my life that have led me to new friends and new places and new adventures I never would have found on my own. I’m thankful I’m not really driving, because I know the places I wanted to go would not have been good for me. The people I so desparately wanted to get to know and the girls I so desparately desired to date may not have been bad for me, but were far from God’s best for me.

So, thank you, all you unexpected and unplanned friends. You are now a part of me. You have driven me closer to true community and, best of all, to Jesus. A lifetime will never be enough to repay you for what you’ve done.

Thank You, Jesus, that though You may not always lead me in a way I understand or want to go, You always lead me to the places where You are and You always get me there safely and looking a little more like You.

Amen!