You Are a Divine Choice by Libby Johnson

Like many others, this time of year (dark, cold, dreary winter) exhausts my mind and spirit. The weeks on either side of Christmas found me quietly anxious and actively present to the unhealth in my heart and mind. I begrudgingly grasped the hand of the Holy Spirit and dove into my unhealthy thoughts to extract the motivations behind them.

My journal entries from the days leading up to Christmas are riddled with realizations that my humility is oftentimes a false humility intricately woven with pride; a pride that says, “I have to do this alone, if I need others, I’ll burden them.” In terms of the Enneagram (a helpful spiritual tool for self-growth) I am a Type 2, whose core sin is pride. This time around life’s carousel, I accepted that pride is my drug of choice and was hit with the astounding truth that my pride is just the external manifestation of a deep-seeded fear that I will never be loved for who I am.

The most recurrent spiritual deficiency in my life is my failure and stubborn refusal to believe that I am God’s beloved, a deficiency resulting in self-pitying pride. Henri Nouwen says that “Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an accident, but a divine choice.” Here is a remedy to this deficiency of mine: gratitude.

When my pride goes unchecked, I cannot live from a posture of gratitude. When my pride goes unchecked, I can’t listen to the Voice of Love, but rather I listen to my own voice which is easily swayed by my over-the-top emotions and feelings, and which cannot be trusted the way I can trust Jesus.

Friend, can I encourage you today with the truth that you are not an accident? You are a divine choice! Bask in the warmth of that statement. You are a divine choice. God loves you before you love him. I encourage you this next week to start each day with gratitude. It’s hard not to know yourself as God’s beloved when you recognize and affirm all the many ways God has blessed you. God loves you first!