🙌 It's the Friday Call to Worship! 🙌

A dear friend bared her weary soul to me this week and said, "I don't even recognize myself anymore." Another storm and another crisis had rocked her family's world. Her soul was taking a beating. She wasn't responding the way she wanted to. She couldn't find the strength to be who she wanted to be. She could hardly stand the juxtaposition of hope and hurt.

I've never been in her specific storm, but I've had plenty of my own. I can relate on a deep level to days of not recognizing myself. It's not that I looked physically different, but the thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions coming out of me were revealing things I didn't want to have in me.

We all have an idea of who we want to be. Many of us have made life decisions, sacrifices and investments to become the person we dream of being. And we all have days where we simply are not that - even days where we sabotage our ideal self. Some have walked through seasons of spiraling, getting so far away from who we want to be that we don't even recognize who we are today. Some are there now.

There's good news this Friday. Jesus knows. Jesus left heaven and put on skin so He could fully know. He experienced the battles in our minds, the cries of our flesh, and the persuasion of the world.

He never expected you to weather a storm without Him. He walks to you in your storm. He never expected you to bridge a gap without Him. His arms stretched on the cross are the only bridge you need.

His name is "I AM". And I AM says "YOU ARE MINE. You don't have to be who you think you should be. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be mine."

Listen to Natalie Grant's "No Stranger", and let it penetrate every storm and every battle today. Listen to the whole thing. It's worth it.