Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your daily prayer,
Speaker 1: where we help you find the words you need to
Speaker 1: connect to your Father in Heaven. No matter what is
Speaker 1: happening in your life today, you can trust that God
Speaker 1: wants to hear from you. Right after this short word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, well pray God. Today's prayer when your
Speaker 1: reputation is damaged. A Prayer when your Reputation is damaged
Speaker 1: written by Peyton Garland, read by Carrie Eichberger. We have
Speaker 1: this treasure in jars of clay to show that the
Speaker 1: surpassing power belongs to God and not to us Tewod
Speaker 1: Corinthians four, verse seven. A few days ago I stuck
Speaker 1: my foot in my mouth, but not in a bad way. Rather,
Speaker 1: I was a bit more vulnerable with my mental health struggles,
Speaker 1: more vulnerable than I've ever been with someone outside by
Speaker 1: tight family. I've written articles, blog posts, and even books
Speaker 1: about the debilitating, villainous OCD monster that plagues my life,
Speaker 1: but never had I looked someone in the face in
Speaker 1: such an intimate setting and spilled the big heart embarrassing stuff.
Speaker 1: As soon as I confessed to my friend just how
Speaker 1: wild my OCD can be, I thought she will never
Speaker 1: think of me the same again. I've damaged my reputation,
Speaker 1: possibly ruined this friendship. Needless to say, my stomach was
Speaker 1: in not all day. I was nauseated by a situation
Speaker 1: or someone's perception rather that was now totally out of
Speaker 1: my hands. Then he recalled a video that I watched
Speaker 1: just that morning. The timing a bit uncanny if you
Speaker 1: ask me. Jackie Hill Perry, a Christian author, speaker, and influencer,
Speaker 1: recently shared that others have tried to make it seem
Speaker 1: that she supports Pride Month though she doesn't. Amid the
Speaker 1: online chaos that threatens to taint her image, she has
Speaker 1: made a life changing, convicting point for us all. Instead
Speaker 1: of defending your reputation, proclaimed the Gospel, our vulnerability, and
Speaker 1: the stage it can provide aren't about preserving our image
Speaker 1: or making a name for ourselves. It's all about allowing
Speaker 1: God to use whatever story he has written for us, plot, twists,
Speaker 1: and all for his resurrection power in order to change lives.
Speaker 1: If God uses sinners, he can use whatever awkward, scary,
Speaker 1: miserable situation we place ourselves in for his glory. He
Speaker 1: can use whatever unfair situation others place us in too.
Speaker 1: We are the actors and he is the director. He
Speaker 1: sees the whole stage and knows the audience far better
Speaker 1: than we ever will we enter and exit at his will,
Speaker 1: and at the final curtain call, we will point to
Speaker 1: him as the ultimate producer of all things magnificently beautiful
Speaker 1: and redemptive. At the end of the day, our reputations
Speaker 1: are far too fragile to sustain. If we chase such
Speaker 1: a goal, we idolize perfection. We become slaves to perception
Speaker 1: rather than practice. Then, tragically, our faith in God becomes
Speaker 1: faulty because it's not truly faith in Him. It's simply
Speaker 1: us playing the Christian game because it creates a nice
Speaker 1: narrative to shelter our name. This is why it's important
Speaker 1: to remember that God doesn't just use our moments of weakness.
Speaker 1: He uses us who we are in those moments, so
Speaker 1: He can transform our hearts and gift us with the
Speaker 1: testimony of his love. If I have learned one thing
Speaker 1: in life, it's that cracked vessels overflow much quicker than
Speaker 1: perfectly whole ones. It seems the more trials we endure,
Speaker 1: the quicker our imperfect hearts break. The sooner we are
Speaker 1: chipped and corcked and can spill over with God's goodness.
Speaker 1: Thus our weaknesses provide much more room for God's glory
Speaker 1: to overflow. As Scripture says, the knowledge and power displayed
Speaker 1: through impossible redemption are never ours. To boast about the
Speaker 1: goodness we create and the beauty we share. Our only
Speaker 1: gifts we've been given by the great Giver. No good
Speaker 1: thing is from us or through us, apart from Him.
Speaker 1: And honestly, that's such a relief when you're afraid and
Speaker 1: you've messed up too much, gone too far, or damage
Speaker 1: your reputation beyond repair. The power to sustain your reputation
Speaker 1: was never yours, and the ability to restore an impossible
Speaker 1: situation isn't yours. Though this might not sound like great
Speaker 1: news on the surface, it's far more than great news.
Speaker 1: It's freeing news. The pressure is off you to control
Speaker 1: everything better. Still, Jesus sustains all things, including your soul,
Speaker 1: not because of your performance, but because He is Goodness.
Speaker 1: He is sovereign and all powerful, and in these unlimited
Speaker 1: qualities he will see us into eternity, where perfect stories
Speaker 1: never end and cups overflow from whole healed vessels, Let's
Speaker 1: pray God. As humans, it's only natural that we long
Speaker 1: to maintain our reputations and control everything, long to appear
Speaker 1: as the very thing we can't be perfect. May we
Speaker 1: surrender this pride to you and trust that you are
Speaker 1: both sovereign and good. Grant us the courage to open
Speaker 1: our hands and allow our failures and weaknesses to play
Speaker 1: a redemptive part in this story you have written to
Speaker 1: heal mankind, restore the world with our humility and witness,
Speaker 1: Lord God, forever Amen. Your Daily Prayer is a production
Speaker 1: of Life Audio and Sale Media. If you haven't already,
Speaker 1: be sure to follow the show in your favorite podcast
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Speaker 1: and inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio dot com