a recommendation

i've started reading Kisses from Katie, available at Amazon, a lovely story so far about a 20-year old who lives in Uganda and has adopted 14 children. in just reading the forward, i was motivated in my need to give my life to the service of the Lord and was particularly moved by this description of her meeting the orphanage children:

"the truth is, i saw myself in those little faces. I looked at them and felt this love that was unimaginable and knew that this is the way God sees me. the children would run to me with gifts of stone or dirt and i saw myself, filthy and broken, offering my life to the god of the universe and begging him to make it into something beautiful. i sit here in a broken world, small and dirty at his feet, and he who sits on high chooses to commune with me, to love me anyway. he blinds himself to my sin and my filth so that he can forge a relationship with me. and this is what he did for me with these precious children. he blinded me to the filth and disease, and i saw only children hungry for love that i was eager to share with them. i adored them, not because of who i was, but because of who he is. i just sat right down on that cold, hard floor and snuggled my nose into their dirty necks and kissed their fungus-covered heads and didn't even see it. i was in love."

i was moved by how much this also describes our marriage - both ian and i have entered into our marriage with nothing to offer and of no good in ourselves. and i have chosen to marry a man who is not able to even attempt to use works to win my heart, but is completely dependent on jesus' perfect view of him.

thank you, always,
i&l