Winter is officially gone, though it barely even visited my part of the world. Yet even in the tropics of S. Florida, spring blossoms in all it’s fulness. I hear the happy sounds of birds as they work busily making nests for their young. Bunnies are abundant, the Sandhill Cranes walk the streets with their young colts, and the maple tree in my front yard now carries green leaves.

My life however seems to remain in winter. I’m busier than ever and we’ve seen my husband less days than he’s been away traveling for work. Bitterness and frustration bubble up out of my heart all too often. I’ve failed to be consistent in prayer and reading the Word. My “one word” and verse for the year blew away with the last winds of winter. And worry follows me like a crazy stalker.

We’ve celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, yet I feel like I need a resurrection myself.

How many of us have great intentions to be a better mother, wife, friend, and believer? How often do we resolve to be more consistent in reading the Word and prayer? Does it seem like no matter how hard we try, we don’t get very far? And each time we fail, the guilt is there, ready to weigh us down.

Last year, Tullian Tchvidjian preached at my church, and said ”Sanctification is just our getting used to our justification.” I remember writing his statement in my Bible. It’s something I need to remind myself as I look at the new spring growth around me, while I still live in winter.

To ”get used to our justification” means that our growth in holiness is about what Christ has done, not about what we can do. It’s about being humbled and completely overcome by all that Christ did for us at the cross. His life of perfection has become ours and it’s this perfection that God sees when He looks at us. Getting used to our justification means that our everyday life and the realities of the gospel interact everyday. Keeping our eyes focused on Christ, and not on our own abilities, progress, and attempts at holiness, will help us to walk forward one step at a time.

Lately, I’ve been looking down at myself and my own progress. And like Peter, I’ve begun to sink.

I recently stood in my kitchen, preparing dinner and listening to God’s Word read aloud from my phone. It was the book of Colossians, chapter 1. The boys were outside, by some miracle playing nicely, and it was quiet in the house. I prepared food to fill belly’s and Scripture fed my soul. As I listened, I thought, “that’s what I need, that’s my heart’s longing!”

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:9,10)

But how do I move from feeling pulled down by the challenges of life to running in the fresh air of new life?

I read this post recently, where Tullian quoted from Colossians 1:9-14. The apostle Paul was reminding the church at Colossae of how the gospel transforms them. Tullian paraphrases the passage this way, “You will grow in your understanding of God’s will, be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding, increase in your knowledge of God, be strengthened with God’s power which will produce joy filled patience and endurance (v. 9-12a) as you come to a greater realization that you’ve already been qualified, delivered, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven (v.12b-14)”

The truth of the gospel picks me up out of the pit and into the light of day. The gospel of grace has not only saved me from my sins in the past and those in the future, but also empowers me in the present. It is applicable in my daily struggles of walking by faith. It frees me from the bondage of bitterness, anger, worry, and doubt. The gospel rescued me at the cross and it rescues me each and every day.

When fatigue overwhelms me, I remember the strength that is already in me by the power of the Holy Spirit. When the kids frustrate me and I fail as a parent, I recall all that Christ did for me on the cross. He died for me, knowing I could not be a perfect parent. When I am frustrated about the way people treat me, I remember how I’ve been forgiven for much worse. When I am in despair about the trials in my life, I remember that the Man of Sorrows bore all my pain and will one day take away all my tears forever.

I can’t muster up spring in my heart. I can’t pull myself up out of the pit of winter. I can’t grow in holiness in my own strength. When I preach the gospel to myself everyday, remembering anew all that Christ has done for me, signs of spring appear in my heart. The more I apply what He has done, the more I cling to it by faith, and the more I realize just how much He loves me, I will blossom and grow in the warm light of the gospel of grace.

”And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” C.S. Lewis

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