It’s not fancy. It’s got wrinkled, bent pages. It’s full of underlines, circles, highlights. There’s blue ink, black ink, red ink, and pencil. There’s even crayon. Yes, crayon. Don’t ask. You’ll even find a few brown coffee stains. And some smudges that just might have been made by my tears.
Occasionally, I’ll see an ad for a new Bible pop up in my Facebook or Amazon feed. And for a brief moment I’ll think to myself, “I could use a new Bible.”
But then as quickly as it comes, it disappears in a sea of sadness.
A new Bible wouldn’t have everything this one does… and I don’t mean the highlights. I mean the history, the prayers, the answered prayers, the memories, the revelations, and the victories.
This book is an actual, visual representation of my long, sometimes difficult relationship with God… the good, bad, and ugly. Seasons of faithfulness and faithlessness. Seasons of trust and seasons of doubt.
As I was thinking about this Bible, it occurred to me that this is how God sees each of us. We are imperfect. We are full of coffee and prayers and “smudges.”
But that’s precisely what He loves about us. He loves the real us and has cherished every single minute of the journey with us.
So don’t worry if your “pages” are a little bent. Don’t worry if there’s underlines as thick as scars. Don’t worry if you were such a hot mess one morning that you searched for answers with a broken orange crayon.
He’s loved every single minute of the story He’s writing with you. And He wouldn’t trade the messy version of you for anything else in the world. No matter how fancy it looks on Amazon.