Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

During my senior year of high school, I fell into patch of thorns while playing Frisbee (if my memory is correct) with my siblings. Those thorns pierced my foot and lodged themselves in it. My father was there and with a pair of tweezers and a bucket of hot water, he extracted as many of the thorns as he could. The rest would have to work their way out. Well, they did not seem so deeply embedded then, but ever since then I have had these little slivers, these broken thorn tips working their way out of my foot. Someday each one will be out, but until then I must endure the thorns.

Paul complained of a thorn in his flesh, yet God's response was “My grace is sufficient for thee.” We all have problem areas in our life which are not immediately removed when we are saved. As much as we would like that these slivers of our old life to be gone, God allows them to remain, and then he blesses us with the grace and sufficiency to daily endure and continue in our walk with him. It is His mercy alone that allows us to continue while afflicted. His mercy dictates that the knowledge and experience that our pain and our problems bring be used to compassionately aid others who are going through similar trials as we have undergone. Our mercy to others will be reciprocated, not only by God gracing us with the ability to overcome, but also by others around us. Have you ever noticed that the people who are willing to help, to be there, to aid and who have compassion on others, these are the same people that people aid and have compassion on. Without having undergone struggles that make us weak, that make us mourn, that humbles us, and that increases our appetite for God we can never be able to properly aid and comfort others to the fullest extent that is demanded of us. These slivers of our old lives become the very witness which God requires.

As we walk with Christ, as we come closer to Him, we learn more and more about His enduring mercies. Yes, it was mercy that we are forgiven of our sins, yes it is mercy and we can not repay it. However daily life takes our mercy upon others and other's mercy on us, most importantly it is God's mercy that leads us closer to him despite our failures and problems.

How can we take what we now know and have painfully learned and use it for God's glory. How can we be silent about His mercy. How can we be compassionate towards all the people we come across in our daily lives.

The mercy of God is an ocean divine,
A boundless and fathomless flood.
Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore line,
And be lost in the fullness of God.