Hi. My name is Hope. I just got my very first B in school, and honestly, I'm OKAY with it.
Months ago, if you had told me I'd be getting my first B in my Algebra 2 class, I probably would have sobbed and thrown a little hissy fit. I've been a straight A student all my life, and that's something I've always prided myself on. It was also something I always planned on maintaining, and if I didn't, well...I wasn't sure what I would do. I guess I thought I would self implode?!
Well, clearly that didn't end up happening because I am standing here today to tell you about it...which brings up a good point. Getting a B was not the end of the world. It wasn't life threatening. In fact, it doesn't really mean much at all in my life when I really think about it. I doubt that I'm going to look back when I'm in my seventies and say, "Well, darn. That B in 10th grade really hurt everything." I also doubt that Jesus looks down and says this is a life changing moment for me. If any change it has made, it's positive! Because even when my GPA and rank change, His truth doesn't. I'm so thankful for that. I don't have to rely on perfect grades or even a perfect Christian life. Friends, we just have to rely on Him!! Oh what stress we could save ourselves if we knew that, if we truly believed it, if we lived it. Would you join me in believing His grace truly is enough to cover our imperfections, whether it be grades or mistakes or sins? He covers us in His love. He gives us a new name in Him. I am no longer straight A Hope, or Hope who just got a B. I am Hope, just His loved and cherished daughter. I am His, and you are too. Don't ever think a grade or accomplishment could ever change that, friends. You are so loved!
I don't know where you're at in your life right now. Maybe you just passed finals week and are doing everything you can to deny those one or two less-than-fantastic exam grades. Maybe you just feel stressed with life, like you can't measure up to the demands of this world. But wherever you're at, I know the Lord just wants to sweetly remind us: we are His. Even if just for a moment today, let's rest in that. Let's believe that He says who we are, and He calls us very good.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:4-10 NIV
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