I once heard a wise lady say a pastor should talk about Christ’s death on the cross for our sins every single week. She went on to talk about how we need reminded of His grace and mercy and it needn’t be the entire sermon, but it should be included. Those words have stuck with me. They’ve become a part of me that I carry around in my everyday life. I am no pastor, but I am a wife, a mom, a sister, a friend…and currently a Sunday school teacher who can remind others of His grace and mercy when I teach, share my faith, or simply live out my life as a Christian.

I once heard a pastor say there are two kinds of people in this world. Ones who need to hear the Gospel more and ones who need to hear the Law more. He then looked at me and said he bets I am more like him who needs to hear the gospel more. He was correct. He then explained that there are those who have a harder time seeing their own faults and need to hear the law to point them to repentence. Neither is better than the other, he went on to say. It is true, those who need to hear the gospel more forget about His saving grace and are at risk for trying to “work” for salvation. Those who need to hear the law more are at risk for becoming self-righteous. We all fall short.

I once heard a pastor’s son ask his dad a question about life. His dad, a pastor, did not have an answer to this hard question, but instead told his son to add it to his question notebook and ask God about it. I was in 5th grade at the time and was friends with this pastor’s son and daughter. My brother and I would spend time a lot of time at their house after school and I will never forget this moment. Realizing that not even a pastor knows everything strengthened my faith more than any other sermon or bible study could. In realizing that true faith isn’t knowing all the answers I was able to question and dig and also accept the truth that God’s word is alive and active throughout my entire life. There is always more to understand.

All of the things I have once heard reveal a powerful and beautiful God who fills my doubts with the truth of his word. With this truth I possess and share, I hope it can do the same for others as it has done for me.