By: Carole L. Haines

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7)

Pictured above are two things I recently repaired. Some people would probably have just thrown them out once they broke, but I am a rescuer. I have two old cars that have between 225, 000 and 252,000 miles on them/ I call one, “Miss Daisy” and the Other, “GI Jane.”  Both are named after two movies about strong women who were Persevering in difficult circumstances.
I never considered myself a strong woman, quite a weak one actually. Observing from the outside, this may look true but to know me inside, where I have had to grow, I have come to know a very different lady.
God gave me a life verse many years ago to grow my courage and help me trust Him with my weaknesses.

“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world,  things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”
(1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NLT)
We are all broken people because sin breaks us, and we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23) It has taken me a long time to embrace this brokenness within myself. I have learned to stop trying to prove my value and worth to others in this the world. Because Jesus Christ has, I no longer have to consider the opinions of others. I was free from the moment I trusted Him as Savior at the age of nine, but it has taken decades to just drink even a few drops of that Freedom water and what it really provides for all of us as believers.
I believe that my desire to rescue broken things and make them renewed comes directly from the heart of God. He is our Rescuer, and our Redeemer. Only He knows how and why we are broken. He alone knows how to bring wholeness and healing to each of us. Let’s look at that Scripture again.
²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.  (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NIV)

 God chose, God chose, God chose. three times this is spoken in this passage. I am someone Chosen by God to accomplish only what He can do through me. My fear of people made me weak and reliant on them. but God wants to set each of us free from this fear. We need rescue and can be a huge part of that rescue for each other. By choosing only to look at one another through Christ’s eyes, by reaching out our hands to one another and helping each other as we are each learn to walk in this freedom. We need one another. So let us come alongside a struggling brother or sister and just choose to, “⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”  We are not meant to walk alone in this journey with Christ, we need our fellow travelers to spur us on, help us up and walk with us. Let’s find some good people to walk with on our Jesus’ Journey. Let’s be those fellow travelers for one another.