"It’s not a matter of trying, it’s a matter of helpless fact."

"God does that. He ruins you for any other attempt at life."

Less than twenty-five words, and yet if they took the form of rivers that flowed gently into a persons life, oceans would be filled before what they had to offer was exhausted.

In the future, if you need some ideas to "camp out" on, I vote for these two as a couple of great candidates.

My recent post The God who is with us and for us

Three brief quotes come to mind that corroborate your heartfelt message to us:

"The boy didn't need to hear it. There was already a deep black wordless conviction in him
that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin."

- Flannery O'Connor (from her novel, "Wise Blood")

"Christianity is not the move from vice to virtue, but rather the move from virtue to grace."

- Gerhard Forde

"For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved."
(If the gospel has overcome you, the result is out of your hands.)
- (2 Peter 2:19b)

My recent post Putting the Promise in Perspective

There you go again. This post is such an obvious example of what you often do. So forgive me if I don't just let it slide this time and say nothing. If 100 well intending writers entitled a post, "it's all prayer", we would find 99 of them amongst the friends of Job, offering the cleverest of insights that point us to the christian.

(But Job sought the Christ, because he understood his real need.)

So here you go, leaving the 99, reaching out to the one whose need cannot be met by finding the next insight, but by being found by a Savior. And because of that, the message you so often bring is one that ultimately points us, not to the christian, but to the Christ.

One thing is needful, and you display in your writing a heart that wants for us to choose the better portion, the part that will not be taken away from us.

"It’s believing what He did. You have to know what He did before you understand any other concept in the Christian faith." -- Love it!

As a first male voice here, please extend grace for any perceived gruffness. My directness is meant to encourage, but this morning in particular, I'm a less confident with the words that are coming to mind. But I will risk it. When you refer to your sin, I'm assuming you mean cancelled sin. (Praise God!).

"Sin is not canceled by lawful living."
--Martin Luther

"Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."
--Martin Luther