Fellow Strugglers

Earlier this week I found an old quote in one of my journals. Later I was able to share it with a fellow struggler. We need these hard words sometimes to call us out of our groveling and challenge us to believe the gospel and find joy and hope!

You say you feel overwhelmed with guilt and a sense of unworthiness. Well, you cannot be too aware of the inward and inbred evils you complain of, but you may be (indeed you are) improperly controlled and affected by them. You say it is hard to understand how a holy G-d could accept such an awful person as yourself. You, then, not only express a low opinion of yourself (which is right!) but also too low an opinion of the person, work, and promises of the Redeemer, which is wrong...You complain about sin, but when we examine your complaints, they are so full of self-righteousness, unbelief, pride, and impatience that they are little better than the worst evils you complain of!"
-- John Newton, to a pastor friend who was struggling

~John Newton, taken from "The Glory of the Gospel: Studies in Paul's Letter to the Galatians".