Elisabeth Corcoran
About the Author

Elisabeth is a mom of two teenagers who loves to read, write and spend time with her kids and friends. She is the author of At the Corner of Broken & Love, One Girl, Third World, He Is Just That Into You, In Search of Calm, and Calm in My...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
Recent Posts

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thanks so much for being real & sharing your heart with us =]. Life is so hard & I’m sooooo thankful we have Jesus as our Very Best & Closest Friend. He is the only one who can carry us through life trials when we simply just don’t have strength to walk anymore. Praying for you =]

  2. Yes, yes, yes. Perfectly imperfect. This is what the life of faith is all about. I’m working on a piece where I’m trying to find 20 people to share what God has been saying to them recently. Would you be willing to come on over to The Messy Middle and share? I want to do a follow-up piece and would really appreciate the help. Thanks, Amy

  3. I attended a church as a teenager where we were told it was not about religion but rather a relationship with Jesus. We were told he loved us no matter what . . . that was all in one hand. My Mom would say the same things, but she and the church acted differently. Because in another hand, it was about doing enough so that I could be enough. My Mom would always use God against me. I felt shameful, like a failure, all the time. At school . . well, I thought everyone was headed to hell because I didn’t pray enough and reach out enough . . . I had to leave high school before I was finished because I nearly had a nervous-breakdown. I couldn’t hold on to such draining beliefs anymore, so naturally, I walked away. I was pregnant a year later, by someone I barely knew, who didn’t stick around.
    I’ve recently started to look at God, on my own terms, in a new light. I’ve wrestled with the concept on Christianity. In part wanting it to be true. Wanting the love of a gracious, Almighty, Father, but not knowing that this is really what I believe. I’ve come to learn that I can talk to “God” without knowing EXACTLY who he is, because regardless . . he knows exactly who I am. And he loves me, every little bit, no matter what! And he loves my parents (who hurt me), and the church I used to attend, and my daughter! And my daughter’s absent father.

    Thank you for sharing!

    • You are our Heavenly Father’s precious jewel and I can hardly wait to meet you in heaven soon. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. …call upon me, pray unto me, I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 God bless you!

    • This comment really resonates with me because at the moment I’m going through struggles in the not knowing who God is. Like you say I want to believe He is an eternally Loving Father who’s love is unconditional but I also feel torn because I feel so lacking. Verses like ‘love the Lord with all your heart’ ‘search for Him with all your heart’ put Him before everyone else. When I think of these things I just feel like giving up because I don’t know if I’ll ever get to a place where I can say that I’ve surrendered my whole life to God. Do I love God more than my family? I really don’t think I do.
      Sometimes I feel like walking away but I can’t do that completely God lives inside me and I can’t hide from Him, so I just pray that what I am capable of giving is enough

  4. Spending years in a struggling marriage must have been so hard for you. I’m sure that Christ carried you through those years and continues to carry you through your new place.

  5. Yes, “perfectly imperfect,” He already knows, why do we try so hard to hide it? Thank God for grace because I am one sinful human. You and I, Elizabeth, are beloved children of the Lord, imperfections and all. What a wonderful truth to hold onto!

  6. Thank you for sharing this. It’s as if you were looking into my life. I’m going through a 2nd unwanted divorce (I almost feel as if I have the Scarlet letter) and I wonder what happened to all my dreams…having Jesus and loving Him this should not be happening. It has made me reach deep inside and turn myself inside out and that it is God’s presence that I must continually seek or this life makes no sense at all.

  7. I am glad to be perfectly imperfect in the Hands of a God who loves me, whose mercy is new every morning – this is grace…

    And thankful He is patient with me on this journey of life as He works on me and changes me to be more like Him. That is the perfecting work that works!

  8. Your story is similar to mine in many ways, and I am also coming to learn the truths you described in your post – the hard way! I was wondering whether there were any good Christian resources you could recommend about going through separation and divorce? Thanks!

  9. Thanks for sharing Elisabeth! Darn shame it takes us/me sooo long to figure out that we are in this thing with God and He loves us the whole way. So we must tell our stories and tell the truth about how it really is because that is what sets others free!
    No one cares how perfect I am, but they do care about how God gives me great grace and carries me through all the hurt right into the happy again. Hope! what a good thing 🙂
    God bless you…and keep telling your stories,
    Sandie

  10. “It turns out that one can only live like that for so long before things start leaking and coming out sideways.” – Perfect imagery.
    And how you boldly reminded: ” And that no one’s opinion of me matters except One.” In my moments of greater clarity, I try to refresh that truth in me emphatically.

    Thank you for sharing. Thank you for your post. I was musing over fear and dreams on my blog in the wee hours of this morning, and I love how my Father gives me nudges and sweet words of more members of this great Body to remind me that He has a plethora of things to show me and refine in me. Words like yours – that come from the ever-present Spirit – are part of that gift. So keep at it. Keep the focus on the vertical and forget the horizontal. 🙂