Dear Jesus, I am convicted, pierced, humbled before you today, but not destroyed or condemned…  Reflecting on one of my failings recently, I was frustrated with myself.  I imagined picking up a metaphorical 2×4 to smack myself upside my metaphorical head for being so stupid, so wrong, but immediately Jesus stayed my hand.  “No, that is the tool of Satan, to destroy.  Do not pick it up to use it, nor let it be used against you.  My tool is sharp, and its’ purpose is healing.”  So, I put down my board and received his piercing.   Although I feel like I’ve been attacked by a porcupine, at the same time, I am so grateful to Jesus that he will work in me and humble me and convict me (and privately, not in public humiliation).

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  2 Corinthians 4:8-9