Hey there! I’m M. And this is my story.
I thought life was about me. My ambitions. My dreams. My plans.
I grew up in a loving family. Papa was away to provide for us, while Mama stayed close to nurture me and Ate.
Though I grew up believing in God as a Catholic, He still felt distant. Life ultimately depended on my own efforts, choices, and desires.
Then one day, I woke up to silence.
Not the peaceful kind, but one that lingered after years of distance and unresolved pain. My parents’ marriage was falling apart. Mama took me and sought refuge elsewhere. As we were leaving the house, I knew that was going to be the end of our happy family. Our family, once my comfort and security, had already been broken.
Years later, I found myself living alone in an all-girls Catholic dormitory. I seemed independent and capable. But beneath that were insecurities, loneliness, and a longing for acceptance that I carried for years. This gaping hole made me seek love in the wrong places, leaving my heart broken.
Instead of slowing down to confront my emptiness, I buried myself in ambition. With my broken family and my broken heart, I thought earthly success would make me whole. Some doors opened. Others closed. For years, I tried again and again. But when the last opportunity I hoped for also fell apart, I was left facing the same reality again: even the dreams I held tightly for years had fallen apart.
Through all those years, I had always known Jesus.
I knew Jesus from religious tradition and childhood devotion. Later, when I entered evangelical spaces, I encountered a language of “relationship over religion” and emotional experiences that made faith feel personal and uplifting. Yet looking back, I realize I still did not truly know Christ. I had never truly seen myself rightly before a holy God.
Over time, through failures, disappointments, and seasons of pruning, God showed me that life never depended on me. He began exposing what ruled my heart: pride, self-reliance, desire for control, and love for self. Little by little, He showed me that my greatest problem was not merely broken circumstances, but my own sin. And by His grace, I began to see myself for who I was and to see Jesus for who He truly is:
That I was completely dead in my sin, completely unable to be good and completely hopeless;
That God is holy and He requires perfect holiness;
That the penalty of my sin is eternal death;
That I could not save myself through my own goodness or efforts;
That faith in Christ marked by genuine repentance is my only hope for salvation;
That Jesus is not only my Savior, but He is also my Lord;
And I ought to live my life serving my Lord and my King.
It took years for me to truly know Jesus.
The only way to truly know Jesus is through His Word and within the shepherding of a faithful local church.
Today, I am a member of Higher Rock Christian Church. Our church is not perfect, and neither are we. But through faithful preaching, fellowship, discipleship, and the ordinary means of grace, the Lord has steadily shaped my walk through the years. He has taught me to behold Him through Scripture and to treasure His truth more deeply.
That is partly why this space exists.
As I spent more time reading God’s Word, I often found myself carrying quiet reflections, convictions, and truths that lingered in my heart long after reading. Indeed, it is every saint’s privilege to meditate on God’s Word and to hold the pages of life with our very hands.
And so, Gleanings of Grace was born.
It is not a teaching platform. It is simply a record of what I am learning from Scripture–gleanings I long to share with others in the hope of stirring a love for God’s Word.
Through seasons of brokenness, I’ve come to embrace an irrefutable truth:
Life was never about me, but all about God’s Kingdom.
I’ve left my earthly pursuits for recognition, success, and personal ambition. I’ve counted them as rubbish for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ–the Greatest Cause one could ever live for. He is worth all the cost. And I long to serve Him, however imperfectly, with my life–with every thought, word, and work He entrusts to me.
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Dear friend,
Do these truths seem distant to you? Have you been weighed down by despair, unable to find lasting hope elsewhere? Our greatest need is not success, approval, comfort, or escape from hardship. Our greatest need is reconciliation with the holy God we have sinned against.
We are all sinners. I am no better than you. Left to ourselves, none of us could save ourselves nor meet His perfect standard. He requires perfect holiness. His standard cannot be lowered. But in His mercy, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save sinners through His life, death, and resurrection.
And even now, the invitation of the Gospel remains open:
Repent and believe in Christ.
If you desire to know more about the hope found in Him, I encourage you to reach out to a faithful local church where you can hear God’s Word preached and learn more about Christ.
By God’s grace, may this be one small seed in your own journey toward truly knowing Christ.
Gleanings of Grace 