Romans 8:16  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our own spirit that we are children of God. I lead the singing at a funeral yesterday and we sang a song called "The Life Boat".  I was not familiar with it. It was a very old southern gospel type song, and it was the deceased person's favorite song.  Allegorically Jesus was the captain of a ship.  What I liked about it was, as followers we were referred to as "jewels".  The life-boat was coming to gather the jewels home.  Also there was rejoicing and the chorus encouraged us to "Cheer my brother, cheer." Later in the day I talked with a friend who also liked the song and he said, "Thank goodness we didn't have to be wretches."  I feel the same way.  Once we are saved by grace and washed clean, we don't have to keep revisiting the "I'm so worthless" mentality over and over.  Some songs continue to drive that message home. Another old friend used to say (with great confidence), "I'm not a sheep, I'm a saint."  She made you feel the same way about yourself somehow when she said it. So this coming week, let us stand before God in our prayers as jewels, as his saint, and as children of God.  Feel it all the way through your breath and in your spirit. Be blessed.  Newsong.