Laced With Grace

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” ~ Matthew 16 16:24-28 (ESV)

Over the last month I have digi-scrapped a lot – I mean a LOT. With digi-scrapping you have online communities you share your layouts with. Not only do I like to share my pictures with others, but I also see it as a way to share my faith. I would say that about 75% of my layouts have either a Bible verse or a quote that references God. That is not always popular.

How do I know? Well, although I am not a Picasso or Van Gogh, my layouts are nice (okay maybe I am partial ). You see, people are allowed to comment on your layouts. Some comments read “nice”, “oh what a pretty picture”. I know that those comments come from people who do not yet believe in the Truth. But then again, that is up to Him to change their hearts…

There are many ways we can share our faith. Not only on Sundays when we go to worship and are surrounded by other believers–that is the easy part. It is a little harder to live out our faith during the week, isn’t it? Not everyone agrees with our views, how we act or what we say. I run into this every day at work. But to be honest–I don’t mind. I rather be ‘popular’ in the eyes of my Savior, than with the world.

Jesus told His disciples “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. Although I might not be ‘commonly liked or approved’, I rather follow Him than loose my life.

Lord of Heaven and Earth. Help me to keep my focus in my every day life. Lord, I do not want to loose sight of You and Your promise. Although it might not be easy to live out my faith, I know that Your Spirit will help me to stay focused on the important things. Lord, thank You that I am popular in Your eyes. In the precious name of Jesus ~ Amen.

Blessings on your day and as always…

            We live on a little two lane country road. It used to be just a little dirt road, but the city seems determined to encroach into our small town. I could write a whole book on that subject!! Suffice it to say, things have changed dramatically. At one time, the only traffic on said road were the vehicles of the other three families who lived here and the cows that seemed to be geniuses in the art of getting out of their pasture. These days it is so busy, we have to plan our walk around the heaviest traffic times – but I digress.
     We have not become so civilized as to have sidewalks, so we walk on the side of the road. When I walked alone, I never noticed all the little rocks that make their way into the road, but when my husband started walking with me – he did. For some reason, he feels compelled to kick them out of the road and into the grass along the side. He is clearing the road of potential flying objects (which presumably might hit us as we walk). I thought this a clear waste of energy, but tending to be a follower rather than a leader I soon found myself kicking away at helpless rocks.    
     I have found in my walk with the Lord that He uses simple object lessons to teach me truths. Since we have been going through some difficult circumstances, I got to thinking of the rocks as little guys who have gotten into a very bad situation. There they are out in the middle of the road vulnerable to all kinds of potential harm. Cars drive by regularly not to mention trucks and school buses. At any moment they could come to great harm.
      This is where I come in. I am like God (only in this little object lesson mind you). I see that the rock is in a very bad place, and so I give it a good kick to get it out of said bad place and into a place of safety. Now the rock probably does not want to be kicked. In fact, the kick is very likely painful to the rock. What it doesn’t understand is, that unless it experiences that brief time of pain, it cannot reach a place where it will be protected and at peace.
     I think like the rock, there are times I may be in a place where God thinks I am heading for great harm, or even that I just need to move to a place that is better for me. So He kicks me! The kick may be any number of painful things that happen in life, but if God is doing the kicking I can be assured it is for my good. Once the pain of the kick is over, I find myself in a better place.
     Now I realize this leaves a lot to be desired as far as an analogy goes. I very often send the rock flying in the opposite direction I intended, and it ends up in an even more vulnerable place. Not good. There are also times I miss altogether and the poor rock is left sitting exactly where it was.
      God doesn’t make mistakes. Anything that comes to me He intends for my ultimate good. He doesn’t just go around aimlessly kicking “rocks”. Sometimes it is just a gentle tap, and other times it takes something a bit more robust to get my attention. I wish I could learn all my lessons the easy way, but I know that I can be downright stubborn sometimes. I’m glad the Lord cares too much about me to leave me in a bad situation and that His kicks come with lots of love and grace. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

                                                      Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

(Isaiah 25:1)TheMsg — “God, you are my God. I celebrate you. I praise you…. You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders, well-thought-out plans, solid and sure. ……. But you, shelter from the storm ,….”.

So many things are going on in my life. Your life. The lives around us. We are living in a fallen broken world. A world of tears, yet we find joy. A world of fear, yet there is comfort. And a world of disappointment, yet we have faith, hope and a promise.

Let me tell you of a story…

Many years ago, my best friend Jayne and I were sailing on the lake. We misjudged our time on the lake and before long a terrible storm came up. In the distance, we could see and hear Jayne’s dad yelling, “Come home.” If you know anything about sailing (which we did not), you know it’s not a straight shot back. You have to zig-zag the boat back and forth in. By now, we are somewhat panic-stricken and are making a total mess of the sail. The wind was picking up and the sail was flapping as if to give away at any moment. Laughing at our sudden failure to launch, but fearful of the storm approaching, we weren’t sure whether to jump out of the boat and swim or continue to salvage this voyage. But Jayne’s dad saw what was happening and started yelling out instructions. By listening to the faint voice of Jayne’s dad, we followed his instructions and finally made it back to shore .

Several years later, Jayne heard another calling, that of her Heavenly Father, “Jayne, come home.”

There I was left sitting on the shore by myself in a fearful storm without my best friend. The winds picked up many times over the years and I wasn’t sure whether to jump ship or salvage the voyage.

It took many years of living in that storm of anger, hurt and confusion before coming to understand God’s love and God’s forgiveness. If it hadn’t been for this storm in my life, I may have never known the degree of forgiveness that I have learned through forgiving the man that took my bestfriend’s life. And yes even forgiving God.

Nor would I have ever felt the love of my Abba’s arms.

For if it were not for my journey, I may never have sought rest in Your arms.

Papa, I will praise you in the storm.