Laced With Grace

He “…emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men.”(Philippians 2:7)

When Jesus took on flesh, He chose to empty Himself - to be just like you and me and to live with the resources He has made available to us. He lived in complete obedience to the will of His Father, walking faithfully the path that would ultimately lead to more suffering than anyone has every known.

As we approach Easter, I am riveted by the scenes that played out before His crucifixion. In imagination I see Him in immeasurable agony in the garden, pleading for the cup to pass yet surrendering His will time and time again.

He stands in perfect humility before haughty, self-righteous men and suffers the torment of verbal and physical assault. Cruelly beaten and whipped, He begins the long, grueling journey to Golgotha’s hill. He has yet to face the deepest suffering of all – separation from His Father.

I read these words in scripture and my heart aches, rejoices, and wonders all at once:

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:2

“…for the JOY set before Him…” What could this joy be that would make such suffering endurable? I think of His victorious resurrection – conquering death for all time, His glorious return to heaven, taking His place at the right hand of His Father who loves Him beyond measure. His perfect fulfillment of all the Father had given Him to do.

Surely all of those things brought joy in His suffering. But the thing that makes my heart overflow with love for Him is the understanding that He was thinking of you and me when He chose to follow the plan that had been set in motion before the foundation of the world. He loved us so much He counted it all, all the pain and suffering, as joy. Joy – to offer to anyone who will receive it the priceless gift of eternal life. Joy – to give us a hope and future. Joy – to fill us with His Spirit and give us everything we need for abundant life. He has even made it possible for us to see the joy set before us in the times of our own suffering.

He is our perfect Savior, and one day we shall be like Him:

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” I John 3:2

Blessings,

Linda

A few weeks ago, I read the book, Heaven Is for Real. It’s a little boys astounding story of his trip to heaven and back. I read it in less than a day. I was thrilled, had goose bumps, wrangled with some the secrets he shared about the afterlife and I was flat out craving my heavenly home.

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

Now I recognize that this is just a little boy’s story and there is no way to “prove” what happened is factual. So, please just hear me out because I want to share a similarity I experience just today.

The little boy, four years old, died during surgery to repair his ruptured appendix. His name is Colton and upon his return to life and subsequent recovery, he begins to share snippets of his heavenly visit with his mom and dad. They share his accounts of encounters with people, angels, swords, rainbows, and Jesus.

I want to share with you one particular encounter. Colton is obsessed with rainbows because of the rainbows and the fantastic colors he saw while in heaven. Well one day….

From page 108, Colton’s Dad: So when, in the spring of 2004, the most brilliant rainbow we’d ever seen appeared over Imperial, we called him outside to take a look.

“Did it rain and I missed it? I asked Sonja.

She laughed, “I don’t think so.”

Colton was down the hall in the playroom, “Hey, Colton,” I called, “Come out and take a look at this.”

He emerged from the playroom and joined us on the front stoop.

“Look at that rainbow, Colton,” Sonja said. “There definitely should be a big pot of gold at the end of that thing.”

Colton squinted, peering up at the colors pouring across the sky.

“Cool,” he said with a nonchalant smile, “I prayed for that yesterday.”

Then he turned on his heel and went back to play.

…. I prayed for that yesterday…..

I was blown away by this and for days now, God has not let this tiny sentence flee from my mind or soul. Colton has a simple faith. Enough to pray and expect God to deliver to him personally a rainbow, on a day without rain.

Oh why don’t I talk to God like this and why don’t I believe that if He loves me and I am living in His presence and if I’m praying without selfishness and within His will, why would He not answer me with the seemingly impossible?

So, I went and sat with God in my garden just this morning. I talked with God about an area He wants obedience and vowed to repent and give complete obedience and I asked my Lord to give me a giant request I have secretly stored in my heart. “Lord, you know I want to share what you have done in my life with a large audience, really large, a million or more, Lord. On radio, Lord. So Lord today I’m asking with simple faith and in simple love in obedience, Lord, to open that door. And Lord do it today.

A bold request I know. But I believe in Him.

Today around 1 p.m. Dineen, my coauthor, telephoned. She had received word that we will be guests in the future at a large radio station. Details to come later.

I bawled. Then laughed. I hugged people in the office. I looked up and said out loud in front of my stunned coworkers, “THANK YOU JESUS.” I cried some more.

I’m undone that a sinner, a broken and messed up girl like me, is loved by a Sovereign and Almighty God. His son Jesus died for me and now petitions for me. I truly can’t take it all in. But, I KNOW I am loved by the God of the Universe.

I surrendered much I “thought” was important in this life only to discover what is truly important, a life lived for Christ. And it’s so much better than my tiny dreams.

So today my friends, surrender… give Him all of it. Live for Jesus and pray with belief and watch what our Great God can do.

Be embraced by the King. He loves us so very much, Lynn

Have you ever felt like you were alone in the big pond of life?

I will admit—there have been many times, even sitting in a room full of people, I’ve felt that “aloneness” that seems to creep up behind me—from out of nowhere. You look around and seems as if everyone has “someone”.

There are those around you that seem to have found their niche` in life. That perfect job landed at their feet with very little effort from them.

They seem to belong to all the right clubs, organizations—and even seem to have the “perfect” friends. You want to yell—“what’s up with that?”

There was a time, many years ago—I think it was as my girls were becoming more social and needed me less—I too felt that “aloneness”. But it was also in that time I began to seek God for “more” of Him.

The journey we walked—and I say “we” because His Word assures us that we are never alone, was hard. I won’t even try to pretend that it wasn’t. Those years were some of the hardest in my life….but they were also the years I found God to be more real in my every day activities than I ever experienced before.

Why do you think that was?

I will tell you my opinion, then you share yours.

I believe it was in that time of desperation and need of Him—that I sought Him the deepest—and with the most sincerity than I ever had before. Not that I didn’t seek Him—but I sought with purpose. I was NOT content to continue in life as I saw everyone else. Satisfied with the norm. My name is not “norm” and I didn’t want to live like the norm.

I wanted (and want) MORE of God active and working in my life than ever. But I learned to work “in me and through me” He had to work ON me. Ouch.

I learned that before we learn to fly—we will experience ups and downs of life just as everyone else—but I also know first hand –that we will experience such tremendous power in His Spirit that we will feel like we could actually “walk on water”!

That happens as we FULLY and TOTALLY give Him access to every part of our lives. Before long, as we are growing in Christ, we begin to experience a time of “pruning”. Ouch again. But if you will notice the trees that are blooming the prettiest—and fullest, experienced a pruning. A cutting back—cutting away.

Jesus said this: “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” John 15:1-2 NLT

Go ahead.

Go before Him and ask Him to prune away. Prune away all the hindrances, the things that bind us and keep us from growing. Ask Him to remove the distractions. There may be things that are not necessarily wrong, but they are a distraction from what HE may be calling YOU into.

Painful? Yes.

Beneficial? To quote my Grandbuddy, “You betcha”.

Before long, you will find that you are ready to soar….to parts unknown.

Wow! The experience of that—will be amazing.

(He’s pruning on me. Is He you?)

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Previously posted at © The Knightly News~Giving Him All. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Pictures taken at the “Flanigan Farm”.