All us minister's wives are home from a lovely weekend and our husbands are happy to have us back. ( Well, I hope ;-) ) I am happy to be back and spend time with my husband and start practicing the things God showed me this weekend. My massage got cancelled again- which was a bummer but I got in some outdoor reading on the mountain (the conference center is on top a mountain) a manicure, and a lovely nap. I got to spend time with the team and my mother-in law which was really quite fun. I am blessed to have an awesome mother in-law!
The first night we had a chocolate fountain party and our speaker Deborah Gill gave her testimony and spoke about relationship evangelism. Her testimony was just what I needed to hear. It's wonderful to hear about someone who went through a time of life that was devastating and came out glowing with God's love and grace. It seemed like every time I thought about what I am struggling with I felt like bursting into tears. God is really wiping that away little by little to make me feel held in His arms and cared for. I am feeling more and more peaceful and faithful about the direction he has the situation going towards. We watched some Anita Renfroe- who is hilarious and it seemed like we were at the cafeteria every 4 hours. Haha.
Sunday Deborah Gill's talk was so impactful I have been thinking about it for the past several days. I can't sum up into words the way God used her to speak directly to spiritual formation I needed. She spoke about not going empty handed to heaven. We can't bring our material things to heaven but the Bible talks about what we can. We will get "crowns" when we get to heaven filled with diamonds, gold, and precious stones and pearls. (Not literally- but they figurativly represent different things God has brought us through) Each of those will represent something we did for God that was so significant it was brought through the refiners fire. When we get to heaven we will be so grateful and will have something to give to Jesus- something we did for Him. To make a diamond you start with black lump of coal and it is squeezed to many times so tightly that eventually it turns into a beautiful clear shiny diamond. Sometimes we are squeezed by different situations and it takes time and serious work and even pain to get through. After enough squeezing- we can start to see the sparkle. My favorite illustration was the pearl. When an oyster has a thorn or piece of irritating sand- it puts out a milky substance to cover it. We can cover our "irritating people or situations" with grace. As you cover it with grace over and over- it eventually turns into a beautiful perfect pearl. Now your irritating person may not change- they may receive blessing by how you respond to them but overall you are the one who changes. I want to live a life of grace. God has given me His grace that I don't deserve. Wikipedia says that grace is receiving a positive benefit that one does not deserve to receive. Divine Grace also can be defined as God's empowering presence in ones life enabling them to do and be what they were created to do and be. How beautiful. Grace makes beauty out of ugly things. It's so beautiful remembering that each time I show someone grace, I am adding another layer to the pearl; I am being more like Christ. That is what I want to strive to do. Show others the grace Jesus has shown and is showing me. Praise God for his unending grace on me.
How can you add grace to your life?
Maybe listening when you don't feel like it, offering encouragement when you are upset, giving someone a break, the list goes on....any other ideas?
Posts
Decorate With Greens + Blues From Neptune
8 years ago
2 comments:
Much needed. Thank you. We've been struggling with church lately, it is somewhat depicted in skot's facebook message. grace is definitely something we must always keep striving for,
530 am? what are you doing up that early? Yes- I know church can be frustrating sometimes when it doesn't go the direction we hope. Church is filled with imperfect people striving towards Christlike perfection and that can often get a little messy- which is where grace can really help cover that irritating thorn. Praying for understanding about a situation and even sometimes feeling called to help change it often helps me. I will keep you guys in my prayers- that can be a tough thing to deal with. Just don't let it get between you and God. :-)
Post a Comment