Grace

Tonight while working out at Super Fitness I got so energized by a book I am rereading and a song by Chris Tomlin that I was listening to on my ipod. The book, I've mentioned before is Captivated by Grace by Dr. David Jeremiah. I'm telling you the second time through I'm getting so much more out of it. It may be because I believe I've really grown a lot this year in my relationship with God and I'm doing a better job at listening to His "still voice".
Anyway, this book has helped increase my appreciation of grace by reminding me of the many benefits of grace that is provided through my friend and Savior Jesus Christ.
Here's what was getting my juices flowing so much until I had to start running on the treadmill....or I was going to get off of it and start dancing...that would have looked strange.
Here's what Dr. Jeremiah writes: "The grace-driven believer disciplines his passions as a military leader would discipline his troops. And what passions? Eating, sleeping, talking, playing. The Spirit of God will point you to the specific issues of your own life."
I see hope in discipline.
I'm learning that as I continue my plan with Thin & Healthy for eating and exercising. There is such a strong correlation between our spiritual journey and the discipline of taking care of our body.
The beginning of Titus 2:12 says "We should live soberly..." I always thought of that word in a negative way - Whoa, did I have that wrong...a good translation of the word would be "with self-control". Well, how do you take care of your body...yes, it must be soberly. And your relationship with God? Yes, soberly, so you can exercise sound mind and judgement in all your passions and desires.
Wow - this stuff is life changing.
Read the words of "His Grace Is Enough" by Chris Tomlin or go get it on iTunes
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Great is Your love and justice
God You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me (x2)
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
God i see your grace is enough
I'm covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me

Provision

On May 22nd I received a call from my son-in-law telling me that Heather, my daughter, had taken ill while at a trade show in Massachusetts. He didn't know how bad it was but he was waiting to find out. Later he called me back to tell me she was very sick and had been admitted to the hospital there in Springfield. He said he was going to drive over with the kids, about a 12 hour trip. I told him, I'd like to go with you. I can help drive and help with the kids. It was a grueling trip. When we finally arrived around noon on Friday, Heather looked bad. They weren't sure when or if they were going to do surgery. They really needed to wait until her liver number wasn't so high. She was not happy and wanted to go home to have surgery. Her condition however was life threatening and she couldn't be transported home. She called and talked with her doctor back home and he advised she stay there, the condition "mild pancreatitis" can turn ugly quick and be life threatening. There we were, Greg and I and 3 kids staying in a motel visiting the hospital 2x each day and sometimes I would leave Greg there and take the kids on my own. What made the week-end even more stressful was it was Memorial Day week-end and on Sunday Heather was to host a baby shower for her sister Erica in Columbus, Ohio. Could it get anymore complicated. This was to be a big week-end for our family. We had planned to all go down together and have a great family time. Who would have guessed that something different was going to take place.
What I personally found interesting is that earlier that week our small group begun to watch a 3 part sermon series on "Joy" by Francis Chan. Yep, little did I know that I would soon be applying the scripture from Philipians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!" and Philipians 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
These verses would become all I could think about. OK, this is a tough test, standing there at my daughter's bed and seeing her in such pain and in mental anguish because she felt like she was ruining her sister's special time in not being able to host the baby shower and their mother was not going to be there either...in addition to that she realized there was no guarantee that something could possibly go wrong and she could not be there to take care of her children and husband. When you hear your daughter say "Take care of the kids mom" it does something to test that ability to "Rejoice" and yet I knew from my own personal experience that facing death when you are a child of God, a friend of Jesus...you are not in a bad place. You are in a Win-Win situation...but can you position yourself to rejoice and trust God for the outcome. Hmmm...why do we need such times to test us. I believe it's because God wants to share a secret with us. Check it out, Paul mentions it later in Chapter 4 -
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. There it is that nugget of truth, that exercise of the muscle that none of us wants to do the work to develop but that we all want to claim.
Sometimes we don't even know what we need... really need. We sometimes need to relearn the sufficiency of Christ our Savior.
This story has a happy ending, it's God putting us first....His loving us so much that He sent His Son to give us hope and to provide everything we could possibly need as His children. Whatever might come our way we would find HIS provision more than enough.