Dec 26, 2013
The School of Discipleship class here in Canada just recently finished reading Charles Swindoll’s, The Grace Awakening. One point Swindoll made had to do with the significance of giving others the freedom to be who they are.
The way I was best able to apply and more fully understand his point was by imagining what it will be like if I have kids someday. I hope I would be a parent who imparts wisdom and disciplines my children when necessary, but also one who gives them the freedom to be who they are, as well as the room to make mistakes.
I think that this practice of letting others be can be applied not only to parent-child relationships, but to friendships and marriages as well. While there may be times for speaking words of caution and correction to our loved ones, I believe there will also be times when the best thing we can do is to just let them be.
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Dec 23, 2013
Recently the Lord has been showing me that He is allowing me to do some things in my own strength, and do it well (ex. time management, punctuality); but the things which I can never do in my own strength, because they deal with my heart or my inner life (ex. changing my attitude, getting rid of pride), I don’t have much success at all. Praise God for showing this to me! I desire to grow in this area, relying completely on Him and doing everything in His strength alone!
The other day we had a time of solitude and the Lord brought to my mind the thought “If I did not receive anything for serving the Lord, would I still serve Him?” That really struck me when He brought this to my mind! Lord, forgive me my pride and selfishness! I strongly desire to come to a place of 100% complete dependence upon my Lord and Saviour.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I am learning these things! But once again, the head knowledge helps me absolutely zilch if I do nothing to incorporate these truths into my life! Praise God for His grace in loving me and making me complete in Christ, even though I have nothing to bring Him!
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Sep 4, 2013
Grace is so amazing! It completely boggles my mind! I don’t understand how the God of the universe could bestow grace upon us humans. To think, that because of His grace, I get to spend eternity with Him forever! If he would have given justice, hell would have been our destination after death. If it was mercy, God might have let us just live in an earth state for eternity. But no, He gave us…me grace! I can look forward to being in His presence till the end of time and beyond!
Looking forward to being with Him forever is staggering as it is, but I also have the chance to live in freedom until I wait for that day. His grace frees me to be no longer have to obey the enemy with his temptations, or my own fallen flesh. Through grace, I can live free from the bondage of these things, as well as my own pride and legalistic thinking.
Knowing all this, my mind (like I said before) is completely blown! I am reminded that the Lord loves me (I will never be able to understand how much He does) This makes me want to spend all my time with Him, alone. Just the two of us. To have no distractions keeping me away from knowing Him more.
This amazing grace is, well…amazing to know about, but it is so much better to live! Jesus has helped me to, more or less, chill out. I tend to be very legalistic, and when I make a mistake, I feel like a failure (which is not true). As I apply this grace, I am reminded that I will make mistakes, but God does not view me as a failure. He views me as what I will be when He is done perfecting me. I can’t tell you how encouraging and relieving that is!
When I am reminded of this grace that God has shown towards me, I find it easier to have grace for others as well. I need to continue to have grace for others, because the Lord is working in their lives as He is working in mine. He might be working on different characteristics or sins hidden deep down inside. I should let God be God and not judge my brother or sister because they might not have the same opinion on the issue being discussed. Grace gives me room to respect, and even more importantly, to accept their opinion. To have an open mind that is ready to hear different views on a topic. I know, and am reminded how much I didn’t deserve God’s grace, and this allows me to give grace to others.
I can’t say that I have attained the grace yet in all areas of my life, but I sincerely hope that one day, I will be able to say I am completely free. Free in Christ, free indeed. Free at last.
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Aug 19, 2013
I find it amazing how God works! I’m finding that He works in different people’s lives in many different ways and He’s working in my life in a different way than He is in my brother’s and sister’s lives!
The book that we as students are going through right now is called “Grace Awakening” by Charles Swindoll. Boy!! I sure didn’t realize that I needed to have so much grace for others! The one thing that I am learning in reading this book is that if I expect others to give me grace, I also need to be willing to extend grace to them. God has given me grace so many times. I’m realizing that if it wasn’t for His grace, I wouldn’t be here. Thank You Lord for Your grace!
Another thing that I am trying to learn is to let other people be who God intended them to be. I don’t have to try to change anyone or make them believe exactly the way I believe because that’s not showing them grace. I have to let them be them and hopefully they’ll let me be me. I want to be able to work together with them in unity even if we don’t necessarily agree with each other in everything but we can still grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ together!
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Jun 17, 2013
This post will take a bit of a deeper, more personal look into what the Lord has been teaching me and showing me as of late. If I can find the words to express it. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.
Abba Father, the Comforter, the Creator of everything, my God, and my Savior. The past few months have been quite an interesting adventure, with the notorious highs and lows that are usually involved. However, something I never expected happened. As is often the case, the Lord has different plans than me, and if I’m patient enough to wait on Him and be content on where He takes me, then I will see that all the trials I go through were well worth it. Just like Romans 8:28 promises.
For those of you who know my past, you know it has been rather rough, yet through it all God has proved His overwhelming love for me time and time again. Without Him, I truly would be destroyed by the enemy, but in Christ, there is victory! That being said, I have had my share of struggles, and even though I know they are all lies of the enemy, for years I have entertained those lies until they became “truths” I believed in my heart. These lies have plagued my heart and my mind for many years, and even though I knew they were lies and not the Truth of God’s promises, it was really hard to let it all go and trust the Lord.
That being said, here is just one story of how God has been ridding my heart and mind of these lies: (note: I am not trying to brag through this story, I am only trying to share with you what God revealed to me.)
I have always had issues with my self image, thinking I am ugly, no one would ever think I’m pretty, and if they say so, then they only said that because they are trying to be nice. I would read Psalm 139:14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” That whole chapter would bring me comfort for a short time, but I never truly believed it and tucked it in my heart as Truth.
Now, God has been working on my heart ever so gently, and I have been gaining self confidence and am beginning to view myself the way He created me. He has given me friends who compliment me a lot (it’s really hard to accept compliments when you don’t believe they are true…). Then one day, after I got a little frustrated with a few of my friends for complimenting me so much, I was a little convicted and God told me to write apology letters to them, and to thank them for their encouragement. This was before a Tuesday night prayer meeting, and when I got home from that I was really tired (like most nights), so I got ready for bed.
As I was getting ready for bed I heard clearly “You’re beautiful”. God told me I was beautiful?! I guess I can’t argue with Him, so I said thanks and then went to bed. The next morning, however, He said it again. “You’re beautiful.” This time I believed it in my heart. God made me, if He says I’m beautiful, then I must be in His eyes, and His opinion is all that matters. That day I dressed up just for him.
This story is only one of the many that has been happening lately in my life. God has been restoring my heart, and my mind so much in the past few months that honestly, I’m not even close to the same person as I was before. I’m closer to the Lord in our ever growing and deepening relationship, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyways, thanks for reading this semi-different, more deep and personal newsletter. I’d love to hear your stories of God’s restoration in your lives! Just post them below in a comment, or send them to me in a message or email.
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