Grace Archives - Page 3 of 4

November 15, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

So, Do You?

I went looking for answers.

I wanted to know.

My sixpack of kids have asked me, and I just didn’t know enough to satisfy – myself, or them.

I wanted to know.

What are God’s Promises?

Well, don’t you know… when you go asking God some questions…

He answers

He answers with brilliant clarity… with subtle signs… with barely breathed whispers…

But, He answers.

And, then.

Then, He tests to see if you were paying attention. He nudges to see if you took notes etched on the heart.

He asks a question right back.

Do you believe Me?

Oh, a beautiful journey to be certain… this sleuthing for divine truth. A thrill to discover just one more nugget.

Eye-opening, reassuring, even in the places of discomfort.

But.

Do I believe Him?

Every time?

In every situation?

He is asking me this. He is putting my newfound knowledge to the test. A grace-filled gift. This unnerving place of a pop-quiz in the flesh. The question is one. One question. Aimed at the harvest of this one heart.

Have these seeds taken root? Are the roots searching without end for the water of life? Will this seed yield a good crop?

I wrote for 31 days straight. Aiming directly at His truth… every day.

Then, I stopped.

Seized in a moment of awe. Watching life unfold around me. The unexpected. The fear gripping. The worry. The questions.

Through all this… He asks me right now.

Do you trust Me?

I whisper small, awestruck, to the voice of Ages.

Yes

This unraveling of presumed control. Unravelling into His arms of grace. Mercy. Faithfulness.

I have a story. I am watching it unravel. I am waiting.

Waiting to see where He is taking me.

And now.

I trust.

Are you in the middle of a story? Are you waiting on Him? Do you find yourself in this place of trust?

Isaiah 40:30-31

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

October 31, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Sketch of a Child (#31)

PROMISE #31 ~ ETERNAL LIFE

She wanders over to me, this 9-year-old sweetheart, and shows me…

Look, Mom, I want to draw something for you.

Hm, I whisper softly, distracted by some other something else.

I’m going to draw something that I know.

She goes to work, penning carefully… the design flowing from her young mind.

Studiously she creates the image, and begins to explain.

Look, Mom, here is where we are.

On this side. We are standing on a cliff.

See, here is a big gap. There, there is the other side, the other cliff.

The gap is just too big for us to jump.

There, on the other side… that’s God.

We can’t get to Him…

because He is perfect…

and we are not.

My preoccupied mind, now rapt with attention. This young girl, heart wide open… continues.

We were separated from Him.

But, look.

There in the middle. There is Jesus.

It’s because of Him… because of Him, that we can go to God.

See.

She sketches the child drawing… and etches her mama’s mind.

It’s that simple. See.

So simple a child sees it… sees it so clearly, that she can take pen to paper… and draw it.

Drawn out for the world to see.

Her sparkling chocolate eyes, lit with fiery love… look into mine.

There. That’s how we get to God.

Another voice breaks my thoughts, my gaze, my wonder at the faith of a child.

Well, it’s a good thing I know exactly where I’m going.

I’m going to heaven.

A gleeful younger sister chirps from the side. Flinging smooth locks over her shoulder… and skipping away.

That’s it. So simple a child can draw it, see it, know it.

Just because He says so.

This faith drawing me lower… to go higher.

Right to the face of the Father.

Just by believing.

This journey of promises. 31 days of seeking His word. It culminates here.

Between two cliffs. Standing in the gap. On His grace. Mercy. Promise.

PROMISE #31 ~ God promises us eternal life, with Him. Eternal Life. Just for believing Him in His promise.

John 6:46-48

No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.

October 30, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Grace Dance (#30)

PROMISE #30 ~ GRACE

The storm outside blows furiously. Her name is Sandy.

Sandy… a benign name for a massive force of nature, which may be why she has been nicknamed “Frankenstorm.”

I busy myself with laundry, cleaning, preparing. Filling water bottles, bathtubs, flashlights. Cooking pizzas, popcorn, chicken.

The preparation for a possible power outage.

Who knows if we’ll lose power? Who knows if trees will fall? Who knows what food will remain edible? Who knows how hard, how long, how furiously the winds will blow? How high the waters will rise?

I busy myself with the preparation… while my warrior prepares the things of warriors. Protection of the masses. The waiting game… waiting for word to assist the ones who may fall victim to damage from ferocious winds… rains.

I’ve watched the spectacular fall-tinted leaves… as they are ripped from their home base.

Flung wide.

Here’s a funny thing. I have been chasing God’s promises for 29 days. I vowed to complete 31. I suppose I made the vow to myself… my own self-promise. So, I am bound and determined to finish it. I am so close. I promised God that I would go for 31 days.

The 31 day promise seeking… a promise to myself… to God. And now, I face a possible power outage. Now, of course, this is not the greatest tragedy facing millions at this moment. This is nothing of fear. This really is no big deal in the big picture. It is simply something I wanted to finish. For me. For God.

Then, the words… the words from a dear sister ring in my mind.

It’s all in the prepositions.

It has nothing to do with “for”

It has everything to do with… “with”

I paraphrase the beautiful wisdom from a dear soul, so eloquently spoken to hundreds.

This thought… burying itself deep.

He doesn’t need us to do FOR Him. He wants us WITH Him.

He’s got it. He, after all, is God.

My fingers dance across the keyboard as the wind gusts ebb and flow outside the barriers of these four walls.

This dancing of fingers, for Him… change to a dancing ~ with Him.

I may or may not finish the 31 days. We may or may not lose power, trees, food, water…

We dance with Him, in this swirling world. Once again, opening hands to the Father… hands taken for the dance.

With Him.

This grace… His grace… a gift.

Not one thing I ever do, we ever do… will deserve it.

His grace. His grace is sufficient.

As we dance.

PROMISE #30 ~ God gives grace… His grace is sufficient.

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

October 18, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Forgiveness… follow suit (#18)

PROMISE #18 ~ FORGIVENESS

Truckload full. Tummies hungry. Tired eyes.

Late afternoon… nearing the end of a busy day. Just the beginning of the 5 o’clock somewhere moments.

Mom, can we stop and get a treat?

Pleeeease!

Frustration in this mama soul rears its head. An attempt at taming this tongue.

No, we need to get home.

Baby needs to get to bed and your little sister doesn’t feel good.

Determination… full force… from this generally agreeable, gentle-spirited, gem of a girl.

Persistence.

Pleeeease Mom!

My tongue losing its restraints… loosening the reigns… allowing a sword’s slice.

No!

And on and on and on… the battle ensues.

Fellow passengers grumbling, weary, wanting the ride to end.

Now, I know the root of the battle is hunger, weariness… the need for rest.

Truck load… unloads.

Piling into the house of kids, bags, books, banter.

This worn child scurries to her room. Tears free-flowing in solitude.

Mama feeds bellies, calms the boisterous… now, off to discipline.

Mom, I’m so sorry I acted that way.

I nod, repeating the words right back to her. Wild tongue reigned in again.

You know, we all do that sometimes.

You are forgiven.

I am sorry, too.

Thinking the deal is sealed, mama squeezing love into this young soul… and off to carry on with mama tasks.

Not so much. Not done.

Mama, I’m really sorry…

Red-eyed and puffy she comes to me again.

I am just so sorry for acting that way. I know better.

I wrap arms around in attempt to press out the remorse… allowing room for the new. Filling the hole with love. With learning.

Mama, please help me forgive myself.

There it is. Right there. The thing that holds us back too many times. The thing that keeps us from filling our gaping wounds with His love, His forgiveness, His redemption.

We just can’t… won’t… forgive ourselves.

We hang on, with ragged heart, ripe wounds, plain old refusal. Refusal to give it to Him… and even more… refusal to accept His forgiveness. All this… by refusing to forgive ourselves.

You know what, my sweetie?

I forgive you.

More importantly… God forgives you.

Every time you ask for it. Every. Time.

Giving a regretful heart to the Healer. Not the easiest thing to do… not without revisiting it again and again.

An encouraging hug for my little one’s soul…

If God forgives you… for everything…

and He wants you to be more like Him…

shouldn’t we follow His example?

Follow suit with Him. Clear the river flow of Holy water… to run freely once again.

The child eyes… new again.

PROMISE #18 ~ God forgives us.

Acts 10:43

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

October 13, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

From Hungry to Full (#13)

PROMISE #13 ~ HARDSHIP (but, trust in Him… and enter the Kingdom)

I read an article a few weeks ago.

It was about fasting. Now, I don’t know about you, but I had never even considered it. Yes, there are plenty… plenty of people who do this. Fasting is a way to draw closer to God, to seek His guidance, to come before Him in humility… taking the focus off of our daily events. I just thought this was something for monks… or Jesus.

Oh, to be like Him…

I have heard about fasting, I have a few friends who have done this… it just never occurred to me that I should give it a try.

And, then, God.

I don’t know where this sparked, well… let’s say, I don’t know why I responded to the nudge… but, I did.

One of the things about fasting is the need to keep it to yourself… between you and God. I feel compelled to share, not when or how I approached this challenge, but, rather the outcome… outcomes.

I have to say that in my walk, I have had several God moments that have left me speechless… kicking my God doubts straight to the curb. I have had the “Ah ha!” moments, the joyous moments of thanks, the moments of sheer frustration with my own inability to measure up (to my self-imposed I’ve-got-it-all-together-Christian-mama-wife standards). (Aside: I definitely do not have it all together, so these moments are rare). I have seen sorrow, breathed sorrow, tasted the saltiness of it from my cheeks.

What I am seeking… what I desperately want to meet first hand… is the intense knowledge that God is right here. The sense that my breath ricochets from His face before mine as I speak to Him. Bare soul.

and, then, the fast.

So, I was hungry. I was pretty grumpy. I looked at the clock and wondered when my time would be up. Then… I went to Him. When my thoughts went to my kids’ left overs… I went to Him. When I hesitated at the refrigerator door chocked full from a commissary run… I went to Him. You know what? He answered. No surprise. He answered clearly. No doubt. He was in my next breath.

It was one of the most intimate times I have spent with Him. My thoughts of lunch, of chocolate, of snacks… erased by His glorious presence…

filled with the sweet taste of grace

I looked at my clock… knowing that I had 2 hours left in my pact with Him. I was hungry. By no coincidence I glanced to the counter at a photo. A little boy in Africa… just months older than my baby… starving to death.

My prayers changed. From me to them. This day… a seeking of Him… and He showed me them. Again.

No coincidences. Just a little while later. Two letters arrived. The first letters from our sponsor children through Compassion. Again, them. Not me.

That we have a gracious God who answers our knocks and brings us in… that He acknowledges and blesses our efforts to find Him, to know Him, to be like Him.

It renders this soul… full

PROMISE #13 ~ God promises there will be hardships… but trust Him… and enter the Kingdom.

Acts 14:22-23

strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

So, Do You?

Sketch of a Child (#31)

Grace Dance (#30)

Forgiveness… follow suit (#18)

From Hungry to Full (#13)

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