The Silver-lining

Unmerited favor is the truest definition of grace. It took me time to comprehend that. There were doubts and questions. But through it all, I'm glad I understood. I felt the vacuum when I tried to be someone I couldn't be. It was a tough fight. It was more like hypocrisy. But then I understood. Beyond the cloud of doubt and confusion, I could see the silver-lining. That grace is the only medicine to be what God wants me to be. Forgiven by mercy, having escaped justice and holpen by grace.

The feeling was warm. The environment was nothing so sacred. In the most normal of circumstances, as I went through my own notes - the answer was there. The hope that I had once dared to believe in, stared me back in my eyes. And it won! Yes, grace won in my life! Everything changed when I took it in all again. When I again chose to believe that God's grace is all that can save me, and it is all His doing, its all His grace, its all God - I could feel the pulse of freedom - the joy streaming down my veins again!

O how great that feeling! To be free from the clutches of sin! From the pangs of loneliness! From the scourge of guilt! From the pain of worthlessness! Grace brings freedom. Grace brings peace. Grace is the answer to life's greatest question - Why am I here? I'm here because of GRACE: forgiven, healed, justified and sanctified. Beyond the shadow of all doubt, greater than the massiveness of law, shunning the gloom of dark clouds - there is a silver lining. There is GRACE.
The ultimate, final and absolute answer.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

If My People

II Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The boy walked along the ocean shore... trying not to stray. He looked up to his Father saying " Dad I want to play." His Father looked upon him, with love showing in his eyes. "Do what you want to, my son... but do not leave my side."

"I would never leave you daddy, I love you way too much." But the boy took a step away, out of his fathers range of touch. He walked through the surf, The waves tickling one toe. "If I take one more step in... " he thought "Father will never know."

His father called out to him, "Son, to me remain true." The boy thought with glee... At the moment I don't need you." His Father felt a sadness, But he held his tongue. Sometimes lessons need to be learned... even when so young.

The boy stepped out a little further... the water covering his waist. His Father spoke with urgency... his father spoke with haste. "My Son come Back to me," he said " The day is almost done." Not yet, Dad," the boy yelled, " I'm having too much fun!"

But the Boy did not have his fathers sight... So he could not tell... The Tide was coming in fast... There would be no time to yell. "Father!" he tried to scream As the water covered his head. "I need you now daddy!" was what the boy had said.

And in a single instant his father was by his side. "I thought you left me daddy... I thought you went to hide." The Father looked upon his son... a tear streaming down his cheek. The Boy looked upon his father. and cried the sobs of the meek.

"I would never leave you son... For I love you just the same. " "I was only waiting... for you to call upon my name."

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Adapted.

Why I know God is there

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen...

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists." "Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me." "Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!
That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Most people think of the word Ego and think that it means your "arrogant" or you think that you are "better than others". Is that truly the definition of Ego? Is that the only example of Ego?

Absolutely not. Ego is an invisible shield planted around yourself to protect yourself from the outside world. Ego shows up in all sorts of ways.

Ego is being "shy" and not wanting to talk to people. Ego is fear of what others might think of you. Ego is self critical and refuses to accept compliments. Ego is a lack of trust for people because your trust has been violated. Ego is living inside of a comfort zone, because you are afraid of failing. Ego is thinking that everything you do is perfect or striving for perfection. Ego is taking the credit when it doesn't belong to you or not liking it when someone else gets credit. Ego is giving up on the persistence God implanted in you. Ego is being closed minded. Ego is not allowing yourself to learn and grow for fear of the responsibility that comes with that. Ego is not forgiving because you feel justified in your anger. Ego chooses to take offense to what others say or do. Ego is self righteous and critical. Ego is false humility. Ego is oppression and not wanting to move past the past. Ego is having to be in control of everything. Ego is thinking nobody can do it better than you. Ego is an inability to admit you need help. The Ego needs to "keep up with the Jones". Ego needs to appear like everything is perfect when it isn't. Ego is a victim. Ego is pride.

This is only a few examples of Ego. We all comfortably wear our Ego. We just need to make the choice daily to take the invisible shield off and be the true person God intended for us to be. He is in control, he knows our path, he is ready to take on ALL road bumps in our path. If we hand over complete control to God and not try to live it alone, our Ego will safely be left outside the doorway of our life.
In short, Ego is Edging God Out.

Adapted

Why God became man!

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived.
They were to talk about Jesus’ birth. She asked him to come, but he refused.
“That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man?
That’s ridiculous!”
So she and the children left, and he stayed home.
A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump.
Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet.
When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window.
In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought.It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.
So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize that it could mean for them.
The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away.
He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.

Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

“Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed.

“Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?”

He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.

He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese-blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come.

Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

“Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”

Adapted.

The Compass

An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed their advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally he was rescued by his friends.

Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, "Why didn't you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!"

The sailor responded, "I didn't dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast."

That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north that he stubbornly tried to force his own personal persuasion on his com- pass. Unable to do so, he tossed it aside as worthless and failed to benefit from the guidance it offered.

Perhaps you, like I, have spent some time in a sailboat. Relying on the boat to keep us afloat we slide across the water propelled by a gentle breeze. Yet within the confines of the shores, I had the opportunity and responsibility of guiding the rudder to determine the direction of travel.

Is that not similar to living within the will of God? As Christians we must rest upon God to sustain us, and upon the breath of his Spirit to empower us. Yet within his moral boundaries, we each have the opportunity and responsibility to determine our course.

But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. - Jeremiah 7:23

Source: Unknown