Growing in Grace

This past week my spirit has been quite unsettled. I began the week embraced in the warmth of the Savior's love and affirmation. Then I found myself ensconced in my convictions on a mountain of pride looking down at a world who just didn't meet my standards. And the last day or so I've been stuck in the muck of negativity, only seeing the dark side of things and people. Sigh. . . why the change? I've been reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. Yesterday I shared a quote from the book on Facebook - "The eyes are bad - my perspective. "Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body', Jesus said. 'When your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!' (Matthew 6:22-23). If Satan can keep my eyes from the Word, my eyesight is too poor to read light - to fill with light. Bad eyes fill with darkness so heavy the soul aches because empty is neve

. . what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." John 12:27-28 As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour. We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them. Sorrow removes a great deal of a person's shallowness, but it does no

Chapter two of the Gospel of John tells of Jesus’ first public signs revealing Him as the Son of God. The first was at a wedding in Cana. The wine had run out and Mary, Jesus’ mother, asked Him to intervene. This event was important even though it was only known by a few. Jesus revealed his authority by setting himself apart from His mother. He was not just an earthly son, He was the Son of God. Warren Weirsbe points out that Mary didn’t place the focus on herself, but Jesus. She trusted Jesus to do what was right. What a wise example for us to follow as well! Because Jesus revealed his glory in this way, it gave the disciples a stronger foundation of faith. It is not that they simply believed in the sign that Jesus performed. Weirsbe writes that a sign is “something that points beyond itself to something greater. It was not enough for people to believe in Jesus’ works; they had to believe in Him and in the Father who sent Him.” The Harvest study writes, “the disciples had placed

"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33 The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. . . " (Psalm 91:1, 10) - the place where you are at one with God. If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." He is saying, "There is nothing for you to fear." The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of w