The Journey of Grace

There is a song by Big Daddy Weave called "I am Redeemed".  It is a powerful song that has ministered to me every time I heard it over the past few months.  Wednesday, driving in my car, I had a revelation that I really am redeemed, it was if Christ was sitting in the car with me saying "Child, life up your head" and "stop fighting a fight that's already been won."  The song says:

 All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, "Child lift up your head"
I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet

Over the past year, I have shared bits and pieces of my testimony as I share about my job and the road that lead me there, and brought me to where I am now.  I know, that as moving as it can be for others, I barely scratch the surface of what God has done in my life.  I also know deep inside, that part of me doesn't share it all because, as this song says:

Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"

I realized, listening to this song today that I have been trying to fight a battle that was already won.  I am not the person that I used to be.  And there is no battle I have to fight to overcome it, because the day I accepted Christ into my life, the battle was one.  I became a new creature.  The old things passed away. 

There are times (when I have no time) that I feel led to write all that God has done in my life.   "The Path of Grace", as I know that it is only by God's grace I am even alive.  Then I reason with myself that it is not all my story to tell and that I am certainly not where I need to be.  I have no "right to share" because I have not arrived.

I continue to share as I feel led, with individuals and groups that can benefit from the reminder that regardless of where you have been, what you have done, or what others think and say about you, if you have accepted Christ, you are a new creation.I share to remind people that, people can change if given the encouragement and direction.

 I don't have to be the old man inside of me
'Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I've got a new name, a new life, I'm not the same
And a hope that will carry me home

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, 'cause I'm not who I used to be

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe every stain, yeah, I'm not who I used to be
Oh, God, I'm not who I used to be
Jesus, I'm not who I used to be
'Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

Listening to the words of this song, maybe it is really the Journey to Grace.  It is the lessons that I am really learning along the way that help others along in their journey.   The path before me is God's Grace, the path behind me has been the Journey to stay on it.am not who I used to be, I am redeemed.

Walking on the promises of God

^{Genesis9:13-16} I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;  and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

Friday as I was driving home from Cassville I encountered a really awesome sight.  Then as quickly as it was there, it was gone.  As I topped at hill coming down Hwy W out of Wheaton, MO I saw the biggest, fattest rainbow I have ever seen.  I reached for my phone to take a picture, drove down in the valley, and then it was gone and the rain was pouring down.

I quickly thought, it is in faith that we stand on the promises that God has spelled out for us in His Word.  I have heard believers and nonbelievers alike stand on God's promise to not destroy the world through flood.  They have faith as they see the rainbow of this covenant, even though they may not be followers of Christ.  

Yet, just as I moved towards that promise, and then was quickly overtaken by the storm as the sign of that promise faded.  How many times do we see the promise in sight, but get so caught up in the storm that we let go of the promise.  We know the promises of God, memorized them as children, but we fail to walk in them because of the storm surrounding us.   We must come to the point, that regardless of what we see, we stand on the promises of God.

I am reminded of the words of an old hymn by R. Kelso Carter 

 Standing on the promises I cannot fall, 
 listening every moment to the Spirit's call, 
 resting in my Savior as my all in all, 
 standing on the promises of God.

It is time that as Christians that we stop being pushed around by the storms of this world and stand on the promises of God.  That we not only stand on the promises, with a head knowledge of what the word says, but that we walk them out knowing that what God has promised is ours to have, it was given to us completely at the resurrection of Christ.  We can rest in that promise.