Skip to main content

Sea of Grace


Too often, I have viewed these current days as a mighty sea determined to storm against me. Life hasn't swept by smoothly this year. Instead it's been a year of great extremes. Driving to our son's wedding brunch, I mentioned to my husband that life has really turned out so very different than what I ever thought it would. He answered with a question, "Why do you even have such preconceptions?" I had to think, yes, I often find myself comparing true reality to my own "mind reality." Maybe that's the source of a raging sea within . . .

Somehow, I guess I thought that those preconceptions would be better than the present. But when I find myself holding on to them, I lose my present joy in the moments set before me. I realized that day that I no longer want to miss out on life as it really is. The fact being that I get caught up in using my preplanned ideas to try and control circumstances. In that process, I end up feeling used and disappointed when it doesn't turn out my way. But what a selfish thing to even say or think!

I need a new vision of the sea. Yesterday, while hiking up the hill, with my happy companion, Goldyn, I realized that God has placed me in a sea of grace. The greater I have been in need, the more desperate my circumstances have become, the deeper His grace has swelled. You see, God is love, his intent toward me is good, he wants the best for me, he's always looking out for me. He is constantly reminding me that even if I'm drowning, I'm in his sea of grace and mercy. In that sea, I'll find that good can come from what I thought would be the end of me . . .

"The greatest saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most grace, who indeed are most in need of grace--those who are saturated by grace in every dimension of their being."
(Dallas Willard, 2002)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easter Production

Driving down the freeway, the large billboard caught my eye.  "Join us for our Easter Production,"  it beckoned with splashy brown and orange colors.  It made me think, yes, that's what the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been reduced to. . . a man made production.  Even this very day we celebrate, the headlines are all about the celebrities that attract the biggest Easter crowd.  E.G. "Tim Tebow draws thousands to Texas Easter service."  Once again, I had to think . . . who is Easter really about?  What happened to "Jesus draws a crowd?" I have grown tired of celebrity worship.  Yet, it seems in America that is what most Christians are interested in. We flock to mega churches, we drink in videos and studies all geared to keep us simple minded and complacent.  No longer is theology a priority to be taught.  No, it's better to read through the Bible in a year by reading only 5 minutes a day.  Never mind, contemplating or discuss...
Post a Comment
Read more

Close Encounters of the Spiritual Kind

   " Put yourself in the path that God will work." (Pastor Martin Smith, 1/2024)  On a crisp, clear Saturday morning, I started up the hill with Gypsy Rose eagerly leading the way.  I was more caught up in the fresh air feeling that was invigorating, than paying attention to the few cars that passed us by.  But there up ahead, a small red truck had slowed to the curb to flag me down.  "Could I help him find his son's house?" He was an older gentleman with his phone in hand.  He couldn't reach his son because the calls only went to voicemail, and he didn't have his address, only that it was somewhere here in Rancho.  I googled his son for him, but unfortunately, it only brought up an older address which was the current address now for this man.  There was no updated address for Rancho Cucamonga.  I told him the bad news, but he was so very gracious.  He did everything to show me that he was for real, pulling out  his driver lice...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Breeze

  Gypsy Rose immediately prances to the back door as she hears her name.  We are ready for our morning walk, which has started later than usual, since I have some of these summer days off.  But it is still early enough to catch the morning breeze.  Walking south, I am refreshed by feeling the gentle wind all around me, it's a cool wrap in contrast to the summer sun.  But it all seems to disappear as I turn the corner and head west, my summer breeze is gone.  I am at a loss for it even as I continue north and east.  It's only as I begin the southern sidewalks back home that I am met with the blissful breeze.  I realize that though I wasn't feeling it for most of my steps, it was there all along, I just had to turn the right direction to get relief . . .  Sometimes, that is how my relationship with God seems.  Yes, I know He is ever near and is with me, but I don't feel that fact.  Sometimes my prayers seem to be in a vacuum, and I'm ...
Post a Comment
Read more