Marveled by God's Grace

The Lord does not need us. Out of His good will, He chose to create Earth and all that it contains. He was not incomplete without it, yet He wanted to embark on the journey with man.

God, all-knowing as is His nature, knew that man would fail. It was no surprise to Him when Eve, being deceived, fell into transgression, followed quickly by her husband, Adam. He knew that Israel would betray Him and seek false gods. He knew that even His most passionate disciple would deny Him on the evening of His crucifixion.

Knowing these things, He still chose to enter into relationship with humanity. He chose to make Himself vulnerable to us and to allow himself to be affected by our actions. What great love the Father has for us! While we were yet sinners, He sent His son to die for our sins. While we rejected Him, in His unimaginable grace, He sought us out.

I was reading in Jeremiah this morning, and I was struck by a profound truth. Chapter 3, verses 12 through 18 or so:

Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, "Return, faithless Israel," declares the Lord; "I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious," declares the Lord; "Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice," declares the Lord. "Return, O faithless sons," declares the Lord; "For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land," declares the Lord, "they will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk anymore after the stubborness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance."

Even in the midst of their sin, the Lord is reaching out to His people for reconciliation. He is saying, "I love you, Israel. I want to bless you and make you a great nation for My glory. All you have to do is come to me." How patient our Father is! His love is unfathomable!

God wants to bless us. He has big plans for our lives as we know from Jer. 29:11. All we must do is acknowledge our sin, realize that the only way to have reconciliation with God is through His Son, Jesus Christ, and we will be saved! And that is only the beginning - the Holy Spirit is at work in the life of every believer to transform our hearts and minds into the likeness of Christ.

Praise be to God for His marvelous grace!

The Sameness of God

This past weekend, the women's ministry of my church held our first-ever Ladies Retreat. We travelled up to Camp Casey Conference Center on Whidbey Island, WA. How beautiful it was to look out the window of our lovely (gigantic) house and watch deer grazing in the yard and sailboats out in the water just 500 feet away! I could get used to that. :o) It was so serene.

The theme of the weekend was "Loving Well." We used Beth Moore's "Retreat in a Box," and although I was at first a skeptic of using a template, it proved to be amazing. The Lord truly blessed us with that resource. Beth explained to us the importance of loving others (they will know we are Christians by our love...), and that the only way we can do that is if we are continually allowing God's love to fall on us. We must take time to receive God's ministry to our own hearts. It was beautiful message, and I think we all received it with openness.

The Lord totally blew me away with how He answered prayer for the retreat. From the beginning of the planning phase of the retreat, Psalm 127: 1 was our credo. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. We knew the truth of this passage, and we were in prayer the God would show up and change our hearts. We were quite aware that regardless of how much planning we did, if the Lord was not present, we would be wasting our time. I praise You, Jesus, for joining us this weekend and being our honored guest!!!

What a special time... This morning, I am back into the daily grind. I got up with my husband, prepared his breakfast and lunch and got him out the door, did a short workout, and then I started to get in the Word. The interesting thing is that I found myself resorting to some bad habits I had before this amazing retreat. I found myself unsure where to study, unsure of my standing with God, and with little confidence to even talk with Him. These are doubts that I believe that the Devil plants in my head to keep me from drawing close to God.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I had to make a deliberate mental acknowledgement that the God that I knew so intimately on our retreat this past weekend is the same God that I meet in my living room. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; just because my mood or my feelings about God vary does not mean that He is any less consistent. He is always there when I want to talk.

The Lord Jesus is powerful to produce a sustaining work in my life regardless of where I am and what I am doing. Lord, please help me to remember this truth. Oh, how I long for you to produce fruit in me that lasts!