Everyone has a story. Some stories are sad, some are angry, Some are hate filled. Some are more tragic than others.Some are a combination of several. And then there are those that are the ones that may start out in some negative way, but end up in lives, where God turns their stories into....well let this story encourage you. It comes from the Our Daily Bread Devotions, entitled: GRACE, GRACE, GOD'S GRACE.
GRACE, GRACE, GOD'S GRACE
"Grace, grace, God's grace...grace that is greater than all our sin." is a part of the refrain from the song, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, by Don Moen. That lyric is a byline for my life. Even when I was still in my sin. (Romans 5:8) He chose me and saved me. (Eph. 1:4-5) I was fearless as a child, so my first brush with death came at around two. I was running like the wind down a steep hill of a cemetery while my parents put flowers on nearby graves.Tripping on the trunk of a small tree, reeling out of control, I landed hard and was later diagnosed with a broken femur. Next, at age four I ventured into the river, while my dad swam across the river, he looked back to see my long brown hair floating on top of the water. I climbed on roofs, jumped off high places, and ended up covered head to toe with poison oak after one summer adventure. Those were innocent times. At eleven my sixteen-year-old brother died in a sudden vehicle accident colliding with a train. The police reported the news to me. (I looked older than my years) His death was followed by my grandmother's sudden death from cancer and my 48 year old uncle's death from a heart attack, leaving my six cousins all under the age of 18 to figure out life without a provider or protector. I decided at a young age that if I was going to die young I might as well make the "best" of it while I could. Was it a conscious decision? I do not believe it was, but when added to my fearless nature, the combination lit a fire of rebellion that last the next thirteen years. From age 12 to 25, may of my choices were foolish and dangerous. I came to near death again from Toxic Shock, surviving a 107 degree fever and other awful and painful symptoms. After 30 days of recovery, I got out of my house for the first time, only to be rear-ended by another vehicle, the force was so powerful it bent the metal frame of my 1968 Mustang. While my daily life was colorful and full of friends, family and school activities, my nights and weekends were often filled with edgy, darker activities. I went to college with the help of my parents and student loans. I continued my sinful decisions and what had now become defiance toward God, I met a young man who knew God, but was not walking with Him. He tried to tell me about God and the devil, but his life was total hypocrisy to me which was the only loophole I needed to push God even further away. Fast forward four years. I was living in another town and working at a small vitamin store, barely getting by. My coworkers were a witch (she said she was a white witch, the "good kind"), a prostitute, and a Christian (although I did not know she was a Christian at the time). The Christian woman was kind and hard working. She had a peace about her that I was attracted to and needed desperately in my life. Finally, among the strange environment (we were having breakfast at night). I asked the woman, "Do you go to church or something?" She replied, "Yes, would you like to go with me sometime?" I was in such a hopeless place and knew the only thing I hadn't tried was God, so why not? Much happened in between, even a miracle that to this day I can't explain, except that it was God. But after going to church with her less than a year, she asked me if I wanted to pray to have Jesus come into my life and by then I knew He really was the only way, the only truth and the only life.(John 14:6) After years of looking in the rear view mirror, to see if my decisions would either literally or figuratively catch up with me, I felt freedom from my past, God's grace, His unmerited undeserved favor had caught up with me instead. I no longer look back, but rather forward to what God has in store for my future as His child, saved only by grace.
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" Gods grace,unmerited, undeserved favor..." that is what God's grace does for all that come to him, no matter what the sins are that have kept them in darkness for many years. That is what it has done for you and me. Do you see yourself anywhere in this story?Because chances are, you are there whether you know it or not. You can get God's grace right now. At the end of the post now I will have the prayer that you can pray to get his wonderful grace. It is simple and a free gift to all that ask him for it. I hope that you will take him up on it right now if you haven't already! God Bless your Lord's Day!
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