Things have been chaotic around home for the past three weeks or more. Most of this has crept into my past posts. I am empathizing more and more with our friend Job. It seems like the Lord is preparing me for hardships down the line- and I know that refining with fire creates a more pure product, but enduring the heat is hard. All things are His though, and I continue to offer myself to His purpose.
I am continually blown away by our good friends here in Elk Horn. I have no idea what we have done to deserve them. Along with others, the Christoffersen ladies continue to heap love and kindness upon us as if we were one of their own.
I am beginning to see God's grace as more than just pardon from sin and death. It is more than just entrance into heaven. It is inheritance into a special family, a family of believers that love their neighbor unconditionally.
I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to repay Calla, Lori and Amanda for their kindness. But as I meditated on this debt on the drive home from Dr. K's Herm class, I had a brainstorm. Isn't this where we all should strive to be? If Christ so loved, and if he is in us and us in him, shouldn't we love in the same way? I tell you, friends, the best way I could come up with to repay the Christoffersen girls is to turn around and find someone to adopt and love in the same manner that they have done to us. It is this 'pay it forward' idea that brightens the world. We are the light of the world... we are supposed to share it.
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:12-14
So, slowly I realize the totality of God's grace. It isn't a tiny package, the size of a bar of soup that washes away my sins... It is a massive, life-altering makeover. God changes your entire world. He surrounds you with friends that will pick you up threw the low times and drag you threw the rough patches and even carry you when you are faint. God sends us angels, some the white feathery winged-type found in the movies but others are very real people. They swoop into our lives and show us that God isn't just an idea. God is a living power that makes us alive,-alive in giving ourselves to others.
God, help me pay it forward with your indescribable grace. AMEN!
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