Category Archives: Grace

You Hold My World in the Palm of Your Hand

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Abby| 10 Comments

By Faith Rawley

On the 1st of December I fell off my bike whilst cycling home from work. I was
excited to get home that evening because my husband and I were going to put up
our Christmas Tree! But as the front wheel of my bike got caught on the curb of the pavement I was trying to mount, and I went toppling over face first into the concrete all my plans and thoughts instantly changed.

I don’t think I had a slow-motion experience as my bike and I fell over, in fact I don’t really remember what happened at all. Not because I blacked out, but more because I was in complete shock. I just remember pacing around in pain and disbelief of what had just happened. I then realised that I was bleeding from my mouth but I didn’t know what was wrong. I tried holding my gloves up to my mouth to control the blood as another cyclist stopped to see if I was alright. He kindly let me borrow his phone and I was able to call Ben (who had thankfully just arrived home from being in a different city all day!). Through tears I told Ben that I’d fallen off my bike and asked him to come and pick me up. This is going to sound really silly, but I sent the other cyclist away because I started to feel very self-conscious as I didn’t really know the extent of what was wrong with my face and I didn’t know what I looked like! I started to become aware that my lip didn’t feel right but all I could think was that I wanted to get home and wash my face and put a bandage on the cut whatever it was.

A lady runner, who was passing, stopped and insisted on waiting with me. I was very grateful for this even though I felt embarrassed and very emotional still. Finally Ben arrived in the car. He took one look at me and said we should probably go straight to the accident and emergency at the nearest hospital (the place I work incidentally). I started to feel a bit scared because I really didn’t know how bad the injuries were and as the adrenalin was disappearing I was becoming more aware of the pain.

Ben’s mum, Carole, drove us straight to the hospital then waited with us both. A&E was fairly quiet that evening so I didn’t have to wait as long as you might normally have to. Amazingly there was a maxillofacial doctor in the emergency unit that night so I had a specialist who could see me and assess my facial wounds. I had split my lip straight through and by this point it was already very swollen and was still bleeding. The area around my right eye was grazed and had taken quite a hit as I went down. The only other damage was a graze on my hand and bruises on my legs. I won’t go into the gory details but I had to have a local anaesthetic injection in my lip and then 5-6 stitches. I’d never had stitches before or even broken a bone so I did feel nervous about the whole ordeal.

Once the stitches were in and I was cleaned up I was sent off home with instructions that it would take at least a week for the stitches to dissolve and it would take a few weeks before the lip properly healed. Despite finding it difficult to eat, drink, talk or smile the healing is coming along very well and it doesn’t look like there will be much sign of the cut on my lip when it’s fully healed.

Overall the accident could have been so much worse than it was – I didn’t break any bones and the injuries were all fairly temporary. No cars were involved, which could have made it a lot worse, and I was wearing a cycling helmet!

The two days previous to the accident God had really impressed upon me the fact that He holds me in the palm of His hand. We had been preparing for Sunday worship and one of the songs we were going over was ‘With All I Am’ by Reuben Morgan, which has the line in it, ‘You hold my world in the palm of your hand’. As we were singing God really impressed this thought on me afresh and I knew God was speaking this directly to me. The next day I was helping Ben lead a session on hearing the voice of God with some of the young people of the church. We were reading the word and asking God to speak to us through it. As we read Isaiah 40, verse 12 stood out to me:

‘Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?’

I felt God again impressing on me that His hand is big enough to contain the whole world and I’m included in that. There’s nothing too big for Him but also there’s nothing too small for Him to notice and care about.

Even though I went through a whole host of emotions at the time of the accident and in the days and weeks following it, I have really known a strong sense of God’s peace like never before. The words that God had spoken to me before the accident brought life in that situation – they were just the words I needed to hear to still the fear and the shock of the situation. As I was sat in the emergency department I almost felt like there was a bubble of protection around me, just stilling me on the inside. I knew then the reality of what God had spoken – that He really was holding me in His hand and that I was safe there.

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Posted in Faith Rawley, Grace, Hope, Journey, Peace

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New Year’s Resolution: Duty or Desire?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Abby| 3 Comments

By Beth Hamstra

Every year for Christmas my mom gets me a cute new journal.  It has been a tradition over the last several years.  I love new journals!  So every year I do my best to fill it up…sometimes making up for lost time and extra pages in the month of December, eagerly anticipating a fresh new book to come December 25th.  I also try hard to wait out the final week of the year before letting the ink from my carefully chosen pen inaugurate the first page on January 1st.

I can’t tell you how many journals have begun with three to four pages of aggressive goals for the new year to put me back on my path toward perfection.  Wake up earlier, spend more time in the word and prayer, exercise every day, eat healthier, be a better ____________ (insert current season of life: student, employee, friend, sister, daughter, wife, mom, etc).

Talk about biting off more that I can chew!  I think you can figure out where this is going: Each year the goals are the same and each year I find that I am still far from the perfection I was seeking.

I haven’t forsaken my A-type tendencies all together, but in recent years by the grace of God, the beginning journal entries look a little different.  I’m starting to realize that change is not dependent upon my self-effort.  Don’t get me wrong, it definitely requires effort, but my faith is not in “pulling myself up by my bootstraps.”  I might be able to have a short-term fix of my situation that way, but long-term heart change happens by the grace of God.

We have just finished a series in Galatians at our church.  The entire series was very provoking but I want to convey some of the points from my pastor, John Leitzel’s sermon on November 13th.

Galatians 5:16 reads, “So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  Some translations refer to the “sinful nature” as the “flesh.”   Paul’s exhortation here is to live by the Spirit.  The Spirit and the flesh are in constant opposition.  These are two different ROOTS; both producing fruit.

The root of the flesh: Duty

It’s not about making a long list of New Year’s resolutions and checking everything off.  Its not about having quality A, B, and C to make me a good Christian.  The Pharisees had all the “right” qualifications in that regard but Jesus was constantly rebuking them.  Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps to become a better Christian because “that is what I’m supposed to do” is living by the flesh.

The root of the Spirit: Desire

Instead of making my “perfect Christian” goals, I now start my journal off by penning a prayer to the Lord.  It looks a little something like this: “Lord, lead me by your Spirit this year.  I want my desires to line up with what your Spirit is saying and doing.  Help me to have a sensitivity to your voice and to be obedient when you speak.”  And then, instead of listing all of the areas I think I can improve on, I ask the Holy Spirit to highlight areas of sin or ways I should change.  And I rely on the grace of God to help me.

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Posted in Beth Hamstra, Grace, Holidays, Hope, Power to change

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We Are A Masterpiece

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Abby| 2 Comments

By Karri Nachtigal

I really like those mosaic tables that are made of broken glass, plates or tiles and have always wanted to make one.  One of my more “crafty” friends told me that they were quite easy to make, so I thought I might give it a try.

My first step was to Google directions about making the table.  As I was reading the directions and looking at all the pictures of the beautiful tables, God started speaking to my heart about how He viewed my brokenness and what He can and will do with it.

Step 1:  Gather as many broken pieces of glass, plates or tiles that you can find.

“People come to me when they realize how broken they are.  Didn’t you come to Me like that?”

When I came to God I was broken and I probably looked like a piece of     something most people would throw away.  Not to God, he picked me up from the floor, like a fragile piece of broken of glass, but instead of throwing me in the garbage, He polished me up and thought “I  could do something with this piece!”

Psalm 34:18  “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Step 2:  On some of the pieces you will need to use a tile or glass cutter, so that you can make the piece to fit into your pattern.

“That spot in your heart Karri is a little rough.  Let me smooth it out.”

God has had to use the “tile cutters” (sometimes we call it pruning) on me few times.  He is an artisan, so He is able to take off the sharp edges and mold me into the shape He needs me to be.  When I struggled with insecurity about my ability to do a job, He picked up His glass cutters and reminded me that “I can do all things, through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me” and sniped off that insecurity.

John 15: 2 “…while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes.”

Step 3:  Place the tiles where you want them to go.

“Karri, this is where I want you to be.  I know you don’t want to be here, but wait and see what      I can do.  See how you fit.”

This is where God uses His vision.  He already knows what the finished product will look like. ( I do not.)  He has the design all planned out.  He is the one who places me where I should go.  If  I try to fit into another spot, it ruins the design and I “don’t fit” there.  I need to go where He is placing me.

Jeremiah 29:11  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.”

Step 4:  Fill in the spaces with grout and remove the excess grout with water.

“See how the grout keeps everything in place.  This is my unity of the spirit.”

I don’t like grout.  It is messy and takes a while to clean off, but it is one of the more important steps for having a nice mosaic table.  Sometimes that is what coming to unity in the body of Christ can look like.  It’s not always easy and in fact it is sometimes down right messy, but it something we need to have in order to be a strong “table”.  Unity helps keep us in place, it helps us work together to show the world God’s masterpiece.

Psalms 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.”

Step 5:  Display the finished product

“In my hands, you are moulded into the most beautiful masterpiece.”

I make the mistake of focusing on my brokenness, instead of looking a the whole masterpiece that is being created.  When I am given a glimpse into what the masterpiece is starting to look like, I can do nothing but be  in awe of what I see.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the  hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

And this I know to be true..

when we come to Him broken, He sees our beauty…

when we are rough around the edges, He smooths us out…

when we feel like we don’t fit, He puts us in the perfect spot…

when we feel disconnected, He unifies us with others…

and displays us for the world to see.

Lord, help me to see my brokenness not as a failure, but as a part of the masterpiece created by the  Master Artisan.

 

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Posted in Creativity, Grace, Healing, Hope, Karri Nachtigal, Power to change, Promises, Trusting God

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How To Hold A Burial

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Abby| Leave a comment

By Abby King

All these tears, all this rain. And yet… there is sowing, there is planting.

True, we may cry, but we press on for the crop.

… we still sow though in tears, and let go of every seed, burying hopes and hurts in faith, and out of loss, new life will unfurl, our tears watering rows.  Ann Voskamp

What do you hold in your hand?

Each hurt, each disappointment, each hope, is a seed to be let go of, pushed down deep into the nutrient-rich soil of faith – the soil of I will never leave you or forsake you; and my grace is sufficient for you – the miracle-grow place of beauty and ashes; prodigals and homecoming; death and resurrection.

And we wait while the Spirit weaves together His mysteries and works all things together for our good in the unseen places. We water our faith as we trust that out of the dirt and the mess and the chaos something beautiful is being grown; that “those who go out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Psalm 126:6).

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed…” John 20:29

What about you? What seeds are you burying in faith?

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If you’re feeling broken…

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Abby| 1 Comment

By Abi Burton

I’ve been thinking lately about just how amazing God is at encouraging us. It has always been a mystery to me how we can be truly made in God’s image and yet completely flawed in so many areas! Countless times I have lacked insight, sensitivity, love, patience, kindness, grace, faithfulness (I could go on) but the Bible tells me I am created ‘in the image’ of a God who is the master of all those attributes and more!

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul shares revelation about how our ‘human-ness’ is seen to God:

And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12 v 9)

Talking this through with a friend last weekend, it became clearer as to how the two could marry up: we are here to reach and connect with a broken world, so how can I do this in any other way than if I myself am broken too? I can speak to a friend about broken-heartedness because I have had my heart broken; I can encourage a colleague who feels useless at their job because I have been overlooked for promotion; I can pray for someone suffering physical illness because I have felt this vulnerability in my own life.

The greatest possible example of a life that knew weakness and yet was made in the image of God is Jesus, who came to earth as a fragile baby, to connect with our world and transform it for eternity. We can now come to our Saviour with any circumstance, knowing that he himself has experienced it too. Sometimes, despite how we feel, we need to see ourselves as the Psalmist says in the Message: “I thank you, High God – you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration – what a creation!” (Psalm 139 v 14)

In this way we see God at work through our weaknesses, not in spite of them. If boasting in the many times I fall short will mean that God’s power reigns down on me more freely and frequently then I think it’s time I swallowed my pride and did just that!

 

 

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Posted in Abi Burton, Grace, Kingdom of God, Power to change

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Yet He Calls Me Friend

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Abby| 5 Comments

By Wendy Hitchen

While on holiday last week I was struck afresh by the beauty of God’s creation: the rolling hills, the ragged coast line, the dramatic skies – all coloured by wild flowers, skipping lambs and spring sunshine.

And it hit me…the God who set the sun in its place, who carries the lambs in His arms and holds the oceans in His hands (Isaiah 40:11-12)…He is interested in me. Isaiah (40:29-31) says that He is interested in all those who get tired, worn out and weak (i.e. everyone), and He helps us to soar like eagles and view the creation from a different angle, where difficulties and hardships are mere specks in the glory of the view from above.

Someone else reminded me that this amazing God who created the world is not just interested in me, He takes it to a whole new level; He calls me friend.

‘For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.’(Romans 5:11 New Living Translation)

We can all imagine what a close friend should be like: someone to cry with, to laugh with, share the intricacies of life with. A close friend is someone you can be yourself with, no matter what.

I’ve realized that I’m not always very good at really ‘being me.’ I have a tendency to keep my feelings to myself in case people think less of me. But the one person I can be myself with, even when I’m in a total mess, is Jesus. And the incredible part is that this is what He wants. He doesn’t want me to put up a front, try to act all clever or think I’m not worth caring about.

Jesus had said to His disciples that they were no longer servants, but now friends (John 15:15). I wonder if they understood at all what that meant? The amazing God who flung stars into space is also the one that comforts me, wipes my tears and washes my feet. He cared about me so much that He laid down His life so that I could be His friend.

What a tremendous value He places on us – He calls us friend.

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Posted in Grace, Love, Seeking God, Wendy Hitchen

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Being Weak

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Abby| 9 Comments

By Alli Sullivan

So for a little background to my new revelation, I’m currently living away from home, spending my gap year in South Africa. I’m away from everyone that truly knows me, and there is no reputation that precedes me.

Initially I thought this was going to be great. I was so excited to have a fresh start. It wasn’t that I really had some big bad reputation I needed to get away from, but I thought it would be a good challenge to see if I could function without the direct support from my family and friends.

After being here for about three months I started to feel very, very alone. And I started to feel really inadequate. If I didn’t hear from someone back home every day I would feel forgotten and abandoned. This made me feel really weak, something I never really felt before. One of my strengths was my self-confidence, the feeling that I was strong. But once I started to feel weak I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have anyone here who knew how I worked and how to build me up in effective ways. And I was too proud to actually ask anyone for support because I had this big misconception that if I was to be strong no one could know that I was ever weak.

All the while I knew that I was being slightly ridiculous about the situation; I knew what the bible said about community, and I knew that I wasn’t pressured to be strong all the time. But I just couldn’t believe it. Until…

I came across a verse in 2 Corinthians 12. At the beginning part of the chapter Paul is talking about boasting, and how there have been many great things that have happened and it wouldn’t be wrong for him to boast because it’s the truth. But regardless of these great things there was a thorn in his side, and even though he asked God to remove it, God’s response was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (v.9).

And that was it. God could smooth out all the bumps in our life and make everything wonderful so we would never struggle but it just isn’t necessary. His power can be highlighted in our weakness, so why would I ever wish to be strong on my own behalf when in my weakness I can let the perfect power of God take over?!

Paul continues to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (v.9-10). So I’m going to go on boasting of my weaknesses so that when feats of strength are shown all the glory can go to my God. I am weak, and there is very little I can do in my own strength, but that’s perfect! Because in this place God can demonstrate His power.

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Posted in Alli Sullivan, Grace, Peace, Trusting God

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The Inappropriate, Unreligious, Extravagent Grace of God

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Abby| 8 Comments

By Mary Miller

I’ve been struck lately, by yet ANOTHER way in which I am not – yet – like God.
It’s not as if I was running out of things to work on or anything, but another, deeper look at His grace is never a bad idea for me.

Last month I heard a sermon about Elijah and his “cave time”.  The story in 1 Kings 18-19 goes something like:
1. Elijah publicly humiliates and then kills all the prophets of Baal.
2. He goes up Mount Carmel to pray for the end of the 3 year drought (that he prophesied would come).
3. Then he supernaturally out-runs Ahab’s chariot in a rain storm to get to the city before him.
Pretty amazing day so far!  God’s man of faith and power for the hour!!
4.  Then Jezebel threatens him, “and he was afraid and ran for his life.”
WHAT?!??

Did he think she was going to be happy about all this?  For Pete’s sake!  Why did it throw him into such a tailspin?  But it must have been like the last straw to Elijah, because he goes off alone into the desert, and prays “that he might die.”  He falls asleep there and is awakened by an angel with breakfast!  That’s pretty cool!  I might be thinking that maybe I should change my emotional or spiritual posture after that kind of room service, but not Elijah! He eats the food AND GOES BACK TO SLEEP!!!

What the heck?!!  So now the angel comes back with lunch and instructions from God that he is to travel for 40 days and nights to Mount Horeb.  That should have given him plenty of time to think things over.  Surely by now he’s in a better frame of mind, right?  NOPE.  He gets to the ‘Mountain of GOD’ and finds a cave to curl up in, but before he can go back to sleep, GOD speaks to him.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This part really gets me. Elijah answers GOD with a rant and an invitation to his pity party!

I’m thinking, “No! You did not just do that!”

So GOD responds with His own invitation.  HE invites Elijah to step outside.  Now, I keep trying to put myself in Elijah’s shoes, but here again, I’m at a total loss!  He knew God was not in the tornado, the fire or the earthquake. He was in the middle of a huge pity party, and he still had this intimate ‘knowing’ of God.  If it was me standing at the mouth of the cave and the wind started blowing rocks off the mountain, I’d probably be thinking, “Uh-oh, here He is and is He ever mad!”  But Elijah knew better and when the three big scary things were over and the gentle blowing came up, that’s when he knew God was there, and he knew what to do about it.  How many men on the face of the earth that day could have done the same thing? I don’t get it.

And after all that… God mercifully repeats the question, like maybe Elijah might’ve come through, but NO!  He answers exactly the same as before.

Now, he just saw GOD, more or less in person!!!  But nothing had changed.  How is that possible?!

So now I’m expecting some appropriate chastisement, correction, rebuke, lightning bolt–SOMETHING! But this part totally melts me.  GOD says, “Go on then, son. Go finish these last two jobs and you can come on home.”

How was he not disqualified from ministry? Why didn’t GOD fix him and THEN send him back to tie up the loose ends?  I just don’t get it.

Then this past Sunday I heard about Moses on the back side of the desert.  GOD shows up in the burning bush and commissions him to go back to Egypt, the place of his greatest failure, to finish doing exactly what he had tried to do, wanted to do 40 years ago, before he murdered a man and ran for his life.

Understandably, Moses is filled with excuses and really good reasons why HE should choose someone else.  Finally, if such a thing were possible, GOD seems to ‘give in’ and agrees to send Aaron to help him.

Now I think I understand a bit about GOD’s sovereignty, but it messes with my head when HE doesn’t exert HIS rightful authority and takes a fearful man who is determined to remain so, and allows him not only a place in the Kingdom, but a purpose and a destiny.  HE doesn’t violate the individual’s will even to help him or bless him.  And somehow HE customizes the task so that it works even with the compromise!

All of this blows me away and if the story ended there, I would probably have some idea of them being sent to some tiny little out-of-the-way corner of heaven, never to be heard from again.  Nice of God to let them in, but really…

I could be happy with my conclusion, except for one thing.  The amazing addendum on the Mount of Transfiguration. There they were, Elijah and Moses talking to Jesus.  No hidden corner.  No doghouse. Just amazing grace.

At this point my mind is blown. There is no “understanding.”
The only appropriate response is worship. Let’s.

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By grace I’ll continue on, in unending love

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Abby| 7 Comments

By Wendy Hitchen

For a couple of months now I have been thinking about the subject of grace. Several years ago a book hit the shelves and fairly flew off them, worldwide. It’s title? ‘What’s so amazing about grace?’ I guess the reason it was so popular was down to the fact that grace is so attractive, so special, so rare. Even Christians (who talk about grace all the time) are taken aback when someone takes the time to spell out what grace really is and how it impacts our everyday lives.

The most amazing thing about God’s grace it that it is totally undeserved and unmerited; ‘…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and have been justified freely by his grace that came through the redemption of Christ Jesus’ (Rom 3: 23-24). How amazing is that? Undeserved favour is what some call it; it is our lifeline.

Kate Simmonds wrote a song last year about this lifeline and she clearly echoes the sentiments of wonder and gratefulness that hit you when you contemplate the awesomeness of it all:

But the challenging thing about grace it that it doesn’t stop there; it needs to be seen in our lives too.

One of the Bible verses that was shared at our wedding was to ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet 3:18). I don’t think that simply means for my husband and I to grow in our understanding of the impact of the gracious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, but I think that it must mean that grace has to been seen to grow in our lives as we get to know him better. This was brought home to me recently when my husband, when quizzed by someone on how to deal with annoying members of one’s family, replied; ‘Well, it’s got to be all about grace!’ This wasn’t the answer the person was expecting, but it was the right one. Since then I have been looking at my attitude – I want to be graceful. Not in the ballerina sense of the word (that is unlikely to ever happen), but being full of grace. What did Paul say about Jesus? He was ‘full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).  Now I know that I’m not perfect and won’t be until I reach Heaven, but I’m aiming high! If I think of how often I fail  and how the Father extends his grace towards me, it challenges how I relate to others in every way. And do you know where I think the best way to show grace is? In our first reactions: Not to bite people’s heads off, not to have the first word, not to point the finger -  i.e. me last.

So that’s what I’m starting 2011 with; aiming high at being graceful. But I can only do it with His help as otherwise it’ll be nothing. By grace I’ll continue on, in unending love.

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Posted in Grace, Love, Wendy Hitchen

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