Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns
If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…
I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…
I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…
My husband and I had the rare opportunity this week to be away from our house and children for three days and nights to attend our church’s national conference. When we arrived home from the parenting sabbatical, our 18-month-old son greeted us at the door, holding one of his favorite stuffed animals, with the word “monkey.” He’s a verbal child anyway, but “monkey” was not part of his vocabulary when we left. And both kids looked taller or older. It was only a few days, but it was a taste of what their grandparents experience between visits. Sometimes the familiarity of everyday contact blinds us to evidence of change and growth.
I’ve been feeling a little useless lately. Or inadequate. Or some other emotion I can’t put a name to yet. I’ve been a Christian for 14 years and I sometimes wonder if I’ve changed much since Day 1. Or Day 365. I sort of feel like I’m regressing a little. Maybe.
I wish spiritual growth looked more like this:
I noticed this on the tree in our backyard recently. I’m not much of a gardener or plant expert, but it would seem to me that the lighter needles are evidence of new growth. They extend from the branches and pick up where the darker needles leave off.
Even from a distance, you can see the difference.
I love spring, how the trees burst with buds and color, flowers bloom and the world looks alive. After the dullness of winter, spring’s palette is refreshing. Growth is obvious.
Like these peonies. Some fully in bloom, some on the cusp of fullness.
I want to see the growth in my life or know that my chance to bloom is near.
I’m no gardener, but I know what to look for in trees, flowers and plants. I can tell when a plant isn’t growing.
What about me? What do I look for when it comes to growth?
Am I more patient than I used to be? Less critical? More loving? Less selfish?
If those are my standards, then I’d have to say my growth is stunted.
Occasionally my husband will say something to me like, “You’ve come a long way. If that had happened a year ago, you would have responded this way.” Meaning that he can see that I’ve grown and changed.
Maybe it’s not easy for me to see because I live with myself every day. Maybe it’s not easy for other people to see how they’ve grown either.
Maybe we need to look for the signs of life in other people and tell them what we see. I don’t always study the tree in our backyard, but that day I had to take the time to look and examine its branches. The tree is familiar, but that day, I saw something I hadn’t seen before.
So it is with the people in our lives, especially the familiar ones.
A closer look might reveal something we’ve never seen before.
And we might be able to encourage someone by telling them about the growth we’ve seen in them.
… I’d choose this one:
“Not the power of a dynamic personality or the power of human wisdom and intrigue and scheming and carefully worked-out methods, but spiritual power through the Holy Spirit as we let Him fill us. Power that is made perfect through weakness, power that comes by grace through faith in the One who ‘is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us’ (Ephesians 3:20). High-voltage spiritual power that makes the enemy cringe!”
That’s how Ruth Myers describes the power available to Christians through the Holy Spirit in her book “31 Days of Power: Learning to Live in Spiritual Victory.”
While I admit this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting in a devotional, I do think it’s a valuable resource, especially for new Christians. Consider it a primer on spiritual warfare, but even for those of us who have been believers for a while the book serves as a reminder that we’re in a battle, we have weapons available, and in the end, we’re on the winning team.
The book is divided into two parts: a 31-day devotional and a section that further explains the basis for spiritual warfare and how a Christian lives in the midst of it. I appreciated the space to personalize each day’s prayers and the numerous Scripture references that served as sources for the prayers.
Click here to sample the first chapter.
In exchange for this review, I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.