Surprised By Grace Ministries

Last time I shared that, at 61, I am embarking on two new adventures. Since guns aren’t one of my favorite things, learning to shoot a gun and getting my Concealed Carry License was a nerve-wracking undertaking.
My second adventure is a blast from the past. It has been over 15 years since I’ve been on a bike that actually moves. Last week Lee bought me a road bike so we can ride together.
You may not see this as an adventure, but hopping on a bike with such skinny tires after so many years was frightening. And riding with a man who can keep up with experienced riders is taunting.
My first attempt to ride was short-lived, because my first turn around was a wipeout. NOT FUN! I’m sure, if I were younger, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but at my age toppling over on a bike is quite painful. My leg, shoulder, and pride were bruised, but I was determined not to give up!!
Not willing to settle for failure, I hopped right back on my new bike and went for a 6 mile ride. My tongue was hanging out at the finish, but ahhhhh, what freedom! The next day hubby and I rode 12 miles. I was getting the hang of it again.
On Mother’s Day, Lee took me on a 25 mile ride from Two Rivers Park to downtown Little Rock and back. The ride took us over winding paths, through beautiful landscape, beside rushing waters, up hills, down hills, over three steep bridges, and I made it all the way. I think I’m hooked!!
My friend, Cindy, asked me what was happening to her unadventuresome friend. I laughed, but it got me to wondering. It’s not like I’m working through my bucket list. Could it be that when God knit me together in the womb, He actually designed me with an adventuresome spirit? If that’s so, where has that gal been for so long?
God forms us and knits us together to be amazing creatures. Then life comes along and, many times, steals the very essence of who we were designed to be. Devastated dreams and broken hearts transform us into someone God never intended. For me, it was an abusive childhood—a childhood that made me hyper-vigilant and suspicious. The first 18 years of my life taught me to look for safety—safe words, actions, places, and endeavors. I learned to avoid anyone or anything that might lead to risk or failure. BUT I have spent the last 15 years in the palm of God’s healing, rebuilding hand. I have trusted God to put my heart back together and transform me back into His original creation. I have been living the reality of His precious promise in Jeremiah 31:3-4, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt.” It seems that the further along this rebuilding process gets, the more of the real me emerges. Could it be that I’m finally finding my true self, at last?
Has life stolen the essence of who God created you to be? God is waiting to rebuild you into the “you” He intended you to be!

In the last third of my life, I’m embarking on two new adventures. Both are an effort to keep my mind, body, and coordination from going to pot!
Because I’d like to go out with a bang, my first adventure is learning how to shoot a gun. Last weekend, my husband suffered through teaching me how to load, hold, aim, and pull the trigger. We were hosting a CHCL (concealed handgun carry license) class at our home, and part of the class was a shooting test which I obviously needed to pass.
I was under the impression that I would point, shoot, and hit the bull’s-eye, but that didn’t happen. My husband told me to look down the barrel and line up the three dots. I thought I was doing as I was told, yet I hit something that was nowhere near the target—dang it!! Next time I would do better—NOT! Surely the third time would be the charm—that’s a myth.
I was excited when I finally hit the target several times, but I wanted to hit the bull’s-eye. My arms were getting tired just as quickly as my frustration level was rising. Once more I raised the gun, and this time I concentrated fully on lining up those dots so that I knew I was focused on the right spot. I pulled the trigger and …
I thought shooting the gun would be the thrill, but it wasn’t. When I finally hit the bull’s-eye, I knew the thrill was in hitting what I was supposed to hit. Once I hit that red center, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied ever again just to get close. I know I won’t hit the mark every time, but that’s my goal.
Learning to shoot reminds me of learning to walk with my God. I came to Christ, like many others, believing that salvation was an end in itself. Like pointing the gun and pulling the trigger, I believed that because I had come to Christ everything else would come to me naturally. Of course it didn’t.
None of us can walk with Christ until we know what He desired from us, and even then we can’t hit God’s bull’s-eye if our focus is not in the right place. It took years for me to learn, that no matter how hard I try, I can’t please God by striving in my own strength. You and I can only hit the mark when the dots of our lives—our eyes and our hearts—are lined up on Him.
Having our eyes and hearts turned toward God and focused on Him is the pull of the trigger that unleashes the power of His Holy Spirit who lives in us. That power carries the bullets of our thoughts, word, and actions straight into God’s bull’s-eye.
Once we hit that sweet spot and know the joy, peace, and hope that it brings, we won’t be satisfied just getting close. We will want to hit that bull’s-eye every time. When we miss the mark—and we will—we will quickly get our eyes lined up with God’s bull’s-eye, because our hearts will yearn to beat with the reality of Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Every so often a picture grabs your heart and holds it hostage. Sometimes you don’t even know why. For me, this is one of those pictures. My daughter-in-law sent it a week ago and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. It’s such a sweet image, but the story behind it is really what captured my heart.
My first thought on seeing the picture was that my almost 3-year-old grandson, Jarred, is a boy after his nana’s own heart—a blossoming gardener. Then I heard this—he was trying to decide which plant he wanted to water. When his mom told him to water them all, he told her “no”, he only wanted to water one. Of course, that gave me a hearty laugh, but when the laughter died down, I saw a glaring spiritual truth.
Jarred had a two-fold dilemma his young mind didn’t comprehend. In deciding which plant he wanted to water, he was also deciding which plant he didn’t want to water. This is a dilemma that we often create for ourselves in tending the garden of our hearts.
God is continually sowing and trying to plant in the garden of His children’s hearts. Sometimes what He wants to plant is in such conflict to what we want that we are reluctant to water it. Because what God is trying to grow in us will require such a radical change in our thoughts or behaviors or the direction we are going, we foolishly resist applying the living water of the Word so that God’s planting can take root.
We can be so stubborn when we have made up our minds about a matter. We want what we want, and we find very creative ways of convincing ourselves that our desires are good and will somehow make life better. Even when our hearts are stirred and we see the blessing of nurturing a Truth and allowing it to grow to its full measure in our hearts, our selfish desires can be so strong that what God is trying to plant shrivels up and dies back simply because we refuse to hear the truth of God’s Word and take it to heart.
I can see at a glance when one of the plants in my garden isn’t getting adequate watered. A shriveling or dying plant steal the beauty of a garden, just as an unwatered planting of the Lord in the heart of one of His children, steals the radiance of the Lord in our lives.
Jeremiah 31:10-12 says that those who “hear the word of the Lord…shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord…their life shall be like a watered garden.”
Well-watered gardens are beautiful, and so are well-watered hearts. Every planting of the Lord is good. So, as God sows and plants in the garden of your heart, don’t pick and choose which plantings you will apply the living water of the Word to. Let the water of God’s Word soak each one so that your whole life will be a beautiful garden that radiates the glory of the Lord!

 As I waded, again, through the chapters of Job, I identified more with him than I ever have. Day after day, I left my time in God’s Word feeling the weight of Job’s pain and loss. I’m sure my intense identification with Job is because I have experienced great pain and loss since my last journey through this book of the Bible.
The further into Job I got the more intense my self-examination became. I was disturbed that my focus was more on myself than on God, since my desire is to see more and more of God in His Word. As I put my reflections in writing, I knew the self-examination was initiated by God.
I closed the Book of Job knowing two things:
First, I don’t want to be like Job’s friends. The friends started well with the desire to offer comfort and support to Job. It didn’t take long, though, for them to move into problem-solving mode. Job’s friends were obviously not well versed on the stages of grief. They were like most of us, assuming that some wrong doing had causes Job’s plight. They felt the need to say or do something to fix the situation and make Job feel better.  For lack of any other “fix”, they tried to convince Job that he was the problem. When he stood his ground, their good intentions became an attack on Job’s integrity and his struggle for understanding.

My take on the friends comes from being on both the giving and receiving end of these kinds of interactions. They either never walked with God as uprightly as Job did or they hadn’t experienced significant loss or pain in their own lives. If they had, they would have understood Job’s reluctance to admit a nonexistent sin to explain his circumstances, and they would have been far more compassionate with their friend as he sifted through grief, anger, fear, and questions. Job’s friends would have known the importance of just being present with him.
Second, I know I want to be like Job. Job was confident in his relationship with the Lord, because he was doing what the Lord required of him. Job wasn’t just confident in his relationship, he protected it.
Job wasn’t without sin, but the fear of God was the driving force of his life. He lived a life characterized by repentance and faith. By God’s own testimony, Job was “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” 1:8. God didn’t stop there. His assessment of Job was that there was none like Job on the earth. O, how I want to be a child whom my Heavenly Father can describe that way!
When God allowed all the blessings He had given Job to be taken away, Job wouldn’t allow his weeping to negate his worship. Even when Job’s wife encouraged him to let go of his integrity and curse God and die, Job wouldn’t. I love Job’s response, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job knew that good came from God, but he also knew that even the bad was a gift, because God is good.
Job wanted answers from God about why, but Job never doubted God. I love his testimony of faith in 19:25, “For I know my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth…”
In 13:15, I see Job’s confidence in the personal and intimate relationship God offers to us—“Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet will I argue my ways to his face.” Job knew God would never deny one of His faithful an audience with Him. Job was willing to bet his life on it.
Job walked with God in such faithfulness that God knew he could be entrusted with whatever war Satan waged against him. God was confident that, no matter what, Job would never deny Him or curse His Name.

Yes, I want to be like Job.

As I opened the envelope, I bellowed my “uuuggghhh” with most everyone else who received the same notice. If you’ve ever received one you know what I’m talking about—the dreaded jury summons!
It isn’t that I shun doing my civic duty. I’ve been summoned for jury duty two other times in the last 20 years and been selected as a juror for five trials. I really enjoy seeing our legal process in action. The issue with jury duty is that for four months you can’t make plans until you call in each week to see if there’s a trial scheduled. Then you go to the courthouse, wait while a jury is selected, and many times don’t get chosen. By then half the day is gone. Bottom line—it’s an inconvenience.
When I reported for orientation on January 3, 2012, the judge was most gracious in expressing his appreciation for our exceptional citizenship. In his monologue about the wonders of America’s judicial process, he made a statement that caused my eyebrows to shoot up. He said that “the jury is never wrong.”
I was proud of myself for letting my eyebrows express my astonishment, because I really wanted to shoot to my feet and ask how 12 imperfect people could never be wrong. Though I knew what he was trying to say, I was a bit shaken by the notion that anyone would assume the die I cast in a jury decision would be absolutely without error. As hard as I may try, like everyone else, I am incapable of being totally impartial.
I sat as juror #3 in this jury box, and listened intently to the testimony. As we went to deliberate, we were told to draw on our life experience—to decide the case as reasonable, impartial people. How impartial can a jury be when each juror has differing life experiences and responds uniquely to them? And “reasonable” doesn’t have a universal definition. “Reasonable” is absolutely relative. Drawing on my life experience of sitting on other juries, I know without a doubt how partial jurors can be. Try as we might, we cannot base our decision solely on the fact of the case as we are instructed to do.
In that jury room, as the twelve of us reviewed the testimony, it was apparent that there were three “reasonable”, yet differing perceptions. Some wanted to “stick it to the defendant.” Others wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. A few believed he was guilty, but understood his actions and thought he should be let off.
As my fellow jurors sniped back and forth, I silently thanked God for His perfect justice and for the mercy and hope that it holds. The mercy of God’s justice never seeks to “stick it” to us, but neither does He see our sin and let us off. God’s justice seeks to first bring us to repentance and then to build our character through the consequences of our sin. God knows all the facts of our case, but He also sees our hearts.
When we stand before Him, as our juror or judge, asking as David did in Psalm 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” we can be confident in His justice that is always impartial, reasonable, right, and righteous.

by Cindy Jones

It was a beautiful day as Nathan and I hiked our way through Great Falls National Park. Being outdoors causes me to focus on God and all He created.  I have learned that when my spiritual eyes and ears are open, God will speak to me through His creation. The view of the Potomac River was breathtaking.
The contrast between the swiftly flowing water and the seemingly stagnant floodplain made for more than just nice photos. As Nathan commented on how different the two areas looked, it made me think of how different our lives look when the life giving water of our Creator, Jesus Christ, is flowing through us. It reminded me of how stagnant my life with God becomes when I am not experiencing the Holy Spirit’s life giving freshness.
A stagnating relationship with God doesn’t happen suddenly. It can creep up on us so slowly that often we don’t even realize that, spiritually, we are standing still. You may not know you are stagnating, but maybe you recognize the signs.  You get up each day and just go through the motions experiencing little, if any, joy, excitement, or hope.  You feel stuck where you are and your mind begins to spiral downward into continual negativity. Most everything and everybody frustrate you. You are becoming apathetic and may experience very little emotion one way or another.  It doesn’t take long to get to this place when we are not experiencing the life giving flow of the Holy Spirit.  A stagnant Christian life is as dangerous to us, and those around us, as stagnant water is to the environment.
Stagnant water isn’t safe because it is an incubator for disease causing bacteria and parasites.  When our life with Christ becomes stagnant, our attitudes and behaviors can become a danger to those who need to see that Jesus is the source of true life; that He has the answers to all of life’s issues. Our stagnant life can become an incubator for the disease of apathy and complacency in the lives of other believers.
In contrast to stagnant water, fresh water is an important natural resource necessary for the survival of all ecosystems. It contains organisms that transform matter and energy into life by offering food and nutrients to other creatures. The movement of fresh water creates rich, fertile soil for growing food which supports life in us.
When we allow the living water of Christ to flow through us, the Holy Spirit works in us to produce life, joy, and a freshness we cannot experience otherwise.  Galatians 5:22-23 says that, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
John 7:38 says, “Streams of living water will flow from within him.” The fruit of the Spirit that grows in us becomes life-giving water that will flow through us into the lives of others, becoming a life support system for spiritual growth and biblical community.  Though none of us experiences the fruit of the spirit 100% of the time, the more we pursue God and spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer, the more sensitive we become to the Holy Spirit. The more sensitive we become, the more we will experience His fruit growing in us and flowing through us.  The people I know who truly are at peace and have the love of God flowing from them to others are those who have an intimate relationship with Christ.  They know the source of living water. When their lives begin to feel stagnant, they know they are thirsty and they know where to go to have their thirst quenched. They believe Jesus’ words in John 4:14, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” They live what they believe by going to His well for a drink of living water and pursuing Him all the more.

 We’ve all heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Yesterday, a picture was an epiphany for me. I was scrolling through facebook when I came upon this picture posted by my sister-in-law, Nance. I was enthralled by its beauty. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, and I didn’t know why. After several minutes, it hit me. I was captivated by the Truth it told.
As I stared at the butterfly, I thought about the struggle this beautiful creature went through to become such a joy to behold. I remembered the spiritual analogy I heard years ago between the metamorphosis of the butterfly and my own journey as a Christ-follower. It made such sense when I first heard it, and I spent many years striving to make my way through the life-cycle: from being the fragile egg of a new believer to the lowly worm of a Christian who had to slowly shed my former self as I grew up in Christ to the Chrysalis stage when I would be mature and fully grown ready to be “shut in” with God where I could be transformed into a beautiful butterfly ready to “fly” for God and reproduce for Him.
As I gazed at the butterfly sitting atop the flower heart, all that God has been teaching me over the last few years came in sharp focus. Our life as Christ-followers is all about the heart. It is about what we believe happened to us when the Holy Spirit came to live in our hearts. From the moment we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord we are transformed into God’s beautiful butterfly.
2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” For way too many, the struggle with the Christian life is that we don’t believe we have already been transformed. We don’t see ourselves as a new creation or a beautiful butterfly. All too often, we feel like a fragile egg or a lowly worm. Instead of a new creation, we see ourselves as the old creature in process. So, we work hard to break out of our sinful nature only to have it wrap around us, like a cocoon, once again. It’s exhausting, and after a while we are prone to give up.
How differently would we live our lives if we truly believed in our hearts that, when we received Christ, forgiveness and eternal life were not all we got? We received the Holy Spirit and with Him the power of Christ. We became victors. We received a new nature, because our old self died.
What if we truly believed Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”? There would be no reason to exhaust ourselves trying to break out of the old to emerge as a butterfly.  We would know that Christ has already opened that cocoon and release us to be God’s masterpiece—a beautiful butterfly whose purpose is to bring glory to God by reproducing the life He has given to us.
Our focus would then be turned to who we are in Christ and who He is in us. We would stop striving, for we could rest in the Truth that He began the good work in us and He will be faithful to complete what He started. Our responsibility is only to cooperate with Him—to let Him work as He desires. We are who we are in Christ, whether we believe it or not. But oh, how differently we live when we believe in our hearts that we are His new creation, His beautiful butterfly.
It’s all about your heart! Who do you believe you are in Christ?

My friend, Cindy, recently visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery and shared her observations of the Changing of the Guard. The Tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through any type of weather or catastrophe (including a terrorist attack).
The ceremony is conducted with precision, respect, and dignity. The sentinel on guard marches 21 steps down a black mat behind the Tomb, turns and faces east for 21 seconds, then north for 21 seconds, and then marches 21 steps back down the mat to repeat the process.  After each turn, a sharp shoulder-arms movement is executed to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the spectators, signifying that the guard is standing between the Tomb and any possible threat. The 21 steps and 21 seconds symbolize the highest military honor—the 21-gun salute.
The marching sentinel wears no rank insignia so as not to outrank the Unknown Soldier. During the actual changing of the guard, visitors are asked to stand and remain silent. As the guard changes, all three sentinels salute the “Unknowns” who have symbolically been given the Medal of Honor.
In order to be selected for this duty a soldier must become ceremonially qualified, be in superb physical condition, and possess an unblemished military record.  Their uniforms and weapons are kept in immaculate condition. They must be able to recite 7 pages of Arlington Cemetery history verbatim and learn the grave locations of nearly 300 veterans.
Serving as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns is one of the highest honors. Because so few qualify to become Tomb Guards, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Badge is the second least-awarded decoration in the United States Military.
As I read Cindy’s description, I was reminded that those of us who belong to Christ have been given an even greater honor. We, too, are sentinels. We don’t guard a tomb, for the tomb that is so precious to us is empty. But we are sentinels charged with guarding the treasure of that tomb—the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 1:14 instructs us, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the treasure that has been entrusted to you.”
All who have received Christ as Savior and Lord have been “ceremonially qualified” by the blood of Jesus to stand guard over the treasure of the Gospel, and, like the sentinels who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we must condition ourselves for this duty by knowing and keeping the Word of God, so that may walk blameless before God and man.
We must be willing to guard the treasure of our tomb no matter the circumstance or attacks. Like the sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknown, we are to keep our weapon—the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God—ready to stand against any possible threat to the Gospel of Christ.
2 Timothy 2:2 charges us with the changing of the guard as we are obedient to entrust what we have heard to others who will be faithful to pass it on. Though every believer is qualified to stand guard, very few take up the charge of guarding the greatest treasure that has ever been given. Guard, with your life, the treasure that is within you. Take to heart the words of the old Steve Green song, “As those who’ve gone before us, let us leave to those behind us, the heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives.”
As you celebrate the empty tomb and your risen Lord this week, covenant with God to be a faithful sentinel of the Gospel of Christ.

            Thursday, March 29, 2012—four chicks who love Jesus left Little Rock headed for Harrison, Arkansas to give birth to RADIANTReslove. After a long gestation period bathed in prayer and planning the due date was upon us. Sheryl Lackey, Lee Hudson, Vickie Wingfield, and I were about to finally see this new ministry, planted in our hearts by God, come to life.

Fellowship Bible Church Harrison treated us like celebrities. They opened their hearts and their doors to us. The staff and women of this precious Body set the bar really high. Everything from the advertising to the decorations to the music to the food was out of bounds! The four chicks were flying high—overwhelmed by the goodness of God in giving us favor with FBC Harrison as they partnered with us to minister to the women God brought to our first conference.

         Friday, March 30, 2012—7 O’clock pm—RADIANTResolve was born as the worship team opened the conference in sweet praises to our Lord. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit was so evident in that “birthing room”. From the welcome on Friday night to the closing prayer on Saturday afternoon, we tasted and saw that the Lord is GOOD! We knew it was God who was at work in us and through us to will and to work for His good pleasure. I felt His pleasure as I’ve never felt it before, and it was so sweet.

The evidence of God’s faithfulness and calling was all over the conference. We didn’t have a theme for the weekend. Sheryl, Vickie, Lee, and I simply shared what the Spirit put in our hearts. All we really knew were the titles to each other’s talks and a very general idea of the content. As each of us took our turn, sharing the message God had given us, were in awe at how—without any planning on our part—the Spirit had woven our messages together into a cohesive theme. What a faithful God we have!

The highlight of the weekend was, of course, the women God allowed us to minister to. Each one set aside the cares of life and came with hungry, expectant hearts to be fed from the hand of God. There were two amazing stories that confirmed beyond any doubt that RADIANTResolve is indeed God’s ministry. One woman cancelled plans to go to an event at her own church when she saw the ad for our conference. Why? Because in January, God gave her a word for this year. The word was RESOLVE. Another woman saw the ad for an R & R weekend with our verse, Psalm 34:5. Her maiden name begins with R and so does her married name, AND she and her husband are in the beginning stages of launching a new ministry—Psalm 34 Ministries. Can you believe it? The ad she saw was a sign from the Lord that brought her to the R & R conference.

What else can we say but GREAT IS OUR GOD AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED!

For more information about RADIANTResovle check us out at www.radiantresolve.com. We’d love to come to your church to inspire your women to courageously resolve to radiate God’ glory in every moment of their lives.

Deep conviction—that’s what I’ve been feeling since I pulled Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Shadow of the Almighty, off the shelf to look for a quote. All I wanted was one quote, BUT GOD had other plans. Since I don’t believe in “random”, I know it was the Spirit who captured my heart and turned my search into a session with Him.
This amazing book is a compilation of journal entries and letters written by Jim Elliot, a young man who died living his credo: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
You may have seen Through Gates of Splendor, the movie which told the story of the very short-lived missionary journey of Elliot and his four companions to a people “whom they loved, but had never met—savage Stone Age killers, known to the world now as the Aucas.” If you haven’t experienced this young man’s devotion to the Lord through his writings, I highly recommend this book. Jim Elliot was only 28 years old when he and his four friends were slaughtered by the very people they had spent 6 years praying for.
I have opened this book so many times the pages are literally falling out. Each time, I leave the same—deeply convicted; feeling so shallow in my walk with God—but filled with radical resolve to have all that God is willing to give me of Himself.
Trying to paraphrase this man whose heart belonged wholly to Christ would be futile, so I will share some of his words. Remember, as you read, that Jim Elliot penned these words between the ages of 17-28 years old. How I pray they speak deeply to you and challenge you, whatever your age, to pursue your Lord with unbridled passion.