Have you ever been offered a gift and the person offering has made it clear explicitly or indirectly that you have to do something in return for them? Would you freely take it? Nah! You would be like ”No thanks”.
Have you realized that we do the same with Christ? When we realize what the sacrifice for our sins cost Him, we are embarrassed to freely receive Him and all His promises, because we tend to think that there are some strings attached. That’s a big lie!!
So how do continue to unmask God’s grace:
***Simply asking Him ~ He is a father who is willing to give us good gifts.
*** Through His word ~ His word is life and comes alive in us revealing to us the secrets of His mercy and grace. His word will be revealed to you when your heart is open. Through revelations.
*** Loving on others and fellowship ~ Once we experience His grace and it is manifested in or hearts, we can only pay it forward by showing the same mercy and love to those around us, whether deserving or undeserving of it.
*** Realizing what a costly price he paid ~ the pricey price Romans 5: 8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ( The sacrifice was huge).
*** As we partake of it and soak ourselves in it, we need to be aware that prior to receiving it, we did not deserve it: There is nothing we can give him back, but he gave it all. As humans, we usually love the tit for tat love kind of giving.
*** This next way of unmasking Gods’ grace relates back to knowing our identity ~ The promises /results we receive from the mercy that He showed us through His sacrifice ~ through His love, we are called children of God. (1 John 3:1).
***Realizing that there are no strings attached ~ His grace was and is freely given. No repayment for the actions needed. It is free for all who yearn for it. {John 10: 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” }
Going forward, let us continue to have a desire and hunger to experience His grace and love.
Let us take off all the masks that hinder this experience. Lets seek Him, yearn for more of His presence and sink deeply in this love and sink deeply in it because, we have only scratched the surface.
In Matthew 11, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
So why do we still hunger for contorl? What is the way forward in letting it go? How do we unmask God’s grace and let ourselves soak in His unending grace?
It is not that we do not trust Him but could it be we are hiding some other weaknessses by striving to be perfect in others as we keep upgrading checklists from checklists as a sign of accomplsiment and fullfillment.
There’s definitely something about letting go, not trying so hard to control everything ourselves and relying on God who will bring good things to pass.
Depending On God
How about, before we blame ourselves for failures because of checklists did not go as planned, we surrender to the one who can clothe us in perfection and take control of our lives.
We only need to be still, get out of our own ways. We do not have to be perfect moms, wives. Our spouses and children already knows how great of a mom and wife you are, you do not need to break your leg to prove it.
We have seen that we are enough and theres nothing that we can do to deserve Gods’ love or mercy.
Lets place all of your worries, frustrations, and limiting patterns in God’s capable hands.
To the mama coming home to an empty closet that was once full of baby clothes, you are loved and thought of IN ADVANCE. God sees the tears you’ve cried out as you emptied your angel’s nursery.
To the mama who hasn’t entered her angel’s baby room or her own bedroom since the passing of her baby or husband, you are not abnormal. You are in pain that is beyond this world’s understanding and God is and will give you rest and comfort that will bring you joy inconceivable.
To the mama who’s walking with her shoulders low, with a load to heavy that you’ve been carrying for so long, know that, you were loved IN ADVANCE.
To you mama who’s too exhausted to come out of the emotional drain you fell into, and everybody is saying” get over it”, you are loved and seen.
To the ‘mama’ who feels lonely, abandoned, unseen, ashamed, unworthy and unheard, to YOU, please know today and forever, you can walk in the confidence of at least knowing that you were loved, seen, known and heard, way IN ADVANCE before your existence and there’s a plan in place in God’s storyline because he knows your heart.
To the mama overwhelmed with her kids schedules and undone laundry. To you who sacrifices yourself but your kids are too young to appreciate or thank you for your efforts ~ you are enough and loved IN ADVANCE.
To the mama feeling she’s not enough because she’s too overwhelmed and hasn’t managed to serve her kids the Martha Stewart diners but only managed cereal on certain days~ you are appreciated and doing an amazing job because you love your children.
God has seen – Image by Nelly
To the mama crying herself to sleep because of loneliness, because of estranged children or waiting womb, you were loved and seen IN ADVANCE.
To the mama with the empty cradle, nest , God fore saw your yearning heart and see’s the numerous attempts at fertility to no avail. He sees your heart falling in despair but still sees, loves, knows and hears you.
To the mama falling in to debt, struggling to make ends meet and wondering where the next meal will come from, God saw this IN ADVANCE and wants to give you rest.God has heard the wordless groaning of your heart. Calling for breakthrough in your home’s and finances.
To the mama who doesn’t ‘feel’ beautiful because of the standards set by this world, may you know that your identity is in Him. He chooses you and calls you His own masterpiece and that’s what matters. Lean on the things unseen because those are eternal.
IN ADVANCE, God knew about your broken heart and heartache. He is not surprised of the fear that engulfs your mustard faith and causes you to be weary wondering where He is when you most need him.
IN ADVANCE, God knew the loss, despair and pain that has befallen you. He knows your broken heart and how hard it is for you to love again. As hard as it is to understand, your broken heart is a part of His storyline but in His storyline, mourning is temporary and joy in abundance is your portion.
To the mama who hasn’t drawn her curtains the whole week or left her house for a long time and her head has been burried in her pillow, soaked in her tears, God sees, hears and knows what it is to be lonely and rejected. But, He calls you His beloved and chooses you.
To the mama who feels like she’s always the last one on people’s hearts or minds and lists, God chooses you 1st. If it was only you, He would still die for you alone. To you mama, serving people in the open and also behind the scenes and feeling overwhelmed, God is your reward.
He has the whole storyline in mind and has already seen how the story ends. So nothing is ever a miss or last choice. Everything fits in His perfect plan and doesn’t take him by surprise.
To you mama suffering in silence, I say ” Just be held” and ” let go” by letting down all your anxiety, worries and stress at His feet because God has seen it all, the struggles to make everything work, your hard work, you being taken for granted, you being the talk of town and ashamed because of the infertility, failed marriage, ‘misbehaving’ kids or failed job.
Just as He created a solution to save mankind before hand, by providing his son, way IN ADVANCE to be a sacrificial Victor, He is working behind the scenes to bring you victory and healing.
To you mama, rest in His love. Lots of love. Mama Faith Hope and Love.
To the ‘mama’ who feels lonely, abandoned, unseen, ashamed, unworthy and unheard. Please know today and forever, you can walk in the confidence of at least knowing that you were loved, seen, known and heard, way IN ADVANCE before your existence and there’s a plan in place in God’s story line because he knows your heart.
To the mama who doesn’t know whether to add her angel baby when asked whether she has kids or not or how many kids. To the mama overwhelmed with her kids schedules and undone laundry. To you who sacrifices yourself but your kids are too young to appreciate or thank you for your efforts ~ you are enough and loved IN ADVANCE……TO BE CONTINUED.
In Advance:
These last weeks, we’ve been going through a series of sermons at church, around the preposition ~IN. To see various ways we can participate in God’s work by being IN him.
So, being October when we reflect and empathize with those who have suffered child loss, I wanted to encourage someone through this message because I related so much to it and it blessed my aching heart, that immediately I heard it, I knew I wanted God to use me to write something along those lines.
God is all powerful and he’s not surprised by any of life seasons or events that come our way. He knows us and knew us before we were created, God prepared somethings for us IN ADVANCE for us to walk into or choose to follow.
A question to ask would be “Do you know why you are in the season you are in at this very moment. ? Yes, even your heartbreak.
Our pastor used the example of the Marvel movies, how there are so many of them but all of them are connected with regards to the story line in the comic universe. You don’t really have to watch all of them to understand the story.
On the other hand, It’s ironic that even while we get to watch such movies, and commend the directors or writers of how good of a plan they had about the content, because the storyline fits so well, we still fail to see how God also had a plan when creating this universe and us. We see things happening as accidents. We forget that, He has been working IN ADVANCE , to set things into motion.
God’s word is much more than those movies, full of various authors but with an incorporated and intertwined storyline. He had a plan and knew the direction our lives was going to be taking all along.
Our best example is Jesus Christ, in John 17:24 he says “…..because you loved me before the creation of the world”. Colossians 1:26~ the mystery that was hidden for ages has now been revealed to us his children , and the glorious riches of this mystery, which is = Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory. That means, there’s been hope all along to get us to victory even when it doesn’t seem so.
*In John 17:24, Jesus knew He was loved IN ADVANCE. From the very beginning and it’s a part of his identity and nothing can take that away from him. Whether the world rejected him, persecuted him, didn’t see him as worthy, he knew he was the beloved. All other things didn’t matter to him.
I hope we find out how loved and thought of we are and go with that, letting that knowledge guide our lives and all seasons we are in. May that knowledge of our identity, remind us, in the moments society doesn’t count you as a mother when you are a mother to many angel babies that no one knew of.
Loved In Advance
IN ADVANCE, God knew he wanted to create the world, he had a plan to do that, it wasn’t a last thought. He wanted to create a people who would know him and be in communication with him. That means you and I. He also knew, that human nature would cause us to disconnect from him. So IN ADVANCE, he sent Jesus to be the sacrificial lamb (read Victor) to be the one to reconnect us back to God without judgement.
In Jesus, we have new mercies,(Eph 2:4,5, 2cor 8:9) which he has prepared IN ADVANCE for us. God went ahead to create a solution to a problem he had fore seen.
His final request is asking us whether we choose to ENTER IN, in his rest accepting that we can’t do it all alone. The challenges and standards set by the world may cause us to disconnect and bring disbelief or anxiety in His promises. Even this, He had foreseen, what matters now is, do we choose to ENTER IN by obeying and believing that where we are and the seasons we are in, fitted into his storyline way before we were formed and that you are enough and thought of.
I pray that we would let down all weight that burdens us and choose to ENTER IN to what God has prepared IN ADVANCE for us.
****For we are God’s masterpiece. God’s whole plan from the beginning, after seeing that what he created was good, was for us to be connected through Christ to return to that point before humanity disconnected from him and all everything was still good.
You are the daughter of the most high King. Know that, the Sovereign one who created the universe also created you in His image and is mindful of you.
God has something in mind for you, he has good works for you that he has prepared IN ADVANCE for you to participate in. He has already prepared good works for us to do (like serving and caring for your little ones) so that we can walk into the rewards he has prepared for us IN ADVANCE from the foundations of the world.
Accepting his rest is to accept his work. He loves you and has a good plan for your life. No matter how often this has been said, it is true, because He really has been and always has a purpose for your life. So rest in the assurance that you were thought of , loved IN ADVANCE and nothing you do or come short of achieving will ever separate you from his ‘IN ADVANCE’ love.
