Thursday, April 28, 2016

PERFECT IN GOD'S EYES

I am always sad when I hear a Christian say, “I am just an imperfect sinner saved by grace.”

As if that is all we are.

True, we ARE sinners, and true, we are saved by God’s grace, but the saving means so very much more. We need to know our identity in Christ.

One of the most exciting things about being a Christian is knowing God sees us with no flaw or imperfection because we are seen by Him through the lens of His perfect Son (Col 2:10, 2 Cor 5:21). That is given to us as a gift through the death and resurrection of Christ. That fact underlies our identity, or our position in Christ’s family.

What IS our position in Christ? Christian friends, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17). HEIRS! The Bible says we are seated with God in heaven at the Father’s right hand. (Heb 10:12).

Heirs of the Creator of the Universe, with all the rights and privileges that go along with being His heirs. We are royalty in the kingdom of heaven!!! Jesus’ brothers and sisters!

Just sinners saved by grace?

Oh, so very much more than this. In many places the Bible says:

We are saved.
We are new creations.
We are rescued.
We are redeemed.
We are blessed.
We are favored
We are delivered.

We shouldn’t diminish or be modest about who we are in Christ. I believe the Lord wants us to celebrate our identity in Him.

John tells us that Christ is in us and we are in Him and He is in the Father (John 17:21). An intertwined family, with God the Father our Papa, our Abba (Gal 4:6).

I want to be a believer who calls myself not just a saved sinner, but as GOD sees me: (Psalm 5:12)

…..a richly blessed and highly favored daughter of the King!




Wednesday, April 20, 2016

WHITE TO TAUPE

Painting a house with others is a unique experience.  

Richie and I went to the Cities to help Sam and Gretchen paint the outside of their 2-story home this past weekend. God could not have created a more perfect 3 days of sun and clouds and 70 degrees, no wind. Excellent painting weather.

We were all on different sides much of the time, sometimes two of us for a time on one side. (Richie’s fearlessness on the 16-foot extension ladder painting the high peaks saved the whole project…..the rest of us were not “height” people)

What I enjoyed was the solitary nature of the work in what was definitely a group project. There was a gentle peace about the painting. It was you and your thoughts for most of the time. There wasn’t a lot of talking when we shared a side….there didn’t need to be. You have your own paint and brush and designated area and we were all concentrating on getting this job done.

Yet, the camaraderie was tight. If someone yelled “help with the ladder,” someone else immediately got down from his ladder to help. If someone yelled, “help pouring paint,” an aide appeared immediately.  Occasionally, the silence was broken with things like:

“Can you do this tighter space with your smaller hands?”
“Who needs water? I’ll go in for everyone.”
“Can someone turn the Twins Game up on the radio?”

They were wonderful easy-going help-each-other-out kind of days. We were able to finish all but part of the south side and the back side under the deck (the worst job for whoever gets it)!

I had not painted a house since we painted our cabin when Sam was a tyke of about 5 or 6. I had forgotten that it is a true test of muscle strength (which I do not have). Every muscle in my body ached including my feet from ladder standing, but I did what I thought I would never do again. I stood on the third rung of a ladder with no hanging on and balanced my body. That was a victory for my body, whose muscles are ruined by steroids.

We were honored that the kids thought we were both up to the task of two-story painting. Maybe their confidence in us is what made it all so very worthwhile and satisfying.

It was good practice for this summer's job of cabin painting. I was hoping we could put that off for another 20 years or so.




Wednesday, April 6, 2016

ANOTHER PET

Five and a half years ago, the Holy Spirit gave Dick and me the gift of faith.....the supernatural gift of unwavering faith in God's Word, in His promises for healing. Clearly, we did not know that those promises could be spread out for so many years. But we have soldiered on, not giving up on what God says in the Bible about divine healing.

That faith has sustained us and calmed us. And we are seeing the fruits of healing beginning. Of my three lung tumors, only one has some cancer activity. My four metasatic tumors were not visible. I still have fluid in the bottom of one lung, but the cancer activity in the fluid they found in the biopsy last fall is gone. 

Dick and Sam and I have all expressed that we were unusually unworried about this scan. God gave each of us individually a sense of his peace. I have felt the beginnings of healing in the past couple months.

Like Chris Tomlin's new song, which I love, says: You're a good, good Father. That's who you are.

That, He is, a good Father. 

Thank you, Jesus, for this news.