Tapping into grace
The times I’ve failed have been few, but there have been times. Each time when I would get back on the marked journey path, He would propel me forward even faster.
His grace was always there for me. As Kris Vallotton says, “Grace is the power to do what I couldn’t do one second before.”
Tapping into the grace is as simple as totally surrendering my way for His.
My favorite verse of late is where God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.”6
People have said to me, I can’t do what you did. I’m not that strong. My reply to them is, “No, you’re not yet weak enough for this journey.”
Our weakness is our strength. When we lay down trying to fix everything, control everything with our own limited resources, we fail miserably.
The Comforter
Most of us keep our stash in reserve even in our minds. God knows when we’re doing it. We aren’t hiding from Him.
We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t say we’re giving up and ask for His help if we have no intention of walking it out.
He won’t do it for us, but He will do it with us when we have totally changed our mindset.
Laying down our own abilities, is when we tap into His strength. If we have even a modicum of strength, we try to do it our way instead of God’s. That’s why God left the thorn in Paul’s flesh. It was the one weakness Paul had that meant he had to rely on God.
God is a jealous God. He wants our attention. It makes Him sad when we worship false gods that we feel can give us comfort. Why do we do that? The Comforter has come.7 We don’t have to run to food or drugs, alcohol, pornography, tobacco and any other things we put in His place.
We have Him. He’s all we need.
I’d love to know if you’ve had your moment of change. Please share where you are on the journey, in the comments below.
1 Luke 18:27 NIV
2 Matthew 17:20 NIV
3 Psalm 139 NLT
4 Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
5 Jeremiah 17:10 MSG
6 2 Corinthians 12:9
7 John 15:26 KJV
Teresa Shields Parker is an author, blogger, editor, business owner, wife and mother. Her book, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor is available on Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible HERE. This story is from her blog, teresashieldsparker.com.
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