Unless you are one of the women I have discipled, my commendation might usually be a safe and well-planned route in life. I would not want to direct you to stupidity. But if I have spent time with you and allowed you to see how I live out my priorities and decisions, then I cannot hide the fact that my life is not safe or comfortable in many ways.
I am driven by grace. Shown mercy and made new - I'm not who I once was. Walking down a hallway when I was 17, I responded to that grace. Somehow. Within. I affirmed the stirring on my heart that working for the glory of Jesus would be the path of my life.
No career.
Just a dream of serving God with my life, my desires, my grit.
Through this commitment, and with grace leading me, I faced my fears within men's and women's prisons. I fed misplaced friends with my last cans of food. I packed my car with the unsettling question, "Where will I sleep for two weeks?" I shared my faith in China and fell sick. My list, and your list, I'm sure could take up pages. But in every one of them, the grace of God drives us. And, for me, I struggle with my flesh the whole way. These choices in faith demand grit.
But what about the daily, mundane, and unromantic moments? When I need to confront in love. When I ask for forgiveness because I'm a jerk. When the commitment interrupts my sleep. When my budget just doesn't cut it. Even here I have to live with grit and look to the enduring joy that is mine in Christ.
Living out grace demands our grit. Every commended Bible man or woman had true grit in life. The path wasn't easy. Difficulty abounded. But joy remained.
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