Day 6 notice:: 2019 FMF 31 Days Writing Challenge :: Going With God

​“A man can’t have a sense of his sins until Christ puts life in him. You may put a hundred pound weight on the breast of a dead man and he won’t mind anything about it, but if the man is alive he feels the weight bearing down on him.” -  D.L. Moody

Ephesians 2 begins with the awful truth that we all were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead people don’t do much, except perpetuate corruption that comes with death.

Nothing good comes from a dead person.

But God…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), Ephesians 2:4-5 (NASB)

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! God in His goodness and mercy, fueled by His love, reaches to the most hopeless of cases and breathes new life in her. And that’s when she begins to notice things.

For one thing, the weight of sin has impact in her life. She knows that Jesus came to save her from her sin, but she still has a knack for doing the wrong thing. It took me a long time before I would make the connection that Jesus was more concerned with changing my inherently sinful attitudes and bents than my circumstances. Home life still offered an angry, abusive father and a traumatized mom. But God would chisel away at my obvious hatred for my dad for years.
 
Even at a young age I knew I had a penchant for selfishness and rebellion. Vengeance was ready to jump in the situation if I thought it was warranted. God would persistently work on my heart and mind through His Word and the godly people He placed in my life.

The Lord uses every moment for His purposes.

From the time I was 8 years old Sunday morning was a special time for me because I attended Sunday School and sometimes the worship service alone, freed from the tangled mess of home. For those few hours I was to free to be me, or the ‘me’ I hoped to be.

Something remarkable happened in my life one Sunday Morning when I was walking in the hallway after Sunday School. I greeted the Pastor on the way to the sanctuary with a happy, “Good morning, Pastor Brumme!”

His response took me by surprise. “Good morning, Sunshine!” his baritone voice returned. It happened so quickly I wasn’t sure what to do. I grinned at him as I went on my way.

So many thoughts tumbled in my brain - Who, me?  You wouldn’t say that if you really knew me. Are you making fun of me? I’m NO Sunshine…

One Sunday I asked him if he even knew my name. He said he did, but he preferred to call me Sunshine. Only God could have known how I needed that balm of Grace for my soul.

It’s true that we will battle with our old nature till we die. But, the Spirit of God has been given to all believers and speaks Light, Life, and Truth to us always.

How about you?
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Have you ever experienced a moment of God’s Grace that changed your life and how you viewed yourself?

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