ApprehendingGrace.com

I was feeling bruised and battered this evening. I wasn’t sure why, but it felt like the last few weeks have been really hard. Yes, I knew that I’d had challenges in many different areas of my life, but still, it didn’t seem that I should have felt as bruised and battered as I did.

The only thing I could really put my finger on to make sense of it was that I’d felt a bit disconnected from God. My fault, not His. I’d kept up with my Scripture reading each day and while my prayer life hadn’t been stellar, it had been there. But the kind of work I’d been doing this week had required a lot of intense concentration and I just hadn’t been as aware of God’s presence throughout the day.

So I sat down with Scripture hoping to reconnect. My Bible was open to Ephesians 1. It wasn’t where I’m reading right now, but where I stopped a couple of days ago while studying for a future sermon or blog. So I thought I’d start reading there. I blessed immediately. Read a little with me.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
Ephesians 1:1a (NIV)

Paul knew who he was, I thought. He knew what he was called to. And he was confident where that calling originated from – he was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Who am I, I wondered? If I were writing a letter like Paul, what would I write?

Sandy, a preacher…a writer…an encourager…

That’s when life began to make sense again. That’s when the bruised feeling began to lift.

When life gets complicated, going back to the basics helps.

Who are you? Who do you belong to? By what authority? What’s your assignment?

I am Sandy, I belong to Jesus and I’m called by God to make the grace that He makes available to people easier for them to grasp.

I haven’t been doing that this week. That’s why I’m out of sorts. I’ve been stuck in details that were obscuring that calling from me. The best part of the week was during our Thursday morning Bible study during which I know I helped those in attendance touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. I know they left more able to hold onto faith in trying circumstances.

But I too quickly left that environment and returned to be immersed in details of this world that weren’t fitting together in a way that made sense. This world is like that sometimes. But whether I’m leading a Bible study or figuring out how to make my blog talk to Facebook the way I want it to, my calling is the same: I am Sandy, I belong to Jesus and I’m called by God to make the grace that He makes available to people easier for them to grasp.

Have you been out of sorts lately? Is life too complicated. Get back to basics. Take a few minutes to meet with God, then write your own introduction. Who are you? Who do you belong to? By what authority? What’s your assignment? It will uncomplicated things in a hurry.

Thank you, Lord!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 22nd, 2013 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Christian Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.