Stick Close to the Key Maker

God is so cool—I love walking with Him. He never ceases to amaze me. He never lets me just be stagnant. He forces me to grow. Which is just what I want—except to be honest, I’ve always preferred it to be without pain and without offenses. It doesn’t work that way though.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve often tried to avoid the scripture “to be thankful in all things.” (See 1 Thessalonians 5:18) At times I’ve heard it expressed as being specifically thankful for all things. I can’t. I cannot wrap my mind or heart around some of the evil I have experienced and seen afflict others.

But, can I thank God in these circumstances for being who He is when I don’t understand the “whys?”

Yes, yes I can. I can become my life has been saturated in the goodness of His Word, character, and faithful attentiveness to the details of His creation,  being one of such, and seeing His love, and plans before my eyes. (As well as the evidence of the “unseen”–which is faith!)

My faith-walk versus life doesn’t always line up with my plans, circumstances, or of my perception of what I think God should be doing.  God is steadfast and sees the big picture of our lives.  God will challenge challenging  us all as He leads usnew way and as I walk through stuff I find that I must do two things—but not in my own power. He does it!

I need to be thankful in all things and I can take no offense. Easy? Not really.

This means that as soon as I have something or someone come against me I am given the choice to react or respond with Holy Spirit leading me and shushing me, if needed.  We all need to process the pain, frustration, feelings of injustice, and defensiveness, and other emotions. We are angry or hurt. We can give ourselves the allowance to be human but also not walk out of the character of Christ in us. This means we surrender to Christ, the Hope of Glory, and lean not only to our own understanding but trust Him to help us through.

As we start processing the thankfulness for every positive aspect and harvesting the truths as I surrender to God’s mighty hands–and no other.  ”

It seems through this I am learning to not only give others more slack and grace, but myself. I blow it. I do something which appears to be a mistake—and I consider just maybe it wasn’t a blunder but really part of a redeemable situation—at least in some way. What if God’s redemption plan is bigger than we ever knew? What if He has us covered because He knows the victorious end from the stumbling-block-laden-path we often take? What if God’s grace is really is so full of crazy love that we can really rest in it—and pour it out freely to others? We can’t earn it, right?

What if, like I am learning, as I have watched others do this, we don’t pick up offenses? What would happen if we gave grace out like it is in unlimited supply? Of course if you know me you understand this is through Jesus and God’s wondrous plan to make a way for intimate relationships for all who enter in through the Door. There are steps we take but we never earn it. We just follow the steps and His path is clear because His Word tells us and it also demonstrates His character.

Tonight I made good timing on a hike. I felt a tinge of victory, especially since how messed up my back was just months ago before and after surgery. Victory feels good. Health feels good. But nothing feels as good as walking in grace. It’s not like I am perfect nor will I be, but I think resent circumstances dropped a key on the ground and I claimed it. Many of you may already walk life like this but for me I have some new found opened doors to freedom because of the found key. There are more keys out there for all of us and various keys for so much freedom because of the freedom given to us through Jesus. When we have keys we need to make duplicates to hand to others when needed.