There In Grace

Yesterday at church our Pastor talked about two women, Deborah and Jael, during his Mother's Day message. These two women played significant roles in the story that can be found in the fourth chapter of the Book of Judges. Our Pastor called them dangerous women --- women who weren't afraid to be dangerous for God! It made me think of this quote I saw on Facebook! I really like it. :-) 

He went on to say that it would be awesome if our churches today are filled with this type of dangerous women! Interestingly enough, the night before I kept hubby up past midnight because I was in one of my "think aloud moods" when I basically ramble and talk out my thoughts... to release thoughts that have been cluttering my brain for a while, bothering me and making me restless! Picture my hubby... sitting there looking confused... thinking to himself: Where is all this coming from?!? 

My "think aloud" topic was that I am no longer satisfied with being just mediocre where God's work is concerned. There must be more that we can do to help the local church grow; to motivate God's people to do more for His Kingdom; to see people find God. My point was that we should be doing more as evidenced by the lack of fruit... what more can we do??? There must be more to it than what is before our eyes... I want to be dangerous for God... as what was prayed over us as a church planting team when we were commissioned by our parent church at the start. 

These "think aloud" topics of mine don't happen often... but when they do, they consume me. I woke up Sunday morning and the conversation with hubby was still fresh on my mind... to be quite honest, I felt like I'm failing... because I'm not doing the best I can with what God has entrusted to us in this church plant. This song kept ringing in my head, which is the verse found in Psalm 73:26:

My heart and my flesh. Many times they fail. But there is one truth that always will prevail. God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Then, we went to church... then, we sat down to hear our Pastor's message... then, he spoke about dangerous women. Coincidence? I think not! 

The thing is... towards the end of his message, he named women in the congregation by name and said a "little blurb" about each one as an encouragement. What he said about me brought tears to my eyes (remember, I am not an emotional person!). Why the tears? Because I kept thinking in my head: Who is that woman he is describing?... I don't deserve all that he is saying about me... I want to become a dangerous woman... I am not one yet!... It was a moment of mixed emotions. 

I came home to reflect on the morning's message and this is where my blog post title comes in... there in grace. It is there, in God's grace, that we live. Extravagant grace so undeserved. In spite of our failings and our brokenness, He still thinks the best of us. When I don't feel like I've given Him enough, grace is right there. Grace to see us through until that glorious day when we are all victorious!

I like that! Now, enough with blogging and on to tackling this week... grace is waiting!