Grain, New Wine, Olive Oil...and Lice???

Grain, New Wine, Olive Oil...and Lice???

Posted by Candace

I know, I know...very odd title for a blog post. Bet you won't ever find another one like it, but it will all make sense if you make it to the end (at least it will make more sense than it does now).

Emily tells us that we are about 2 weeks out from our travel approval. That approval means we can officially book our trip, so it won't be long now.

In the meantime, God is digging deep in me, preparing me for our daughter. He has promised that she will be bringing much joy with her and I am excited to begin this new chapter in our lives. We are having to press through difficulties and I now see what I was warned of in the beginning. The enemy hates adoptions and he does not let them take place without a fight. For some it is financial problems or problems with vehicles or jobs. For us, among other things, it has been lice. Yes, you heard me correctly. We were invaded with the little creatures...all of us but my bald husband. After much, and at times loud, discussion, David shaved Jordan and Nathan's heads to make sure there was no chance of reinfestation. I jokingly commented that he had probably planted the lice, because he had been begging the boys to follow his "baldness" lead. He offered to shave mine and sadly, as freaked out as I was, I almost let him, but my hair dresser came to the rescue. She sweetly came over (after she emphatically told me NOT to shave my head) and cut my hair and picked it clean of the little boogers.

As weird as this may sound, I think I heard God say that the lice were a blessing in disguise. As crazy as that sounds...and believe me, after about 20 loads of laundry, vacumming, spraying, bagging, and picking, it sounds pretty crazy... I began to think about how quickly the enemy can infiltrate our minds with lies and wrong thoughts and how believing those thoughts causes them to multiply. Pretty soon we are infested with lies, just as my hair was infested with lice. When we begin to confront this infestation, it is overwhelming and requires patience. It also requires the right tools. I tried to use a comb to pull lice out of Jordan's hair, but it didn't do a thing. When I used the metal lice comb, it started to pull everything out. The Word of God is like a "lie comb". It exposes and eradicates every lie of the devil, but sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes we have to be persistent and radical if we want to see real, true change in our lives. We must not give up, because as soon as we do, a reinfestation will occur. Right now, not only am I consistently checking my hair for lice, I am just as often checking my mind for lies of the enemy. I want to eradicate every single one!

This morning, my devotional led me to Joel 2 where I read this Scripture. "Look, I am about to send you grain, new wine, and olive oil. You will be satiated with them, and I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations." Don't ask me why, but this passage spoke to my deep into my spirit. In Biblical times, grain, new wine, and oil were signs of abundance and prosperity. When they showed up, the famine was over and it was time to celebrate. But in order to get from famine to grain, wheat must be threshed. In order to get from famine to new wine, grapes must be crushed. In order to get from famine to olive oil, olives must be pressed. Threshed, crushed, and pressed...it's what we must go through if we really want our lives to reflect the abundance of Christ. Sure, we can accept Christ as Savior and then hide from anything hard and live mediocre lives with one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom...and I would know, because I have. Or we can walk forward with Christ one moment at a time, going through the threshing, the crushing, and the pressing to the other side where abundance overtakes us. Anyone who truly follows Christ will go through this process, some of us thick skulled ones more than once. Why? Because in order to do anything great for the Kingdom, in order to really follow Christ, we must know that we know that we know that our very life depends on Him. We must lean on Christ the solid Rock and nothing else. We must wake up desperate for Him and we must go to bed thankful that He showed up and led us through the day. The path that He has for us requires this kind of total trust and dependency...the kind that only comes in days when we have to run to Him for survival. We say that we want to trust God fully, but are we willing to walk in the days that are required to learn trust? Are we willing to sometimes take steps that feel like walking off a cliff, but are actually walking right into His arms? Are we willing to stand out from the world, be labeled "fanatic", and be misunderstood? If we are, the rewards are great.

So there is alot of threshing, crushing, pressing, and lie eradicating going on over here. It sounds easier than it is, but it's gonna be worth it. On the other side, there is grain, new wine, oil, and freedom from lies... and that is what keeps me going on most days. And even in the middle of going through the hard stuff, the Savior speaks loudly, bringing hope and peace, cheering us on. God is with us... He is here...right now.

If this is the oddest post that you have ever read, I totally understand... :) What a mom Kate is blessed with! lol.

Keep pouring your prayers on us! We are desperate for them.

Exchanging Worry for the Word!

Exchanging Worry for the Word!

Posted by Candace

So we are in the very last stages of our waiting game. Starting to feel like I have been pregnant for 2 years. David and I are both ready for this transition to begin. We just have to wait for the travel approval and then book the trip. It's almost time.

I'm not gonna lie... I am more scared than excited. Probably just because it is one of my huge weaknesses to fear the unknown. Waiting has been safe for me. We have a daughter in China and the idea of that without the work has been like a dream. Truth is I have no idea what to expect and no idea how this will change our lives. I would probably feel the same things if I was pregnant right now, but at least I would have an idea of how everything would work out. People respond to us like we are saints, but I feel the farthest thing from a saint when I find myself worrying about how this little girl will affect our "safe" and semi "normal" family. Those are less than saintly thoughts. It's kinda like when you are pregnant with your 2nd child and you constantly wonder how you will ever love them as much as you do the one you have already. Don't get me wrong, I love Kate. You can hear it in my voice when I talk about her and see it in my face when her name is mentioned... it's just that none of this is a piece of cake. I'm glad that it isn't, but I also wrestle with the part of me that hates large changes. If there was ever a battle going on between flesh and spirit, it is going on right in this very home. I am learning right here and now to draw nearer to the only One who has the plan. He alone knows how all of this looks on the other side and I am realizing once again how very much I need Him and how very much I have allowed the distractions of this world to pull me away from Him. The funny thing about all my concerns and fears is that even when one of them happens to come to pass, He is always right there holding my hand and making everything okay. I want so much not to worry any more! The worry is always more traumatizing than any circumstance that actually happens. He told me yesterday that the only way to peace is through a deep commitment to His Word. We have to exchange our worry habit for a Word habit. It is our daily Bread. It heals, it restores, it sets free. If we will only submit ourselves to that and quit trying to find freedom any other way, we will soon see the life of It springing up into us. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

So keep us in your prayers in the days and months to come. We need every one of them. Thank you so much for supporting and for loving us!

The Faith of Adoption

The Faith of Adoption

Posted by Candace

I just finished a book called "Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage". It is the journal of a woman who lived in China for 4 years and volunteered at a local orphanage. Needless to say, it was heart-wrenching. She speaks of conditions that would cause most of us to turn our backs because we simply could not watch. She details her experiences of the overwhelming need of the children to just experience human touch. These are children that are not held or rocked or sang to...who receive cold baths and frigid conditions (even inside) in the winter and battle heat and bugs in the summer... who share bottles and bowls of rice because there is not enough to go around and often pass illnesses like cattle. These are children who would thrive in loving families, but waste away because of deformities or imperfections.

I have had several people question why we didn't adopt locally when there are so many children in our own backyard that need families. My answer has been that China is where God led us, but even as I said it, I felt a certain sense of guilt... NO MORE! The needs of these international children are just as great, if not greater then those in America. The conditions I read of would have caused national crisis and attention here in the states and resolved quickly, while this woman worked 4 years to put a dent in the care of these children with fundraising and the like, and still ended up resigning her post because she just could not deal with seeing children die that could have been saved.

As you can imagine, this book hit a personal nerve, and after I was done I wondered if I even should have read it. But I know that it was placed in front of me for a reason. I will now pray harder for our Kate... I will be more committed than ever to go get her... and I will be the first one to offer infinite hugs and kisses and touches to our little girl. If anything can make up for the 2 years of pain and abandonment she has already faced, we will do it!

Yes, adoption has been a arduous journey of waiting. Yes, adoption has been an expensive journey. Yes, adoption is a more difficult way of adding to a family. But not because of these things, you know why it is more challenging? Because it requires FAITH. Faith that God will provide funds, faith that He will provide the child that belongs to you, faith that He will actively work in the process step by step, faith that He will be amazingly present with your child until you can bring him or her home for good. Yes, adoption is a calling. But before you let yourself off the hook...it is a calling for ALL of us to care for widows and orphans...it is even what James calls "True Religion". Not everyone has a desire to adopt a child, but as adopted children of Christ, we should ALL have a desire to do SOMETHING. So as a passionate mom waiting on her little girl, I ask you to examine your life, your priorities, your giving, your faith... where are you helping the 147 million orphans waiting for love? Are you just assuming that someone is taking care of them? Maybe God wants to take care of them through you. Maybe He wants to take care of them through some of the resources that He has give you. Definitely He wants to take care of them through your awareness, your prayers, and your voice. Will you become a part of the solution? If you can only help just one, will you do it? Don't ignore the urgings inside of you for a more comfortable or easy life. Let the Holy Spirit interfere with your 5 and 10 year goals, and then watch as He works right before your eyes! I promise, it will be worth it!

"Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has in store for those who love Him."

She's Ours!

She's Ours!

Posted by Candace

So I received the call today right before David and I left on a 6 hour wine tour with the people on the trip we are on. I was very anxious about touring the vineyards, just because I am always anxious about anything I have never done before and "caves" had been mentioned :). As soon as Emily's number popped up, I knew. Tears came to my eyes before I answered the phone. Emily said, "Well, we got your letter." I lost it. Crying in a lobby full of people and trying to pull it together enough to talk to Emily, I could barely believe that the letter we had waited over 90 days for had finally come. And with it, a guarantee that Kate is our daughter!! She is our daughter! The enemy has no power over her life any longer! She will belong to us and we believe that she will also belong to Christ.

With this journey has come much waiting, but we have also battled. Since we got Kate's preapproval letter, the enemy has come against us with full forces. He started by trying to convince me that I was not a good mother. I almost believed him...HA! He has brought all kinds of fears, all kinds of worries, all kinds of lies about God not being big enough. Well, HEAR ME, DEVIL! You are finished! Christ is Lord of the Roberts' family and that now includes Katherine Hope. You stinkin' liar! You have to leave us alone. Yes, I am fighting mad! Maybe you don't believe in spiritual warfare, but we wrestle with principalities and powers....and we WIN! ALWAYS! Because greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world! The devil HATES adoption and he will do anything in his power to stop it. He hates the picture of Christ's love for us. Kate cannot deserve our love, she cannot earn it, and she cannot buy it. It is simply hers. It is hers because she exists. When she comes home, we have high hopes that she will accept our love. We cannot force her to, but if she does we will lavish it on her every day for the rest of her life. So it is with our God, He loves us in spite of our past and our present, and He hopes for a future for us that accepts that love wholeheartedly and without reserve. The enemy HATES this, so he does everything in his power to distract us, to shame us, to lift us up in human strength. He lies, he kills, he steals, he destroys...he wants us left abandoned on the steps of life at the mercy of his grip, but Christ has come to give us life and a home and a family and Kate is the picture of this. The enemy does not loose his grip easily, but he MUST loose his grip.

So I sit here tonight in front a warm fire in Napa Valley, CA completely amazed at our God's faithful love...it never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on us...NEVER! I am so excited to see how God will use Kate's story to move people out of darkness into His marvelous light and from the domain of death into life everlasting. Can you imagine what God has planned for the life of this little girl? Can you imagine what God will do even in our boys' lives as they watch the real life results of adoption? Isn't He even now doing something in your heart through the story of this little girl on the other side of the world? I know that you cannot imagine what He is doing even now in us!

"I sought the Lord and He delivered me from all my fears... He is on my right hand, I shall NOT be moved."

The Uniqueness of Adoption

The Uniqueness of Adoption

Posted by David Roberts

Once again, not doing so good tonight at sleep. Probably the long day planned tomorrow keeping me up. For some reason, could not stop thinking about Kate tonight. Figured I would post on all the recent thoughts and happenings in our adoption process.

For starters, it is a little strange that a few weeks ago, our Youth Pastor, Rich Griffith presented an entire Sunday message on adoption from a spiritual perspective. He has adopted a little boy from the foster system and it is an amazing story. While we do hear about being adopted by God… all the time in church, I cannot remember a message like that in 36 years of attending church on a weekly basis. The fact that it came in our first year at The Orchard and while we are finalizing Kate’s adoption was pretty amazing. Anyway, this was just another confirmation of what has been an amazing and long process over the past year+.

I have to admit that talking to some people about Kate is often frustrating. We tend to get one of two responses. First, we often get a confused look where the other person is clearly confused as to why we are doing this. The other response is one of telling us how great we are for rescuing this little girl (bla bla bla)… Sadly, the second response is closer to accurate with the roles reversed. In the end, I think it will be Kate rescuing us from ideas and shells we never knew existed.

I think one of the biggest revelations for me in this process is realizing the amazing spiritual side of the process. While I am a true Arminian at heart, I have to admit that this experience at least makes me uneasy around my Calvinist friends. Every time we think we have it figured out, something different happens and only later do we find out the “why”. Even now, we are asking ourselves almost daily why the last part of the process seems so delayed from what we expected. Without even thinking too much, God makes multiple reasons very clear to us. We are definitely starting to trust God more legitimately rather than in theory, but it is not always a romantic experience that makes it all better. There is not a day that goes by anymore that I don’t find myself thinking about life with Kate. Just the other day, I found myself wondering what we would do if something happened and we were denied the final adoption approvals. My mind raced to what amounts of money, time and energy would be expended to overturn such an event. It only confirmed in my mind what I would do if I lost Jordan or Nathan unexpectedly and how I would spend every waking moment of my life to get them back. The reasoning for this is that they are our own, just like Kate even though we have never laid eyes on her before and hold on to a precious few pictures watching her look into a camera in one image with a clear look asking why they have placed her on a brick platform and left her on her own while they must be taking a picture with a mechanical device that she has probably never seen. She looks so confused and almost has an attitude in her look. I like her already.

As time passes without her physically, I continue to daily wonder what life will be like. In theory, we could not be any more different. She is eastern and we are western. She is learning Mandarin Chinese and we speak English. She looks different and has black hair while we are all brown/blonde’s. We have all had parents while she has never known a parent in her life. The only thing I can think of similar is that we are all in the lower 1% of our respective populations in size. For that, Kate will fit right in from the start with all us little people. I check in around 5’6”. Candace cannot be much more than 5’ flat. The boys are uniquely small in their school classes and little Kate is in the lower 1% in sizing charts for Chinese girls. Seems pretty cool that God chose to give us a little girl that literally fits right in. While the differences are stark, there is not an ounce of disconnect with Kate even before she arrives. My mind races continually to how the next 15+ years will play out. Where will she go to school? What will it be like to watch her graduate high school and college? How will I ever walk her down the aisle and survive? What will I say to the little boy that wants to take her out on a date? What details will I describe for him of what I will do to him if he ever violates her in any conceivable fashion? Will I utilize the gun polishing technique in front of him while I am having that conversation? In what amazing way will she server God in her life? These questions and more consume my mind at times and I just want to get on a plane and start the new life as a family. Believe it or not, I keep asking Candace if we are going to do it again! She is not really up for a true discussion there, but we know there is no way we could rule it out. I have a sneaky feeling that somewhere long into the future, we will look back and wonder how much of life we would have missed had we never walked down this path the first time. Cannot wait for the trip very near and I keep rehearsing in my mind that moment in Guangdong when we go up on the platform and take her from a social worker for the first time realizing she is really ours, permanently. Probably not far off from how God feels every time he pulls a life up to a new level. I hope she looks at us like she did this piece of cake on her birthday...

Mother, May I? Confronting the Fear

Mother, May I? Confronting the Fear

Posted by Candace

Well, Kate's approval letter has still not shown up and since this week the government offices are closed for the Chinese New Year, the soonest we can hope is Monday morning. I would have thought by now that I would be fully and completely impatient, but I can't help but be sure that God is using this time to prepare us for our daughter and prepare me for a trip to China.

Ever since I can remember, fear has had a place in my life. I know part of the reason is probably my sensitivity and my inner makeup, but a good bit of it is because I have allowed it to... I have run away from it to any comfort from anywhere that I could find and when I got comfortable, I told myself that the comfortable place was the only safe place. Lately God has brought me to a place where I have been forced to confront fear. I first had to confess it as sin... it is sin...whatever is not of faith is sin and the root of my fear is not trusting God. Not trusting that He is enough...that He can sustain me and empower me in every particular moment of my life.

When God started working the promise of adoption into our lives, I was thrilled, but also scared to death. The closer China got, the more sure I was that I would stay home and let David go to the other side of the world and get Kate. My heart was broken at the thought of missing the moments in my daughters homeland, but the fear had a strong grip and wouldn't let go despite my grief. I began to ask God to perform a miracle (okay, I didn't exactly ask with gusto...it was more of a timid, "I think You have told me to stay home, but if you haven't let me know.")...to allow me and to help me to have the courage to go to China. Little did I know that people who loved me, like my father-in-law and his wife, were praying the exact same prayer...led of the Holy Spirit to ask on my behalf. I tear up as I write this, because my Daddy in heaven is so gracious to me.

In answer to the prayers, God recently started me on a journey...no, pretty much forced me on a journey three months ago that has been a confrontation of one fear after another. He first reminded me that fear will not ever go away completely. It is the weapon the enemy uses to come against us and one of the only tools that he has once we are ransomed from his captivity by our Savior. But I have defenses and weapons that have overcome the world and every time I do not use them, fear wins the battle and becomes more powerful in my life. He has been working those weapons into my inner being...showing me how He empowers me for every task, each moment of my day...showing me that He loves me beyond comprehension and has my best interests at heart in every moment of life...showing me that true peace and joy ONLY come from intimacy and relationship with Him. He has been daily walking me down a path of victory over the fear that has kept me from freely serving Him.

I cannot say that I would have willingly chose what God is doing in me. It is at times perilous and risky and even dark and it goes against everything I have trained myself to protect. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a SAFE person. I don't take risks... I like things like 1+1=2...definite things, comfortable things... so taking these steps with God is like learning to walk for the first time. Our pastor preached recently on courage and He said that God wants us to have courage to take the next step... we will never be "Marine" Christians if we don't first take the first steps bootcamp. God doesn't save us and then say "Okay, now go out there and change the world. And for heaven sake's don't mess up, cause I'm counting on you." Alot of us think that is what He says, but instead He says "Okay, now watch this... Didn't that build your faith?...now this time you do it with Me. That was a great try, let's do it again. Now, that wasn't even a try. I know you can do better then that. I created you to do better. Let's try it again." Like a loving Father, He teaches us and shows us how to walk out the plan and purpose for our lives, not so that we can help Him get this crazy world under control, but because it is only in that place with Him...in His perfect Will... that we have fellowship with God, the fellowship from the Garden before sin entered the picture, the fellowship that He craves and that He created us to crave. He doesn't put the world on our shoulders, He wants to put us on His shoulders so that He can carry His message through us to the world. We don't ever go alone and if we do, our work will not stand...it will be burned up. I can't tell you how much work I have seen go up in flames lately as He shows me how to walk by faith and not by sight. So much of my life lived in my own power, thinking I could do enough to stand before God and hear "Well done, good and faithful servant." Now I realize finding my rest in Him is the key to hearing those precious words.

The other day our case manager called me because God had placed it me on her heart for 2 weeks and told her to discuss fear with me. The conversation was perfect timing. I had just told the Lord that day that I was ready for the LOA... I was ready to move forward in whatever He decided for me about China. Emily reminded me of the story of Gideon and how before his battle with the Philistines the many soldiers were preparing themselves. God told Gideon to tell anyone who was afraid to go home. Many of those soldiers left and went home...after all home is comfortable...home is predictable...home is safe. But the ones who didn't go home, they got to see God perform mighty miracles in that battle and they went forward changed and victorious. Just as Emily said that God spoke to her, I feel like He said the exact same thing to me, "You can stay home, but you will miss seeing a magnificent victory." I have stayed home all my life... I can't even imagine the things I have missed. I am ready to walk with God...step by step...

Lately I have felt as if my life with God is a game of "Mother, May I?" He says, "Candace, I want you to take one baby step forward." and I say, "Okay, God, I am trusting You to empower me with this step." and then I take it and He says, "Okay, Candace, now I want you to take one medium size step forward." and I say, "Are you sure this is what You want me to do, God? Because if You are not with me I am screwed and I really don't want to get stuck somewhere or lost or..." He always interrupts me "Candace, take the step. I am with you. I never leave you or forsake you. You are safe with Me ALWAYS." So I take it... and now guess what He says... "Candace, I want you to take one giant leap forward." I am still in the midst of forming my response to Him.

Will you pray for me? Will you pray that courage will rise up within me and I will have encouragement on all sides? I believe God is asking me to trust Him and go to China and I know that not all the steps will be overly difficult, but that first step, man, it feels like walking off a cliff...and I need courage.

Thank you for your prayers and for your support. When Kate comes home God's glory will be shown in so many ways and she will never be the only one who is adopted in this family. We are all orphans until He picks us up, cleans us off, and gives us freely everything that belongs to Him. But then, there is something wrong if we still act like or feel like an orphan. We aren't orphans any more...we are sons and daughters of God. We say "Father, may I?" and He responds, "Yes, you may!"

You Get an "A"! :)

You Get an "A"! :)

Posted by Candace

So I really don't have anything new to report, which is why I have put off writing. We are still waiting on the elusive LOA from China. Being involved in international affairs is starting to stink! :) I just keep reminding myself that we will go get Kate in God's perfect timing...not a moment sooner and not a moment later. It is difficult to watch the days pass and realize that every day, she gets a little older and spends another night without a Mommy and Daddy to tuck her into bed. I am so glad that it seems her orphanage takes great care of the children and the pictures I received from her birthday showed beautiful smiling women who looked to really love the children. I rest in the fact that she is in God's care.

Waiting is hard, but with each day that passes, I am sure beyond a doubt, that God is preparing us. He is working so strongly in our family right now. In David and I, as individuals, and in our unit as a whole. He is working so definitely that I have actually been afraid to pray that this letter would hurry. We need to fully be prepared to add this precious child to our family. I need to stop running from the uncomfortable and I need to confront issues in my life that have been easily hidden.

So as a recovering performance driven, approval addict. I would like to share an excerpt from a great book I read recently called "Jesus + Nothing = Everything". This would not be my usual choice since it was written by a Presbyterian :)... no offense to all the Presbyterians out there, but I don't consider myself a sold out "Calvinist" so I usually stick to "Armenian" reading material. :)But no doubt, God led me to this book and it has worked some healing in me. I want to share it with someone else... perhaps you...especially anyone trying miserably to measure up or be perfect in any area of life. This touched my heart greatly...

"To close this book, let me retell a story that my friend, Steve Brown, tells that illustrates well how God deals with us according to the finished work of Christ. He says that one time his daughter, Robin, found herself in a very difficult English literature course that she desperately wanted to get out of. She sat there on her first day and thought, 'If I don't transfer out of this class, I'm going to fail. The other people are much smarter than me. I can't do this.' She came home with tears in her eyes and begged her dad to help her get out of the class so she could take a regular English course. Steve said, 'Of course.' So the next Day he took her down to the school, and they went to the head of the English department, who was a Jewish woman and a great teacher. Steve remembers the event in these words...

"She (the head of the English department) looked up and saw me standing there by my daughter and could tell that Robin was about to cry. There were some students standing around and, because the teacher didn't want Robin to be embarrassed, she dismissed the students. As soon as the students left and the door was closed, Robin began to cry. I said ' I am here to get my daughter out of her English class. It's too difficult for her. The problem with my daughter is that she's too conscientious. So, can you put her into a regular English class?' The teacher said, 'Mr. Brown, I understand. Can I talk to Robin for a minute?' I said, 'Sure'. She said, 'Robin, I know how you feel. What if I promised to give you an 'A' no matter what you did in class? If I gave you an 'A' before you even started, would you be willing to take the class?' My daughter is not dumb! She started sniffling and said, 'Well, I think I could do that.' The teacher said, 'I'm going to give you an 'A' in the class. You already have an 'A', so now you can go to class.'"

"Later the teacher explained to Steve what she had done. She explained how she took away the threat of a bad grade so that Robin could learn the actual English literature. Robin ended up making straight 'A's on her own in that class."

"That's how God deals with us. Because of Christ's finished work, Christians already have an 'A'. The threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed. We're in-forever! Nothing we do will make our grade worse. In this life, by His death, and with His resurrection, Christ our substitute secured for us the everything, the 'A', that we come into this world longing for and yet are incapable of securing for ourselves. All the pardon, the approval, the purpose, the freedom, the rescue, the meaning, the righteousness, the cleansing, the significance, the worth, and the affection we crave and need are already ours in Christ. We don't need to add anything to it. The operative power that makes you a Christian is the same operative power that keeps you a Christian: the unconditional, unqualified, undeserved, unrestrained grace of God in the completed work of Christ."

"As I said, the banner under which Christians live reads, 'It is finished'. So relax, and rejoice. Jesus plus nothing equals everything; everything minus Jesus equals nothing. You're free!"


This short passage of this book, brought a new understanding to my life. Since I am naturally hard on myself and used to beat me to a pulp on a regular basis, I find myself saying "What am I getting so upset about? I already have an 'A'." Christ did a whole lot on that cross and we often cheapen it by trying to add our works to it. You might think that this way of viewing things might make Christians lazy or more apt to sin... I disagree... I would give my life for this kind of freedom... I will be grateful for it EVERY day because I know how it is to be in bondage to measuring up...to trying to be perfect...to keeping everyone happy. And the more a Christian realizes what Christ actually accomplished on that cross to free us from sin, the less there is ANY desire to even mess with thoughts of sin. Why would you, when you can have all this amazing fruit and freedom apart from it? When our day is lived moment by moment, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, our life becomes...well, it become LIFE! To know that when we accept Him and He makes His home in us, we automatically get an 'A', frees us from judgement and condemnation and people pleasing and criticalness, etc. etc. We are free!

I am so excited to be on my way to freedom. I know I still have a long way to go, but I am sooo very thankful that He leads me on this journey every step of the way and that He has promised to complete the work.

I get an 'A'! Yay!