God’s Relentless Invitation of Grace
I heard the Lord speak tenderly to my spirit, “You are not what you do; you are who I created you to be.”
In this relentless invitation, I find wholeness.
In this constant awareness of God’s grace, I find peace.
During this time of brokenness, I encountered Jesus in a way that changed me forever.
But it was not always this way.
For decades, I sought and strove to find the acceptance I longed for. Always doing, always trying, and always failing—which made me try harder until I came to the end of myself. But it was in this place that I encountered the depths of God’s love and found the rest I longed for.
Trying But Failing
In 2008, as I watched my mother-in-law slowly die, an intense sadness made a home in my heart. We spent every weekend all summer making the five-hour round trip to Kansas City to be with her. It was hard, painful, and something I had no idea how to survive.
Equally hard was trying to keep up with a full-time job and a full-time church. In the end, I was exhausted with nothing left to give, but many still asked much of me. Returning to regular life and stuck in an immense loss, I was soon in the grip of resentment.
Unsupported by friends and family at my mother-in-law’s funeral, I returned to life where it seemed no one acknowledged the pain or eased my workload. Thrown right back into church administration, preaching, and leading ministries while working full time, I was running on empty, discouraged, hurting, angry, and bitter.
Four short months is all it took for me to sever ties and quit, vowing to never again return to church ministry.
"You are not what you do; you are who I created you to be.”
I was done.
I was at the end of myself.
I could no longer do it.
I could not measure up.
I was tired.
I had failed.
God’s Relentless Invitation of Grace
During this time of brokenness, I encountered Jesus in a way that changed me forever.
“You are not what you do; you are who I created you to be.”
I had spent my entire life trying to do and along the way I missed that God wanted me to be:
To be what He created
To be whole, perfect, complete, and holy
To be free from sin, guilt, shame, and condemnation
To be loved, accepted, secure, and confident
To be at peace
To be at rest
The journey has taken a while, and I am still on it. It began in a letter from the Apostle Paul written over 2,000 years ago. I found what I was looking for in the Book of Romans. This is where Jesus revealed Himself to me and my revelation of grace began.
In its pages and my long struggle of wrestling with and writing about each verse, God wrote a profound truth on my heart. This truth forever combats the idea that I prove my worth by what I do. Rather, this truth shows me my true worth by what Jesus did.
An Invitation for You
The Book of Romans holds a special place in my heart because of the power it contains to set us free. Whether you are struggling with shame because of your life choices or whether you are trying to prove your worth to God by the things you do, understanding this letter creates space for the Holy Spirit to initiate the change we desperately need and He desires.
I hope you will join me over the next couple months while I revisit Romans to refresh and repost the truths I wrote about years ago. My prayer is that we will encounter Jesus in a powerful and life-changing way.
May the call of God’s relentless grace continue to invite us into peace.
Next: Introduction to the Book of Romans