A Forgiven People

We've received everything we need for godly living, through God's grace: pardon for our sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, peace with the Lord, and access to God through prayer (Heb 4:16). We work, worship, and enjoy leisure in the unmerited favor of our God. His love surrounds us, upholds us, fills us, and sustains us and nothing either in heaven or in hell can come successfully against us (Rom 8:35, 38).

Since we are a forgiven people, God responds to and relates with us not as enemies but as His very own, beloved and cherished children (Rom 5:10). He has promised to hear our prayers, participate in our lives, act on our behalf, and provide everything we need for life and godliness. Even correction is an expression of His love and grace. "God disciplines us for our own good, that we may share in His holiness" (Heb 12:10 NIV). Because we dwell in His grace, we can act with:

Assurance that our position is secure. No one can snatch us away (John 10:28). Boldness in living for Jesus. Since we always reside in grace, nothing man can do or say is able to affect our relationship with God our Father. Confidence for today because something so much better awaits us in the future. God is fulfilling His good, pleasing, and perfect will (Rom 12:26) ... and nothing can interfere or obstruct His plan. And it is such a good plan (Jer 29:11), sound and well-intentioned! Hopefulness for our futures. One day we will see Jesus in all His divine glory with our own eyes. We will receive our resurrection bodies, glorified and eternal, take our place as co-heirs with Christ Jesus, and dwell with Him for ever and ever.

Just as He promised, God is transforming each and every believer according to His one and only, individualized plan for each person's life. We may slip and fall or waver at times, disappointing ourselves and others. But we remain enveloped in the grace of God. If we have any feelings that tell us otherwise, we must refute them with the truth of God's Word and discard them and be done with them.

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Another day, another blog. I thought I'd get right to it and get it out of the way so I'll be free to go talk to Gerry at Church. She and I need to go through the attendance records and mark the people who have moved away. I tried to see her last week but our schedules just wouldn't mesh. Either she was busy when I was free, or I was busy when she was free. Tomorrow I will be meeting with the Missions Committee over lunch at Evelyn's house and that will take care of my daytime appointments for the week I think. Being chair for the deacon board is going to keep me busy until I get a handle on things and I'm not just talking about meetings. I have so much material to go over in my binder and forms to design. Lots of thinking to do. Thinking of ways to streamline things and make communication easier. I'm trying to decide if I want to ask for written reports from the different commissions for each month. That would give me something tangible from which to write my own written reports for the quarterly meetings with the executive board. (I'll be lucky to get that done, with or without written reports from the commissions!) I don't think I know how to write a report. Guess there's no time like the present to learn, huh?

We got down into the 20s last night and it looked like a winter wonderland when I got up this morning, the frost was so heavy. But we have bright sunshine. No overcast for a change; now this is why I love living in the foothills. I'm glad Michael reminded me to cover my cacti last night. I'd hate to lose them. They're so pretty now that they've taken root after being transplanted awhile back. It only took one hard freeze to get them last year and it's taken them a year to recuperate.

Well, I'm going to cut this short and get ready to go meet with Gerry. I wonder if I'll be able to get away without washing my hair again. I hate messing with my hair everyday. I'm never happy with it any more. Just never satisfied. Course it doesn't help that it's getting so thin you can see my scalp all over my head. I'm considering going drastically short this next time. So short that all I can possibly do is finger style it. I want to retire my trusty round brush. We'll see. I guess it's time to say those words made famous by people like me ... until tomorrow. Bye.