(G)Leaning on Grace

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 Afraid of the dark? Me too, or at least I used to be. There was a time when I wandered aimlessly in the disorientation that an all consuming blackness could bring on. I remember feeling totally lost with no sense of direction. Constantly groping for a lamp, a candle, even a match, anything that would bring the slightest bit of brightness into my world. Now, I'm not saying that everything in my life was horrible, on the surface it may have seemed normal, but I felt no sense of hope for future improvement. I did not see how my situation could ever get better and in fact my circumstances were spiraling out of control. My personal life, my home life, my health all reaching destructive extremes. I had my husband, but our relationship was rapidly deteriorating. My job was taking over my life ...

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 No one ever said that traveling the road to who God wants us to be would be easy. This road is rocky, it is strewn with pits in which we can fall, it even has slippery slopes that may cause us to slide in the wrong direction. This road is also very narrow and the gate is small. To follow this roadway and enter through the gate of righteousness we have to focus and we have to do it with purpose. No one does this by accident or without thought. Sometimes when we are trekking our way through the ups and downs of life we are faced with decisions or choices that are obviously not on the narrow path. When we come up against them, the choice may be clear but actually stepping out and moving in the right direction may not be so simple when those around us are pu...