"The Shepherds Way" E.W.King: Grace for today's hurts and wounds

Grace for today's hurts and wounds

By Lorraine Taylor

I am thankful for mistakes as no one is immune from making them. I am grateful for regrets as we share in them as human beings.

I am thankful that learning and growth occur from making wrong choices. I am grateful that in aging, wisdom is gained.

I am thankful for the suffering, pain, and wounds I face in this life, and in them, there is the provision of already supplied Grace.

I am thankful that there remains Faith, Hope, and Love in the complexities of circumstances and relational issues.

I am thankful that God's love is offered not based on past actions, behaviors, or what I have done, do now, or will do in the future. I am thankful this love is not offered based on performance, laws, or rigid rules.

I am grateful this love flows freely, unbiased from human understanding. This love overflows as the influential source and origin of the divine Holy One, who continually transforms me and all I am not - from the inside-out.

In this transformation, I am stretched. My vision expands to one of viewing life, God, others, and situations through the lens of this love.

Suppose the center of who I am is discovered in love, and this love is of a divine origin. This love is the union of Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It is their perfect union of love joining in the imperfect human I am whose Spirit invites me to participate in such love. I am offered Grace to live from their passion as my source of life.

This holy love challenges all I know, all I believe, and all I think I am according to a spirit whose love is untainted by human understanding. This otherworldly love cannot be known, understood, or realized from any human standpoint.

It is not a human tendency to offer forgiveness for those who have hurt and wronged or purposefully lie or tell false stories.

It is a human tendency to want revenge, wish to rectify injustices, and get an eye for an eye.

It is not a human tendency to offer light, hope, and love to those who have frustrated and angered and pushed me beyond the human ability to be kind, gentle, and caring.

Today I find myself praying for those who lie, those who frustrate, and those whose intentions are not of love.

Today, I find myself praying for those who interfere, hinder, and purposefully cause conflict.

I pray for those who were wounded, hurt, and endured much suffering.

I pray for those who oppress the vulnerable, the disenfranchised, and the mentally incapacitated.

I pray for myself where God's love offers light, hope, and love to me in the stretching.

I am sincerely grateful that in All things, even the obscured not knowing and in the deepest of human conflict, there is Grace.

I am putting on the armor of the Lord, whose shield is purity, whose heart is authentic, whose motivation is merciful, genuine, and loving.

I am walking in the truth of who I am and whose I am in this sacred dwelling place where lavish love transforms my human tendencies. This Spirit-being exchanges self-wiring for desires motivated by the Spirit within whose compassion, caring, and reconciling love offer Grace.

Today I offer my mind, attitudes, heart, and motivations to this love and move into that space where Grace is sufficient in all situations, circumstances, and relational issues. This God-union-love-being can do what I cannot and intervenes where I fail in my human tendencies.

Today when I find I am unable, my Father is entirely able.

Today when I find I am inadequate, my Father has supplied sufficiently.

Today I recognize and realize my human limitations and inadequacies and inability to do this thing called faith.

Today and in each moment gifted, I am choosing to join in responding from the supplied love that Father has already provided by His sufficient, empowering, and profound Grace.

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

Ephesians 3:20-21