God's Grace

I picked Grace up from gymnastics at 9pm tonight. As we were almost into the garage, she started talking to me about her social studies class. They are currently studying "world religions"......and since there is only ONE TRUE religion, well you can see where this is headed. LOL! I digress. She did start by asking me "how I knew what we believe is right". I told her that this is where faith comes in. As a super interesting side note, moments before I left to pick her up I was doing my daily walk around the block x 7, and was listening to a sermon on Maturity Mattering - and this one was specifically on faith. It mentioned Mark 9:

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

If Jesus can do something?? He can do anything!! Where is our belief? So I was explaining to Grace that she had to trust what was in her heart. God was speaking to her and she needed to listen. Then she asked me about when God "spoke" to me, and told me that He never spoke to her like that. I reminded her that I was 40 years old and I had only heard from Him like that ONCE! I said she needed to trust the voice she heard inside.

Then she was weeping for the people that "didn't know". And then came THE question. If God is such a loving God, why would He send all those people to hell? They have a choice. They can chose to receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Or they can not chose it. Jesus died as the ULTIMATE sacrifice for all humanity. It is not selective. It is not prejudiced. He died for ALL. Not choosing equals hell. Choosing and accepting equals eternity with God. I told her if I could chose for anyone I would, but I can't. So what are we left to do? Tell them about Jesus. Pray for them. And then let God do the rest. He already knows. He knows when and if they will choose Him. He is putting you in their path to tell them.  She had more passion and emotion on this that I have ever seen. She truly has a heart to tell people about God.

But then, she said, "What if somebody shoots me for telling them about God?" Ahhh, sure love this society that now has my poor kid worrying about that. But I told her - tell them anyway. Goes back again to God knowing. He has your whole life planned out. He knows your days - first to last. And I definitely would not want to disown or deny Him. Not because I'm afraid, mind you, but rather because I love Him. He is not deniable. Check out Matthew 10:

³² “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Then she was upset thinking about her family members that do not have a relationship with Jesus. Upset does not even begin to scratch the surface of what she was feeling. Her heart is broken even thinking about a family member dying without first choosing Christ Jesus. Then she talked about the sadness in her dad as he looked at his dead parents (they are not currently dead) and knew that they might be in hell. She is so worried for her Mimi and Papa. I told her she should tell them, and she should pray for them. That transitioned into the 12 year old thoughts about family members dying, which literally crippled her. When she even thought about her Grandma or Grandpa not being here, she said "I have no idea how I would even go on." You will - God will carry you. He always does.

This was a night I will remember forever. It was heart-wrenching and heart-warming all at the same time. Grace is very aptly named. She is definitely a child of GRACE and she gives a lot of it. She is growing into a very fine woman of God and I am so proud of her. Keep standing up for what you believe in, Princess, and Hartland Consolidated Schools - THANK YOU for pouring gas on her fire! I can't wait to see this girl in action!!!