Rescued, Redeemed, Real (Part Two)

In the early months of my marriage to James, I finally and completely surrendered to God right where I was. The Lord by His grace turned my heart to Him, and I began to learn how to have a relationship with Jesus. Not religion. Not to-do lists. Not performance or works. Not rules and regulations. A relationship. I am so thankful that the Lord turned James’ heart to Him at the same time. We had a lot to learn, but as God showed us the reality of His perfect design, as we yielded to Him in obedience to His word in how we treated each other, He healed the things that were tearing us apart. We learned to put each other’s needs first, even when our needs weren’t being me. Even when the other person didn’t deserve special treatment. We didn’t do it for each other. We did it as an act of worship to our Lord (meaning the one who had the right to demand from us that which we didn’t see as fair). As we did, He changed our hearts toward each other. And He performed His promises in our lives.

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,

but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

I’d love to say the transformation was immediate and overnight. That the angels sang and all was suddenly perfect. It was not. The first three years of our marriage was extremely difficult, even as we took baby steps toward better. God mercifully kept our toes pointed toward the cross. We joined a church and got involved in a home group. We surrounded ourselves with people who had relationships with Jesus and marriages like we wanted. We were completely broken, unable to maintain a façade. Desperate, we let others see the reality of our private life. We found love. Acceptance. Help. They listened, spoke the truth of God’s word, and remained by our sides as we learned new ways of living every aspect of our lives – from relating to each other, to parenting, to our finances, our friendships, our jobs. At some point, we started believing what God said. If the Bible said to do something, we had the faith to do it. We stopped doing things our way and did things His way.

“Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).

Together, in spite of hick ups, setbacks, explosive arguments, hurtful words, deep disappointments, and hard times, we plowed forward in Christ, and the Lord did a mighty work in us, in our marriage, and in our family. We are living proof of God’s word. No matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done, you can be too.

“For the wages of sin is death,  

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

"I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

There is only one way.

“Jesus said to him, ’I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

You, too, can taste and see that the Lord is good.

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart  

that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

As He promises in Philippians 1:6, He who began a good work in us is completing it. I could never do God justice in attempting to recount every way He has shown Himself mighty in our lives. There are, however, a few monumental, life-changing experiences the Lord has used sanctify me, satisfy my deepest desires, strengthen my faith, and demonstrate the certainty of His principles and promises.

God is faithful. He is no respecter of persons. In the next few weeks, as you read a few specific accounts of God’s amazing goodness and power in our life, I pray He uses what He’s done to speak directly to your heart and your circumstances. Or maybe the message is for someone you know. Either way, don’t miss next Thursday’s post.

Revelation 12:11 tells us the devil and his angels are overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” I pray we overcome the same way – by the blood of the Lamb and the testimonies we share with each other of the greatness of God in our lives – as we become more wholly His.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Crumpled Grave Clothes Litter My Heart

Resurrection Sunday. It is early. I am still. Lord, what do I say? We celebrate Easter with bunnies, baskets, hidden eggs, and squeals of delight, while an empty tomb beckons. An empty tomb. One day a dead body. The next, only burial clothes. One day a fortified cell. Defeat. The next, a symbol of hope. One day the finality of man’s worst punishment. The next, the finality of God’s eternal deliverance.

What is here for me at the mouth of the empty tomb? The resurrected life. Alive in Christ, having died in Him. God shows me: Selfishness cannot live in the face of sacrifice. The dying to self of the crucified life is absolutely necessary for the glory of a resurrected life. What may appear to be a checklist of good works (see Thursday’s blog, “The Crucified Life: Dying to Self”) is but the natural result of a crucified self. But there is nothing natural about it. Not when God sums up the condition of man’s heart as “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Job 17:9). We can honestly say we were born that way. For that, Jesus died. Brutally. Innocently. Without sin. For what we deserve. To pay the eternal penalty we owe for our sin. Every one of us. No exceptions. Jesus’ shed blood is the only verdict that will stand in the heavenly court of law when we stand before a holy God. To put our faith in Jesus as the only source of our salvation, to be saved by grace through faith and nothing else, is to die to self and be raised in new life in Christ. Just like He was. Resurrected from death to eternal life. Yes, eternal life in heaven when we are saved. Guaranteed. Because of one man’s sacrifice. The Son of God.

How do we not see? How do we not fall on our faces in joy and sorrow? How do we not rejoice? How do we not receive the free gift He offers? How do we not respond with the one simple requirement: faith. In Him, and Him alone. How do we not love Him because of His great love for us?

The empty tomb awaits. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Where once our tomb was a place of hopelessness, uncertainty, death, and bondage, in Christ, it is now empty.

Do you see it? When we place our faith in the resurrected Christ, all things are made new. Where there was once sin and destruction, there is now an empty tomb. A place of hope. A new life. In Christ. Where alcoholism once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. We are raised to new life in Christ. Where sexual immorality once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. Only grave clothes. We are raised to a new life in Christ. That old self is no longer there. Where anger and strife once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. We are raised to a new life in Christ.  Where ambition once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. Jealousy, envy, and discontentment? Only grave clothes. Eating disorder? Only grave clothes. Hurt, brokenness, unforgiveness, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, broken marriage, broken home, drugs, stealing, murder, homosexuality, hatred, judgment, gossip, unkindness, selfishness, self-seeking, pornography, impure thoughts, vulgar language, coarse jesting? Yes, grave clothes!

In the emptiness of the tomb we find the sobering uselessness all our pursuits for a substitute. The uselessness of the counterfeits Satan offers to distract us from true salvation. True deliverance. True joy. True security. We find that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And as He continues in that verse, “No man comes to the Father but through me.”

Will you come to Jesus? Maybe for the first time. Perhaps, like me, for the fifty millionth time. To find forgiveness. To find peace. To find hope. To find the crumpled up burial clothes of a life once eternally condemned. To find an empty tomb because you’ve been raised up in Christ to a new life where all things are made new.

Are there  burial clothes you need to find crumpled on the bed of your heart? Sins you need to confess? Bondage from which you need to be set free? When you go to the empty tomb, do you find yourself wearing your burial clothes again? Jesus died for it all. He secured victory, once and for all. The sins we’ve committed, are committing, and will commit. It is all on Him. It is only on us to come. And to return. Romans 8:1 assures us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” We must take responsibility, but condemnation is not ours. Not in Christ.

Thank you, merciful, gracious, heavenly Father for the gift of Your Son. The sacrifice. The empty tomb. The hope. The forgiveness of our sins. Forgive us now, Lord, for the sins we have committed, are committing, and will commit. We stand at the mouth of Jesus’ empty tomb and rejoice. Death is defeated. Eternal life a guarantee for those who put their trust in Jesus. Jesus, we place our faith in You and You alone. Thank you, Lord, for sending the Holy Spirit as our helper. We ask for help now to take responsibility for our obedience. Responsibility to come and to return. May we find grave clothes crumpled in the tombs of our hearts every day as we become more wholly Yours.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Untimely Death. Timeless Hope.

It’s Friday afternoon. We turn the car over to the valet and saunter into our first store. Just making a return. My two youngest plead with me to make it quick. It’s one of those home stores where I love to lose myself. Love to get ideas. It’s one of those stores they love to hate. I promise it will be quick and head for the sales associate at the register. In the middle of trying to figure out why I received a bed skirt I never ordered, the phone rings.

“Hey Jennifer, what’s up?”  

“Did you hear about Katie?”

“Katie Walker?”

“Yes, Katie Walker.”

“No. I haven’t heard anything. What’s happened?”   

“She was killed in a car accident this morning.”

“What? You’re kidding me! Are you serious? Oh, Jennifer, there’s no way! Oh, the family!”

And it happens. In an instant, the lives of two vibrant young women end and countless more will never be the same.

Shock. Unbelief. Heartbreak. Nausea. I try to imagine what her parents must be feeling. It hurts too much. What does that say about the reality of what they must be experiencing? If I can’t stand the pain of imagining, what must they be experiencing?

Calls keep coming. People wanting to know if we we’ve heard. What can we do? What do they need? What in the world happened? She spent the night with a friend. They went to Bible study and back to her friend’s house for the night. Her friend was bringing her home that morning. The streets were wet. They hydroplaned into oncoming traffic. The passenger side took the impact. She died instantly, the police say. Her friend passed away before the constable arrived. How do we make sense of something that seems so senseless?

I go to bed, heavy hearted. I wake up, heavy hearted.

Lord, the Walkers. Oh Father, what can I do? What can I pray? It’s unbelievable. How can a vibrant life be here one moment and gone the next? No warning. No wrong doing. No drugs, alcohol, rebellion. She wasn’t doing something wrong in a place she shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t the result of any form of foolish or criminal behavior. She just spent the night with a friend and was on her way home. And the young man in the truck. An innocent victim who now shoulders the sorrow of being the driver of the truck they hit. Lord, cover it all with your presence. Your power. Your comfort. Your love. Your mercy. Your balm. The pain doesn’t go away, but joy and comfort mix in. She is in Your presence now. We rejoice for her, Lord, and mourn for those left to figure their way through her absence. We celebrate Your saving grace for her, and our hearts break for her family. And Your grace is sufficient, even in the loss of a child. Your grace is sufficient in any loss. Any tragedy.

I think of the Steven Curtis Chapman family. I think of my own mom. The phone call.

It was eight years ago. Checking my voice mail after lunch with a friend, I unlock the car and help the girls get settled in the back. My sister left two messages about an emergency. Someone must have broken a bone or something. I call her back. “Hey, what’s up?” I ask. “Mom’s dead!”

She never showed up for work that morning. She never called to say she was running late. Very out of character for her. Her staff called 9-1-1 to check on her. They found her dead on her kitchen floor. We had no warning. No idea it was coming. No idea cancer had taken up residence in nearly every organ and system in her body. The life of a 62-year-old vibrant woman ends, and countless others will never be the same.

In an instant, life as I knew it changed. Shock. Unbelief. Debilitating grief. Disorientation. Denial.

You were there, Lord. You went deeper than the grief. When no one or nothing could make it better, You did. You are sufficient. You are able. You are faithful.

There’s a truth here. A lesson.

No one knew my mother would never call again. No one knew Katie would never come home. No one knew it would be the last time to hug, say I love you, give assurance, see her face, hear her voice. Only the Lord knows the number of our days. Tragedy is a painful reminder. Lord, let me be the one to extend the hand of grace, forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation. You’ve given every one of us who are Yours the ministry of reconciliation. Let us be faithful in it. Let no anger sit. No offense take hold. No bitterness take root. No unkind word leave our mouths, within our families and without. Let us learn truth through this. Let us train our children. Let me, Lord, love more vulnerable, extend more grace, assume more humility, let more go, encourage more generously, reconcile more quickly. Oh Lord, make it all better for this family according to Your perfect plan.

Even when we don’t understand the heartbreak in our lives, we will not stop loving You, trusting You, praising You, worshipping You, rejoicing in You. We are not promised understanding. As Your word says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6). I don’t know why this happened, Lord, but I do know what Your word says about You. I know You will never leave or forsake Your children (Heb. 13:5). I know You will work all things, even catastrophic loss, for good to those who love You and are called according to Your purpose (Rom. 8:28). I know You are ever present, all powerful, all knowing. I know You love this family more than can be measured and will carry them through. I know Your angels have charge over them now to keep them in all their ways. In their hands they bear them up, lest they dash their foot against a stone (Ps. 91:11-12). I know You are their “very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). I know “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). I know You are Him who comforts us (Is. 51:12).

Talking to Katie’s mom, I think I know what Katie would say to us. We no longer hear her voice, but she speaks. Her love for Jesus speaks loud and clear. She wanted nothing more than for others to come to know her Jesus. People will hear. Her funeral will be a celebration of a young woman whose Savior was her passion. Perhaps she will reach more lives for Jesus in her death than she ever could in her life. She is with the love of her life. She is not mourning. She is in a place our minds cannot even fathom. Her family has that guarantee. They will miss her for the time they remain, but they will be with her forever.  I will miss my mom to the day I die, but when that day comes, I will be with her forever. It is the source of hope in the face of despair.

There isn’t anything any one of us can do to take another’s pain away when death takes a loved one. But Jesus can. He is the answer for now. He is the answer for the afterlife. Our time here on earth is temporary. Guaranteed. Where we go when we leave is also guaranteed. Jesus came to earth in the form of man to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin. My sins deserve the death He endured, yet He paid that price for me. For you. So that we don’t have to. No one has the ability to not sin. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Nothing we can do will save ourselves or earn our way into heaven. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). When God opens our eyes to our sin and moves on our hearts to respond to His call, and when He gives us faith to believe in Jesus, we are saved. Like Katie. Like my mom. Jesus guarantees: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47), and, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). If God is calling you, respond. Believe. Don’t put it off. Another lesson tragedy teaches. A guarantee that is yours for the taking. Today. A guarantee that guarantees hope, even in the darkest hour.

God will be glorified. Through Katie’s life, and through her death. Through her family. Even in their grief, their heart is for the Lord, for the salvation of others.

Lord, give us an eternal perspective for this temporary existence. When pain overwhelms us and we can’t see how we’ll manage our next step, turn our hearts to You. I cannot begin to imagine the loss of a child, Lord. It hurts too much to put myself in their shoes. Go deep, Lord. Go intense. Go complete. Go wide. Go full. You are the answer to every question. Every fear. Every hurt. Every tragedy. Answer the cries of our hearts.

May the Lord give us His perspective and His peace in all things as we become wholly His.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His