Divine Influence

Good morning!

I have noticed a soft, tender undertow (if I can call it that….I paused to try to understand how to say in words what I’ve been feeling and that is what came out!)

Where in the past, I would kick myself often for how I didn’t mother right, wasn’t the best friend I could be, didn’t get all the boxes checked on the To Do list or any other of a plethora of “shortcomings”, I have noticed the steady, tender blessing of peace anyway. I will call this grace but don’t let your mind drift off if you’ve heard that word oh so many times. I know I have zoned out when that often-spoken word is used again.

Pastor Jim pointed out that grace is God’s divine influence on our hearts. We mostly consider it to be undeserved favor, but when you slow down and think of what it means to have God’s divine influence on your heart……it goes so far beyond what we imagine.

I’ll give you a recent example from my own life.

I was talking to our 21-year-old daughter the other day and I brought up that I think as she grew up we didn’t welcome strong emotions all the time. Perhaps we were trying to train our kids how to respond in social situations, how to think differently about situations or just how to not be, dare I say, brats. (Don’t haul me away!)

But, I think having the ability to be emotional with the ones you love is healthy and at the same time we can talk through things and not take things personally. Sometimes you just aren’t thinking of all the effects as things happen.

Years ago, I would really berate myself for not being the best parent and yet in the recent past, I can say to myself, I did the best I could at the time, I know God can right the wrongs and that no one is perfect! We all mismanage things and don’t see how our interpersonal interactions affect people. But, as we become aware, we can handle it differently.

My conversation with our daughter revealed how much she has grown in her depth of understanding. She doesn’t take on a victim position, blame or hold resentments.

I asked her how she had grown so much internally and she said: first, awareness. Next, grace with herself.

So as Thalia so beautifully has concluded, grace is the next thing that needs to come after awareness, it seems…… to know that God wants us to live IN grace - His divine influence on our hearts. If He can quickly forgive, then we can and should, even with ourselves…..especially with ourselves. With His influence on our hearts, we can see that even in the mistakes, God was there guiding, loving, forgiving and that we can use all of these things as a launching pad for His abundant life!

2 Corinthians 12:9 TPT

But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me.

To ponder: In what area of your life do you need the divine influence of God on your heart?

Where do you need to apply grace to yourself or another?