The Magic Happens Through PEOPLE…

One of my boys said to me recently in the aftermath of one of his bad decisions, “I feel like you don’t understand me as well, because what did you ever do wrong when you were a kid?”

And I laughed and was like, “Oh my goodness he might be right.”

I was the 3rd child of 6, I stayed out of the way, did not rock the boat, and did NOT want to get in trouble. And I did not understand what grace felt like. I didn’t understand the power of forgiveness, and I can remember being “jealous” of people who had “testimonies” of their life before and after deciding to follow Christ.

I had been following Christ since I was born. I was born in the church and did what my parents asked of me and “followed” the rules.

With this type of existence comes a lot of pride and also a lot of fear and anxiety. It becomes a “perfect prison.” Part of my spiritual journey has been being set free from my own spiritual prison and being able to understand love, grace, and forgiveness and the beauty in being perfectly imperfect.

I have been pondering what my son said to me and thinking about the opportunity I have to show him what the love and grace of “God” feels like. How the mistakes and some of the choices my sons have been making give me the beautiful opportunity to give them a picture of something that we all long for… grace….to bring our whole self into the light and not be rejected.

One of my son’s friends was part of his bad decision-making recently, and this young man came up to me and said,

“Mrs. Emily, do you think you will ever be able to trust me again? Do you think you would give me a second chance?” He proceeded to say, “I know the decision we made was not a good decision, but I want to be able to come to your house and hang out with your boys, and I am wondering if you would ever trust me again?”

What a Brave young man!

I looked at him in his eyes and said, “It was not a good decision, but I believe in second chances, and I believe mercy is new every morning. So, yes, you can have another chance.”

Have you ever considered that we experience the profound depths of God’s grace, the life-altering love and unexplainable mercy, through others, through PEOPLE?

My family has been helping support a children’s home in Kenya for 20 years. One of the children who grew up in the home has expressed to my parents several times that they have been the ultimate example to him of what “God’s love feels like and looks like.”

He said on our recent trip at our Children’s Home Banquet and Reunion, “That when I think about the love of God, I think of you.”

I have received grace and love through people in the most beautiful ways, especially in the last few years. Grace has transformational power it can set you free. Free from yourself, from your shame, from your insecurities, grace at the right moment, will feel just like the perfect love that casts out all fear.

And this type of grace and love is received through others. The magic happens through PEOPLE.

The Spirit of God, the light in our neighbor’s eyes, the love that is deep inside of us at our core, the human spirit that runs to help those in crisis or in need, is a piece of the stardust of the universe. The energy, the power, the God, the sun, the Light that lives in me, lives in you and it is through my contact with you that I can share this incredible gift.

My dear, the healing power of your presence is needed in someone else’s life. You might be the ONE someone needs today.

All around us people are hurting, working through their trauma, their depression, their poor choices and dealing with hard external pressures and we have the ability as children of the light to offer the grace, love or forgiveness a precious soul might need.

My son’s are growing and becoming amazing young men, and my prayer and hope is that they might understand how it changes everything when you are fully accepted and fully loved. How pure love isn’t based on performance or the lack of mistakes, but is just simply IS.

“How great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.”

My dear, you ARE, so therefore go and BE.

From My Heart to Yours,