Shortly after I accepted Christ, I worked in a fair booth our church in Montana had; “Two Question Test Reveals, Are You Going to Heaven?” When I was part of that booth, I hadn’t read the Bible, and I didn’t know much about Jesus, other than He saved me and was radically healing my life. However, in that booth I was sharing the road to salvation, and my testimony of what Christ had done in my life. I remember that booth to be so simple and yet so impacting. Funny, now that I think back, I didn’t have to get all prepared so God could use me; I didn’t have to fast for days, and I didn’t have to spend hours interceding. I just went there praying for the lost, and believing that Jesus would reach the people who desperately needed Him – a beautiful picture of the simplicity of grace.
It’s been almost 20 years since that fair booth, and my entire life has been made new. The life I had before Christ is only but a memory. However, in preparing for this workshop, I was made acutely aware of how easy it is to complicate the sheer simplicity of His grace. To get caught up in doing a checklist to ensure the presence of God, instead of just allowing Him room to move.
Honestly, everything that could go wrong, malfunction, or seem out of order was on the move from the moment Practically Perfect was dropped into my heart to teach. The day of the workshop was absolutely NO DIFFERENT! At one point it just became so comical all I could do was laugh!
Yet, a very simple, and beautiful reminder came flooding through every cracked part of that workshop – “I don’t need perfection to move, I don’t even need excellence, I just need a little room to flow.” The beauty in this workshop was watching the Holy Spirit touch the heart of all of those women in a very personal way. Seeing tearing eyes, shaking heads, and smiling faces of “ah-ha” proved that no matter how imperfect the situation, or insecure and frazzled I am, it doesn’t faze the Lord in the slightest – in fact it gives Him all the more glory – now that’s grace.
He never called us to know everything, and He never called us to always get it right. He simply just asked us to have a willing heart, and He would do the rest. How stinking easy is that? Why do we make it so complex?
The next time God quickens your spirit and draws you to do something remember this …
- He never called the gifted; He gifted the called.
- The more it’s about you the less it’s about Him.
- It’s not about what you know; it’s about who you know.
I’m taking this simple reminder of grace and cutting myself some slack, because God likes us messed up, not-so-put-together people. It gives Him a lot more to work with! 🙂
“Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you through your own efforts or through believing what you heard?” Gal 3:5
Man, this filled my heart so full. The text is blurry with these tears in my eyes. I like “allowing him room to move”. Hmm, room to move, oh no, I feel a song coming on. Okay if I use