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Grace in Place

Blog / Produced by The High Calling
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In his book, Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon says, "The difficulty in any journey is not in its beginning, but in its continuing." As followers of Christ, we are on a journey—one that we all know can be difficult, challenging, and painful. Life is just plain hard sometimes, and even Christians struggle to make it through another day. We desperately need infusions of God's love and grace and power and hope and strength to take the next step on the road.

I celebrated the first day of fall at Lake Dillon, Colorado, a sparkling lake nestled in a valley with huge mountains all around. Overnight, rain had moved into the area, bringing intermittent showers and overcast skies. When I woke up, I saw that some of the clouds were sitting on top of the mountain peaks, little mounds of whipped cream on a hot fudge sundae. They just hovered there and then softly floated along their way, often leaving a dusting of white snow in their wake.

Christians need the cloud of the Holy Spirit to come and park over us, feeding us with nourishment and refreshment from above, giving us a dusting of new life.

God wants to rain down on our lives. He wants to hover over us, and he invites us to come to him, to open our hearts and let him fill us with his grace. Paul tells the Ephesians to "take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you" (Eph. 4:24, MSG).

When we make space for God, he comes inside and renews us from the inside out. There are timeless ways of making space for God, such as praying, worshipping, meditating, listening, studying, sharing fellowship, serving others, being out in nature. Experiment and see which way leads you into a deeper relationship with Jesus. He is always available, ready to shower us, but waiting for us to invite him in. Unlike the mountains that just sit there and catch a cloud whenever, we can receive the power and grace of God just by opening our hearts and minds and souls.

I once met a man who was a gentle and loving pastor and teacher who seemed to walk closely with Jesus. He typically wore navy blue or black slacks, and they always had round spots of white fuzz on the knees. What was with that fuzz? Why were his pants always like that? When I visited his home once, I saw that he had thick fluffy white carpet in his living room. The white fuzz on his knees was from kneeling on the carpet, praying. It was a sign of the practice of making space for God through prayer. His life of gentleness and love was another sign of the dusting of the Holy Spirit, the refreshment and hope that only he can bring.


May the Holy Spirit rest on you today as you open yourself to him.

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