La Misericordia y Gracia de Dios

As you can tell, we had church tonight :0) The "Mercy and Grace of God" is what has made my heart thankful today and caused me to praise Him. I was so touched by what Pastor Jairo said tonight. I felt like God was whispering in my ear and saying, "See? I hear you and know how you feel ... you are not alone - I AM here." In the midst of every moment of our days, God is with us and knows our experience - He really does know our every need. He is our comfort, our strength and our truth.

Hebreos 4:14-16 says, "Por lo tanto, ya que en Jesus, el Hijo de Dios, tenemos u gran sumo sacerdote que ha atravesado los cielos, aferremonos a la fe que profesamos. Porque no tenemos un sumo sacerdote incapaz de compadecerse de nuestras debilidades, sino uno que ha sido tentado en todo de la misma manera que nosotros, aunque sin pecado. Asi que acerquemonos confiadamente al trono do la gracia para recibir misericordia y hallar la gracia que nos ayude en el momento que mas la necesitemos."

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us them approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Another verse that our Pastor used tonight at church was from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. The apostle, Paul is explaining:

"But He said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Tonight, I remembered how God brought me through those three painful and difficult events. I remembered exerting a tremendous effort to maintain focus on RELAXING and TRUSTING that my body could carry out this task ... A task, that when I LOOKED at with earthly eyes - felt that there was no possible way that these babies were going to be able to get out! (In fact, I remember saying those exact words to Tony when I was in labour with Louis :0) Yet, here they all are!

During my labour with Regina, everything happened so fast that I was unprepared - yet I didn't need to be. I new what to expect - I'd been through it before - but I had taken for granted that I would be able to focus my energy again and failed to spend time thinking through the birth process before her labour! By the time I was in the "throws of labour" with her, I almost lost control of my ability to relax and it wasn't until my midwife held my face in her hands and made me look into her eyes while she spoke to me, that I began to regain my perspective.

During my pregnancy with Maria, I became quite ill - I suffered from insulin resistence symptoms and would have to sit quietly for ages to try and get my heart to stop racing away. It was during these hours that I learned to meditate and pray! What a wonderful opportunity I had to spend time reading Scriptures and listening to the Lord's still small voice. When I finally went into labour, the experience was joyful and full of wonder and amazement. I wasn't panicking or worried. Tony and I actually spent alot of time dancing together in between contractions!!! (I'm not kidding . . . :0) And when the pain became too great to stand, I got into my 'fishy pool' (in the middle of our living room) and heard the words of the apostle Paul, over and over again, in my mind: "When I am weak, then I am strong ..." The Lord truly became my strength - I have never been weaker than in those moments - yet I knew that I could overcome the pain and extreme effort by just TRUSTING in Him.

Sometimes I wonder how a God who came to earth as a man can truly sympathize with me as a woman? How could He possibly know how hard it was to give birth? Yet, Hebrews says that He is able to sympathize with my WEAKNESSES because He has been TEMPTED in every way. I think this can be true because our physical weaknesses are only the surface of our need ... Our weakness goes much much deeper than just physical pain - our souls are in much worse condition than our bodies could ever be and our need for physical healing is a reflection of our spiritual needs.

I am so thankful for the way God reveals Himself every day to all creation. God I pray that You would open our eyes to see and our ears to hear - You first, then to see Your people the way You do ... perfectly redeemed! En el Nombre de Jesus, amen.