But God—it changes everything

But God—it changes everything

In Too Deep recently released in Germany!!! Crazy, eh? Maybe I should Google how to write that in German. It also releases on March 13th in hardcover!!!! Whoo hooo! To celebrate, I have a few posts that relate to the themes of In Too Deep. Today’s reflection is by Marie Joynt from Monday Morning Moments. Welcome, Marie!

BUT GOD …ohhhh don’t you love those words? Doesn’t your heart leap with hope in reading those words? Our pastor made the “but God” point in a message on Sunday. Yet my thoughts and words many times in this journey have been focused on:
  • Why God?
  • When God?
  • How God?
Praise God for the BUT GOD in our lives.
This same Pastor, three years ago stood by our daughter’s hospital bed in the ICU. Then, he went down to the NICU to see our little grandson born at 27 weeks. He prayed and wept with us that day. We cried out and called out to God. I looked at him in such a fog, struggling with fear. My main question was HOW GOD? I remember saying, “We need so many miracles here, how can we even ask God? They were both dying. How God are you going to do this?”

If we camp out on the WHY, WHEN and HOW, it can drag us down so quickly. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be transparent when we go before the Lord, “Oh, Lord, how long? Oh, Lord, why?” Look at David in the Psalms. Over and over again he cries out in transparency exposing his heart. Yet David didn’t camp in the WHY, WHEN and HOW. He camped in the BUT.

But I will trust you (Psalm 55).
But God has surely listened and has heard my prayer (Psalm‬ ‭66).
In the novel, In Too Deep, Grace Stone must learn to move past the why and cling to God. Her heart is submerged in the past, drowning in guilt BUT GOD intervenes. He sends Kye Campton to join the fight for Camp Moshe and save Grace from a saboteur determined to see the camp close at any cost.
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Camping in the WHEN, WHY and HOW takes our focus off the BUT …… BUT GOD.

Friend, I’m not sure where you are on this day. I’m not aware of the burdens and troubles that are weighing you down. I have no idea whether you are waiting for a prodigal to return or an assessment from a Doctor, but I do know that in those times we can cry out to God like King Jehoshaphat did ( like we did on behalf of our daughter and grandson).
King Jehoshaphat said, “We don’t know what to do, BUT our eyes are fixed on YOU (2 Chronicles 20:12).
Our precious grandson Matthew, is our constant and forever reminder of “BUT GOD .“
What is your “but God” moment?

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Follow Marie on Instagram: Monday Morning Moments

InTooDeep_w12360_300 copyIn Too Deep is available at Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Pelican Book Group, Kindle Unlimited, Hardcover, and paperback. (Paperbacks must be ordered from me.) Check out the German edition!

You might find it amusing to know that my name is spelled wrong on the advertisement for hardcover edition AND they have the incorrect back cover copy on Amazon. I’ve been assured these mistakes will be corrected online and that the publisher has the right information even if Amazon is slow correcting it on their end 🙂  Sure keeps a writer humble!!!!!


But God—two words that change everything

But God—two words that change everything

Dead men walking fill the world. You look into their eyes, on the street, in the mirror. Dead men with an over-inflated sense of self importance. Dead men with loud voices. Dead men setting their own course. Dead men deceived into believing their good deeds bring something of value to the table. Every man, woman, and child was once a dead man, following the father of lies, giving themselves over to the passions and desires of the world.

But God

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Rich in mercy. Withholding the punishment we deserve. Gifting what we don’t deserve because of love. He loves us. He made us alive. He raises us up. He seats us with him in the heavenly places. He shows us the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness through Jesus.

 

 

Dead in sin

We were dead in our trespasses, bringing nothing to the table, not even the urge to live. Deceived into believing we set our course, but blindly following the rut carved out by the enemy. Existing, but dead. Influencing the world, yet influencing nothing of eternal value. Lulled into a false sense of existence, eyes blind to eternity, and not knowing—or not caring—about what we are missing.

But…

Isn’t that a great word? It changes EVERYTHING. It acknowledges the reality of everything stated before, then sets us in a new direction.

But God, in a great act of grace, gives what we don’t deserve—life through saving faith. He calls. He opens eyes. He gives life. And the dead become alive in Him.

It is not our own doing. It is a gift from God.

Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.