Prayer & Grace like Osmosis!

Prayer

"...remember that God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things" (p.35).

"The Bible pray-ers prayed as if their prayers could and would make an objective difference" (p.35). "...we are working with God to determine the outcomes of events" (p. 35).

"I determine to learn to pray so that my experience conformed to the words of Jesus rather than try to make his words conform to my impoverished experience" (p.37).

Looking through this chapter I realize there are just way too many good things. The above are just a small few of the influential words and concepts mentioned. I guess the more and more I read, the more and more I realize how much I don't know. hahaha,......but seriously. Reading the chapter really allowed me to see prayer differently. I became aware of how, honestly superficial my prayers often are. I took sometime on Friday to pray in my car (my favorite prayer spot). I tried to slow down, take my time, draw near, and just get honest. In short, it was an amazing time of prayer. It was an honest time of believing that what I pray has power, and that I am working alongside God, and that I should let God guide me in prayer where he chooses.

All that to say, I am still just an amateur. In fact, as it is said, I will not be graduating from Jesus school. I think its about accepting that and trusting that " God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things" (p.35).


Grace like Osmosis

Lastly, I just wanted to tell you all about this awesome realization I had during that prayer time in the car. At one point in my prayer time I literally prayed, "God, I just feel like there is not enough grace for all that I am and all that I fall short of?" This prayer was out of response from an honest realization of all my fears, insecurities, sins, failings, etc. I prayed this out loud and honestly meant it. Right after I said it, God revealed how silly this statement was.

What was brought to my attention was the song, How he loves us and the line that says, "If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking". I envisioned the deep ocean, and I mean the deepest of the deep. They say that there are parts in the ocean that are as deep as the highest mountain in the world. dang! that's deep! I just pictured myself sinking, like top to bottom submerged in this ocean of grace. There is just too much of it above and too much below.

Then I pictured and now believe that grace is like osmosis. Osmosis is a very sciency word, but it works! Osmosis is this concept that happens in our bodies. It basically means that water can naturally, passively, absorb into cells and tissues that lack it. No energy (ATP for you science geeks) is needed to move it. It naturally absorbs until there is enough water on the inside of the cell, as is on the outside. Now I think grace is much like that.

Grace is like osmosis. I envisioned that I was submerged in this deep, deep ocean of grace. And as I sink, grace just flows naturally into every part of me. As we all sink in grace it surrounds us and begins to absorbs through every inch of us. Grace naturally, passively moves into every cell and every tissue. It does not take our energy to get it there, it naturally moves by God's perfect design, and Christ's loving sacrifice. Grace absorbs until there is just enough grace in us as is surrounding us.

This may seem like a silly analogy, but it has allowed me to realize that Christ has given us abundant grace. There are times when we can feel like fears, sins, pains, or insecurities are too massive for anything to overcome. God had revealed to me that this just simply is not true. There is so much power we do not know of and so much grace we cannot comprehend.

Now, I often look at busy people driving in their cars or walking down the street, and think, "Do they know they are submerged in and surrounded by grace?".

I love you guys!

Stef