Disciplined in Grace

"That's not fair!" -- Oh boy do I remember saying these words when I was younger. And my dad, much like Alan Matthews in Boy Meets World, would always have the same response:

"Life is not fair." 

Sophia was born March 6th!!

I struggled with this a lot as a kid, whether it was wanting to go to a friend's house or a baseball game or what movie I couldn't watch that everyone else got to see.

Can I be honest with you? I stomp my feet at God a lot with these same words today. I'm frustrated in the corruption, poverty, rape, scandals, and brokenness that I see on a daily basis. It's not fair that my friends were "raped", it's not fair that they don't have money to eat, it's not fair that the medical and government systems are so corrupt, and the list goes on.

I've been listening to Relient k lately (yes, mock if you must, but I still love them!) and one line from "Be My Escape" jumped out at me. "But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair."

Seriously. 

Whoa, do you see what they did there? That line literally stopped me in my tracks as I began to process what this meant. The truth of it is that we do deserve the corruption, brokenness, etc that this world throws at us, but even much, much more than that. We deserve punishment for our rebellion against God. We deserve hell -- eternal separation from God. That would be fair.

Grace and mercy have come to mean so much more to me in the past few weeks as I've seen His work in my life and in the lives of those I care about here as well. I'm thankful that I do not get what I deserve; I'm thankful that life is not fair. I'm thankful that God is just and doesn't just sweep my sins under the rug and call it good, but that He took care of it with Jesus.

Jerry Bridges writes, "God does not forgive because He wants to be lenient with us. He forgives because His justice has been satisfied. The absolute forgiveness of our sins is just as rock solid as the historic reality of Christ's death" (Respectable Sins).

Esther is making necklaces/bracelets to sell

I've been learning a lot about what it means to be disciplined in every area and intentional in thought, word, and deed lately. That means even being disciplined in not only acknowledging my sins, but accepting them as forgiven by the grace of God. It's easy for me to either just move throughout the day knowing I'm saved, or to recognize my sin and sit there and cry for a bit. But to see myself as a sinner saved by marvelous grace daily is where I need to be.

In Masese we continue to seek, pray, learn, and grow. The new believers are hungry and their passion has rekindled me as well. I'm so humbled to be a small part of God's glorious work in this slum, and so thankful that He's working in me there too.

Silas and I love to play! 

Would you pray?

• The new believers in Masese would stand strong in their new faith and that the Holy Spirit would be working continually in and through them. That He would guard them from attacks from the evil one -- through witchdoctors, dreams, demons, or doubts. 
• That I would continue to be near to the cross. That Jesus would keep me in His grace. That I would have a healthy understanding that I am a great sinner saved by a greater God. 
• That Masese would know her God. Pray for more Karamojong leaders and also the Bible in Kjong to be known. 

Thank you so, so much for your prayers! Esther also thanks you from the bottom of her heart. She cannot fathom that people would pray for her when they don't even know her; she was overwhelmed when I told her that her brothers and sisters in America are also rejoicing with us in her salvation!