He Sanctifies Our Efforts

Mother Nature is considering putting the heavenly bathing suits in storage, with the bite of winter in the air. The mornings are winter; the afternoons are sometimes late summer. I notice squished baby snakes on the road in the mornings. They are as confused as the weather. The snakes should really be hibernating, not procreating. If something as powerful as the weather is confused, how can any of us hope to have clarity? I can identify with the snakes in that befuddlement. Sometimes life throws curveballs and you just don’t duck out of the way in time.

While I hate being cold and thus was not upset with Mother Nature holding off on the Big Freeze, Winter is my most productive writing season. Because my kayak is neatly stored away till toasty days and warmer water are back, I can use the hours I would have kayaked to write. I recently finished the book I’d been working on for months, and am ready to tackle the next one. (PS- that book can be purchased here. Go ahead. I will wait while you buy it. Don’t forget to write a review when you finish.) 

A lot of ideas are bouncing around in my head for the next project but I haven’t yet settled on which story God wants me to tell. I have been warned that pro-life books don’t sell, so that is probably what I will choose to write. I seem to have a knack for choosing books that won’t sell. For one thing, I refuse to write books which I wouldn’t read with Jesus looking over my shoulder. That alone narrows my audience.

I work with several women who chose life over abortion, and any one of their stories is book-worthy in my mind. Most have come from difficult backgrounds steeped in tragedy. Many made miraculous conversions upon choosing life for their babies. Many came to know Jesus or recommit their lives to God upon meeting our Cities4Life teams and hearing the truth of the Gospel.

The stories of these women are powerful. I would have to fictionalize my telling of their stories to preserve their privacy. Most would not willingly want to share some of their past that they are ashamed of. I wouldn’t either. However, part of why I write is that by telling my story and the stories of others as honestly as I am able each day, I believe and hope that others sharing similar struggles are encouraged.

One mom I work with asked me how she should respond to her child asking her if he was illigitimate. He used the less kind word, clearly heard from a cruel friend. This woman had since married and asked Jesus to be Lord of her life, and was making remarkable gains in walking more closely with God. She was ashamed of her past, and worried about how to answer her son. She told me she couldn’t answer. She just didn’t know what to say.

While that particular struggle I didn’t have to deal with, I certainly have sins from my past when I didn’t know God that I shudder to remember. I would not share the specifics with my kids, but I have often shared with them the fact that I never struggled to believe “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” My life is a testament to that truth.

So I told the mom she had a golden opportunity. First, respond to that child’s need to be reassured that no matter what conditions swirled around his parents surrounding his advent into this world, he was deeply loved. I urged her to read him Psalm 139 which is a beautiful description of how deeply loved ALL of us are by God who “knitted us together in the womb....fearfully and wonderfully made...”

Then, use that question as a springboard to admit her own sin when she did not walk with God and to reinforce the truth that we all sin and fall short of God’s glory. It is why all of us need Jesus. Tell him how she recognized how hopeless her life or any of our lives are without the atoning death, resurrection, and forgiveness of Jesus. Talk about how we are restored to a right relationship with God when we step towards Him in faith, confessing and repenting of our sins, accepting His gift of paying the penalty we deserved, and walking in newness of life, reborn through His mercy and grace. Remind her son of how she chose God and NOW she is living for Him even if she did not before, but none of that changes the fact that her son is beloved with a special, unique position in God’s kingdom no one else will share.

Like the fickle change of seasons, she will probably still fall short of God’s desires for her. So will I. But if we keep moving forward with our eyes on the goal of being more like Jesus every day, He empowers us, He steadies our feet, He smooths our paths, and He sanctifies our efforts. Eventually, we will arrive and see Him face to face. 

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Romans 5:8 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 1:9 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jude 1:7 

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;