“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:26-28 NIV)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. (Romans 5:1-2 NIV)
I am currently taking part in an online study called A Woman’s Walk in Grace, led by Catherine Martin. Each week she posts a question for us to ponder and answer before the online discussion. This week’s question: Share one way you have seen God work in your life and spiritually grow you deep in the garden of grace. I thought I would share my ponderings to that question with you this morning as this week’s devotional.
Grace. Such a small word, and yet one could fill volumes in the sharing of it. As I ponder this question, God has pressed on my heart to share the beginning. Just as grace pursued Peter through the dark days following his denial of Jesus, until he stood face to face with grace on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus gathered Peter's brokenness and restored him, God also pursued me through some dark days. Grace kept coming after me, kept whispering to my heart that I was not a lost cause. Until one night, when I reached the bottom and my heart cried out, "who would want me now?" Grace thundered through the darkness, "I want you, Diana. It's not too late. Reach out your hand." Jesus showed up. In fact, He had been in pursuit of me for months, but I hadn't recognized Him until that moment.
Soon after that; and I will never forget this, my husband took me on a weekend getaway to a small bed and breakfast in the mountains. He was taking me out to dinner. When I went to put on the dress I had brought to wear, there, lying across the dress was a beautiful diamond heart pendant. It took my breath away. My husband, with eyes dancing, picked it up and put the sparkling heart around my neck as he said, "Diana, this represents the new heart God has given you." Ezekiel 36:26 is one my most treasured whispers from the Lord to me, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Grace. Grace pursued me through the darkness. Grace called my name. Grace redeemed me. Grace rescued me. Grace removed my old, stinky, hard, heart of sin. Grace put a new heart within me; a heart that beats with delight for the Lord; a heart that desires the Lord above all else.
Grace doesn’t end with our salvation. Oh no, that is just the beginning.
In the stillness this morning as the Lord invited me to sit with Him awhile and talk about His grace, my heart looked up, and His eyes danced as He reminded me of the new heart He gave me. Not the physical one that will one day wear out. No, this is the heart that is soul-deep, and as we talked I heard it, joyous heartbeats of grace.
What about you, my friend. What is one way God has grown you in the garden of grace?
An Original Conversations at the Well
Diana Morgan
October 28, 2010
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