September 9th, 2007 by admin

            One day in January I was listening to a message by Keith Moore. I do not remember the title, but the theme was grace. I had not spent much time studying grace, but understood enough of it just over the years being a Christian. I had a few conversations with my pastor at the church we were and still are attending and he noticed that a lot of our conversations seemed to indicate that I thought that I was not doing enough. My life schedule was disciplined, but it still was not enough to get me well. I had to somehow do more. He encouraged me to do a study on grace and try not to be so performance based in my thinking. The Keith Moore tape that I was listening to was around this theme of grace. During the teaching Keith Moore made a comment that struck deep. He said that for a believer to tell if he or she is walking in grace to ask this question: �Are you working for it, or are you resting in it?�  

            On the tape, he repeated this around three times and by the third time it sunk in. I was definitely working for it. I was working hard for it. This really freed me up in the spirit, and I began trying to rest in God�s grace, trying to take comfort that God was faithful and that I was going to be healed. This was a difficult process for me since for almost a year I had been hooked into an extreme regimen of physical and spiritual tasks. I always tried to take all my supplements or get all of my juicing in, or make sure I got my quiet time in so that I could stay on track. Fear can creep in when parts of a routine are missing. I wanted to do everything in my power to do it right even though I was not seeing the results I wanted.

            This began a process of setting me free. I did not stop the diet because I knew that the food that I was eating and the vegetables I was juicing were good for my body. It was satisfying my mouth so that my youth could be renewed like the eagles, as stated in Psalms 103:5. What did happen though, was if I could not get to a particular juicing that day or I missed my quiet time, I did not worry about it. I began to trust God to pick up my slack. The emotional side of this was refreshing and freedom began to come into my weary being. It was a great feeling. I also realized that I was trusting in my juicing more than I was trusting in God. God does require us to do our part, but we have to remember that His burden is light. We are the ones who make it heavy.