“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” ~ Romans 15:5-7 (ESV)
Since moving to the United States in 1991, God has put me on a journey. Although growing up in the ‘church’, I have not understood grace the way I understand it today. As I had shared last Thursday, God’s grace is confrontational to most people. Do I understand the full scope of grace yet? Not at all, but I have opened up the gift and received HIS grace.
I do not remember the year when I had the first encounter with women from other denominations, but I do remember it was at a Beth Moore conference here in Phoenix. One of my friends from church invited me. I didn’t know what to expect, but after the conference I took Beth’s online study “Believing God“. It believe that this was a turning point for me.
Since then God has been working with me on breaking down walls. Not only between other Christians, but also my thought process of other faiths. In 2006, God started to assemble a group of women from across the States and the Bahamas to form Laced with Grace. You have no idea how much this ministry has meant to me (again, breaking down walls). The group consists of 20 women; from different denominations, and different walks of life. Amazing what you can learn from each individual if you are willing to listen.
I think (personal opinion) that we too often get stuck with traditions in our churches that we do not see that Christ died for all. Christ was not Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Assembly of God, or _________ (insert your denomination); He is our Savior.
Over the past 6 months I have prayed for God to show me how to reach out to people ‘outside’ the Christian faith. His answer came through a quote I read in Joanne Weaver’s book “Having a Mary Heart…“:
“If Christians lived according to their faith, there would be no more Hindus left in India” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
When I read the quote for the first time, my heart sank and I said “ouch”. But after thinking about what was said, I have to agree. Goodness, there is a branch within my own denomination what will not pray with ‘my’ branch, because we disagree on something (sorry don’t remember what it is; struck it from my memory because I think it is silly). What does this have to do with Gandhi’s quote you might wonder. Everything. Because if we cannot live in harmony with each other (Christians), how can we be affective with our witness about Christ and His sacrifice?
Thank you for stopping by today. I hope that you will join me next week when I share more about my current journey.
