Double Take

Feelings of guilt, shame, oughts, and shoulds are the bricks that build the wall of worry. But experiencing His love begins to loosen those bricks. When we know we are loved—not because we performed well, got everything right, or lived up to every should — we don't have to spend our lives trying to prove that we are enough. His love gives us permission to stop striving and entering His rest.

Ann Voskamp once said: Worry is practicing the absence of God's presence. We know that once Holy Spirit moves in, we are never without the presence of God. And yet, we worry. Worry can become a wall so high that we can’t see beyond it. How can we demolish this wall of worry?

Facts and truth are related, but they aren’t the same thing. As we talked about last week, they can even appear to disagree. Today, we want to slow down and clarify that distinction a little more.

I first heard this seemingly absurd statement in church one Sunday from Pastor Steve Eden. It made absolutely no sense! But as he began to unravel what he meant I realized he was right. Just like most everything else about God, what He says is opposite what the world thinks.

Due to camera issues, this episode is audio only - although I did add some cool photos for you to look at!

God doesn’t do normal – He does unpredictable. And we are learning to love that about Him! More not normal stories today on Double Take.

We’ve been exploring God’s infinite grace, though words can hardly begin to capture it. Going back to our first episode, we described grace as wild, uncontrollable. In the second episode, we saw God’s grace rewriting our history. Today let’s go a step further – His grace is unimaginable and unpredictable.

Everyone has a past, and with it, regrets we often continue to carry. When we hold on to those regrets, they can shape our present and even influence our future. If only we could rewrite our history. The good news is that’s exactly what the grace of God does.

Religion teaches us that most everything is black or white, and when in doubt, we have the bible to “clearly” point out which is which. My dad used to say “between black and white is a vast expanse of gray.” While absolutes exist to be sure, there also exists an abundance of gray. The gray is where we find grace.

Let’s look more closely at the supernatural life of faith. It may seem impractical, irrational, or unwise, but our faith is not in our ability to navigate our circumstances—it rests entirely in the character and Life of the One we trust.

The opposite of faith is not doubt. It’s certainty. We have faith in God but we also want certainty in the outcomes. That’s part of the battle between flesh vs spirit. It’s difficult as humans who live in a material world to look beyond to a supernatural dimension. Yet this is the path God invites us to take as we learn to walk more fully by faith.