If there’s one thing that has impacted me deeply at the start of this book tour, it’s not how great “my message” is, but sadly, through a series of personal blunders made along the way, HOW BROKEN & FLAWED my character is.
How, if left to my own devices without reflection, I have so much to be ASHAMED of.
And discovering how, God has been planting people in my life not to glaringly show me my errs, but to gently cover me with GRACE of the same degree as my brokenness.
Early this morning, I listened to an interview with Francis Chan by TBN, and he was asked what GRACE is. He talked about how his straight-A daughter coming home with an F, how God told him to show her grace by offering to take her for dinner and ice cream instead, and how, as a result of that, his daughter’s friends said, “I want a dad like yours.”
Have you been shown such extravagant grace before that makes you go, “Wow, I want to have a Dad like yours. I want to experience God like you have, because the grace you’ve shown me is real.”
Today, I experienced that.
I can tell you, if you’re used to the stage, your on-stage performance gets better and easier with time. What’s harder is working on the consistency of your internal character, even when your external reputation gets a boost. That’s my first gem on this trip. How wretched we all are. How desperate we are in need of His grace.
GRACE is receiving what you don’t deserve. Perhaps, God wanted me to receive first before I gave.
Keynote speaker at Habibi International’s fundraising gala dinner
This was an exercise I didn’t plan to do but felt was Spirit-led. I named the name of every single person in the room after meeting them for the first time.
I knew it was a risk. I knew I had nearly failed through medical school from having a subpar memory. I knew that just yesterday I forgot to turn off the stove and I also lost my earbuds for a few hours because my memory failed me.
But today, the Holy Spirit helped me remember the name of every person in the room to make a point – I asked everyone how it made them felt, and they said “SEEN”, “LOVED” and “ENCOURAGED”.
Some of us started crying because so many of us have felt unseen or unknown. But God knows us each by name. And when we minister to others, He wants us to develop relationships, not work on projects.
We can only truly walk out justice in our lives when we touch real people and know their real names.
Onwards and upwards, Justice warriors!