faith Archives - Page 9 of 39 - Kristen Anne Glover

{20} James 2:5

James 2:5

Before I had ever met my husband, he was enlisted in the Air Force. His duties took him all over Europe, including Italy. While he was there, he visited Vatican City, where he purchased this cross made of olive wood.

I used it in this picture alongside the words of James, the brother of Jesus, because the gospel is so simple, most people miss it. Thousands flood to Vatican City every day, hoping to inch closer to Christ by some action on their part, when all along, Jesus did it all. He did not just choose us, He redeemed us, and He rewards our simple, incomplete love with an inheritance among the saints.

And we didn’t do a single thing to deserve it.

That is the gospel. Simple. Profound. Altogether incomprehensible.

As we continue with the story, From Enemy to Heir, I hope you will remember that it is a story about The Story, The Story James encapsulates in a single verse. It is the story of the ravenous love of God toward an undeserving bride.

You are that bride.

Take some time today to be awed by The Story only our Savior could write.

Day 20 of 31 days. Join us tomorrow for Day 21!

{19} Manna on the Ground

Manna on the Ground: Day 19 of 31 Days.

To begin at Day 1, click on the photo above.

I have never written so much in so little time, and published it immediately for public consumption. This 31 Days experiment is something completely new to me. Every day, I feel vulnerable and raw because I have to get up and put words down on paper and hope that they’re right because I don’t have much time to fix it before I send them out for all the world to read.

Of course, not all the world is reading, but that doesn’t matter because the most important people in the world to me are, and that’s the thing that leaves me feeling a little sick when the page is blank and the clock is ticking right through the early morning.

Because I forget sometimes that these words are not mine. I forget how God has never failed to provide the words for what He has called me to write. Still, I wake up, frantically searching to see if there will be manna on the ground today.

I wonder if God gets tired of proving Himself to me over things I should never doubt at all. Because I sure get tired of doubting. How many days does the manna have to fall before I trust Him?

By His grace, I have spent the last nineteen days dwelling on His lavish love of me, a love that covers a multitude of sins—including my faltering faith. It is a love that is infinitely patient and altogether incomprehensible because it goes beyond pity to full and complete acceptance. It is not just a love that saves us from death; it is a love that grants us richness of life.

Those words have rattled around in my soul for days and days before they spilled out onto the page, and I am grateful because I am slow to learn, and I easily forget. He did not save me just so I would not die. He saved me that I might live richly.

Why, then, am I willing to settle for the bare minimum when God longs for me to embrace the full inheritance He has laid out for me? Perhaps, like Jewel, I am afraid. Perhaps I feel unworthy. Or perhaps, I have been in the kingdom so long, I have forgotten the details of my rescue and I actually think I can do it on my own.

That is not rich living. That is bare survival.

Do you know, dear friends, how much your prince longs for you to have more than that?

Manna on the ground

As we continue with the story of Jewel and her all-gracious prince, I want you to reflect on just one question: Am I living richly in Christ? Am I embracing the inheritance He has given me?

If you’re like me, the answer probably changes day by day, or even moment by moment. My challenge to you, and to myself, is to ask why. Why am I willing to settle for the minimum when God longs to give me everything? Why do I clench my fists instead of grasping hold of His riches?

Then, in those moments when you or I am about to walk out of His treasury with our hands empty, let’s remember the verse that started it all. “His divine power has granted to us everything we need for life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

We do not have to go through life on empty. We do not have to wonder if the manna will fall on the ground today. We are the bride of Christ!

He has withheld nothing from us.

Please continue to follow along with the story, From Enemy to Heir. You will see just how rich He longs for us to be.

{18} Trust Me

Trust Me: Day 18 of 31 Days.

Click on the picture above for Day 1.

“There’s just one little catch,” the prince said, and Jewel’s body went ridged with the words.

How could there be a catch?

Ever since she met the prince, she had been waiting for a catch, but there wasn’t one. Over and over again, he had told her that she could not earn what he was giving her, and she could not pay it back.

She realized, then, that she had believed it, and she had been tricked.

“What’s the catch?” she asked, a hoarseness catching in her throat.

“You have to trust me, Jewel.” He said it softly, and with a serious kind of sadness, like he thought it would be a deal breaker.

“That’s it?” she cried, relief flooding over her. “I have to trust you?” She almost laughed because it was so simple. Of course she trusted him.

“You have to trust that I have indeed given you everything you need for life in my kingdom.”

“I can’t imagine why I would doubt that!” Jewel laughed. She was standing in a treasure box. What else could she possibly need from him?

“You are my bride now, and that comes with a very high calling.” His voice was still sad and serious. The delight he always had in calling her his bride was gone.

“Why are you so serious?” she asked. His demeanor was unnerving.

“Because, Jewel, I won’t always be with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have to go away on my father’s business—there is still so much to do—and you will have to stay here and continue the work I have for you, believing that I have equipped you to do it well.”

Jewel’s mind was a flood of questions, but she could not say any of them because her heart was drowning in a sudden, overwhelming grief. “How can you leave me?” she murmured. She had not been without him since the moment he found her by the side of the road, and she did not know how she could live without him now.

Trust Me

He smiled a small, sad smile, and she realized he grieved with her. “My darling, that is why it is the catch. You have to trust me. You have to trust that I would not leave you unless the work I have to do is exceedingly important. And you have to trust that if I go away from you for a time, I will come back again. I will always come back to you, Jewel.”

Jewel nodded and brushed a tear away with the back of her hand.

“I will never abandon you—remember that? I promised you that the day I took you as my bride. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. If I have to go away, it is only for a little while, and I will come back again. But while I am away, you must come to this room and liberally take from it. Use these gifts, Jewel. Use the things I have left you to do the job I have for you.”

“I don’t understand,” Jewel sputtered. “What job?” She had longed for a job in the prince’s kingdom, but now, now that he was leaving, she did not feel adequate to do anything but sob.

“You have the most important job of all.”

Jewel’s eyes widened with fear.

“Trust me.”

She swallowed.

“It is such an important job, I have given it to every person in my kingdom: I want you to be like me.”

It didn’t sound very much like a job, and Jewel couldn’t help but feel she was missing something.

“You are my bride, Jewel. That means everything you say and everything you do reflects back on me. You are my representative, don’t you see? It is your job to show the people who I am when I am not here to show them myself. It is your job to serve and care for them, to love and instruct them, and to uphold all the rules of my kingdom as if I were doing it myself.”

Now she understood. It was a very big job indeed.

“How can I do that? I’ve only just come to know you myself!”

“You have to trust me. I would not give you a job I have not equipped you to do.”

“But I don’t even know all the rules of your kingdom! What if I mess it up?”

“Oh, you will mess it up. Over and over again, you will mess it up.”

“Then what?” Jewel felt panic rising inside.

“Then I will forgive you.”

“But what if I need you?”

“Then I will come running. Do you not think I would move heaven and earth to come to my bride if she called?”

“But…” she did not know what else to say, except that she was scared.

“But…? But I have given you everything you need to grow into your role. I have given you everything you need to thrive in my kingdom. There is only one thing left. Do you trust me, Jewel?”

“Yes. No! I don’t know.” She put her head in her hands and cried, “Only, help me!”

“I will,” he said, cradling her in his arms. “I have one more thing to show you, Jewel, and it is a good thing. Think of all you have seen and all I have given you, and know this: I have saved the very best for last.”

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