Grace Revealed E-Book

Fred Sievert

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 370

Beschreibung

Trust in the Unmerited Gift of God's Grace You can't escape the inevitable crises that will face you throughout your lifetime. Whether it's health problems, emotional issues, career challenges, gut-wrenching losses, or other failures, these experiences can destroy your morale and lead you into despair. Some crises may be a result of your own choices, while others may be completely out of your control. Whatever the source, there is a lasting solution that comes to you free of charge from above: God's amazing grace. In Grace Revealed, you will: - Experience real-life stories of others who discover they are not alone and that relief is within their grasp. - See how devastating afflictions can be overcome through faith in Jesus and His love, mercy, and grace. - Learn how God's grace transforms lives and leads you into enduring and rewarding Christian service. - Be inspired to encourage others who are suffering but cannot seek help on their own. Read these undeniable, modern-day examples of God's loving grace and its transformative power, and discover that God is always present in your time of need.

Leseprobe

The ultimate measure of Christianity (or any religion) should be whether it helps human beings live meaningful lives—even in the face of tragedy. In Grace Revealed, Fred Sievert has collected nineteen stories of humans from a wide spectrum of society and Christian traditions who have discovered the transforming grace of God in crises. These stories remind us that God’s grace is not principally a theological construct or a lofty sermon, but the reality of God in our lives—a reality that helps us live meaningfully, even when we have been devastated by life.

—GREGORY E. STERLING, the Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean and the Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament, Yale Divinity School

Fred’s mission is clear—to spend the rest of his life telling people about God’s grace. In this book, Grace Revealed, Fred shares people’s stories of suffering, addiction, abuse, and loss, which prove to be the ultimate opportunity for God to display His incredible gift of mercy and redemption. These stories will inspire you to look at your own life and see just how powerful God’s grace really is!

—KEVIN PALAU, president, Luis Palau Association; author of Unlikely: Setting Aside Our Differences to Live out the Gospel

Much hope can be found in the amazing stories of the Bible, but they happened so long ago that it can be difficult to relate to the circumstances and people. God has not stopped creating amazing stories in the lives of those who cry out to Him, but the stories are rarely shared and even more rarely shared in an accessible style and format that can bring hope, healing, and transformation to people in crisis today. Grace Revealed does exactly that. With insightful background on today’s struggles, thoughtful reflections, and helpful biblical references, Sievert weaves these amazing contemporary stories of God’s grace into an uplifting and easy-to-read tapestry of hope, healing, and transformation for those struggling with life’s toughest challenges.

—PAUL MICHALSKI, founder, Integrous LLC; president, NCS New Canaan (founding chapter of the New Canaan Society)

In Sievert’s book, grace is not a theological concept or a religious term. Grace is the mode of God’s presence as experienced and expressed by flesh-and-blood people; it is a reality pulsating with life, bearing as many faces as there are human lives and situations and taking on as many forms as there are sufferings and delights, defeats, and victories. In Grace Revealed, you will hear many grateful voices giving their best to sing their ode to grace.

—MIROSLAV VOLF, Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Yale Divinity School; founder and director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture

It is common in recommending a new publication to refer to the book as a real “page-turner,” suggesting that once begun, the reader will not be able to put it down. But because I loved the narratives in Grace Revealed, I occasionally had to put it down. The stories were as painful as they were personal, the revelations as raw as they were revealing. I came to care about these people, and my caring demanded not only my attention but my time. As a pastor, I am in the “grace business,” believing that good things really do happen when people cry out for it and accept it. I can picture them singing the words of an old Christian hymn, “I love to tell the story; It did so much for me.” Because it did. And with Fred’s help, these men and women in crisis have now told their inspiring stories.

—WILLIAM A RITTER, pastor emeritus, First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Michigan

Fred Sievert has made the biblical concepts of grace, forgiveness, and healing come vividly alive through these real-life experiences of people and their journeys from confusion, pain, and despair to hope, joy, and new life. One cannot come away from Grace Revealed untouched by the way God individually and creatively works in people’s lives. Fred’s ability to incorporate Scripture, commentary, and the opportunity for personal reflection will leave readers feeling both challenged and inspired to find ways in which God’s grace touches them. This book will offer encouragement not only to those of deep faith, but, more importantly, to those who question God’s love and ability to intervene.

—REV. REBECCA MINCIELI, senior pastor, John Wesley United Methodist Church, Falmouth, Massachusetts

Are you stumbling under a burden of grief, anxiety, or guilt and wondering if you dare hope in the gospel’s promise that “nothing will be impossible with God”? Fred Sievert’s inspiring new book will introduce you to scores of folks who have faced crises like yours and found again and again that “you cannot fall farther than God can catch you.” Are you puzzling over strangely beautiful but ambiguous intimations of consolation and hope and wondering whether to trust these as whispers of God’s assurance or to dismiss them as meaningless daydreams? As you read the testimonies collected here, you’ll find yourself whispering, “Gosh, that’s just what happened to me!” again and again. This work will be a gift to youth leaders, and group leaders will find this book a wonderful conversation starter for gatherings of all ages. Faithful Christians will value this book as a source of daily devotionals. Spiritual seekers will be deeply grateful for the guidance and company of fellow pilgrims on the way.

—SKIP MASBACK, founder and director, Yale Youth Ministry Institute; associate director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture

Once again, Fred Sievert shows us how to take the most defining choices of Christianity seriously. These stories and discussions of strong episodes of ego, forgiveness, redemption, and love trace the arc of authentic seeking. Guidance from biblical sources, psychology, and theology deepens the analysis further.

—LAURA NASH, PhD, former faculty member, Harvard Business School and Harvard Divinity School; author of Believers in Business and coauthor of Just Enough: Tools for Lasting Success in Work and Life

Fred Sievert has hit another home run! Grace is God’s unmerited favor, and each of these miraculous stories outlined in Grace Revealed is shining proof of this. With God, “anything is possible.”

—JACK KRASULA, president of Trustinus, LLC; host of Anything Is Possible on News/Talk 760 WJR

This book is a treasure of stirring stories of personal crisis and Christian transformation. Each person’s voice is unique yet universal—any open-hearted person will find himself or herself in these stories. The book is beautifully structured for group or personal study: smartly organized around common crises, clear questions for group and personal reflection, and suggested Scripture for memorization. I especially recommend this book for those who are self-conscious or even critical of talking about the reality of God in daily life. Talking about God’s activity in one’s life—testimony—is not “weird” or “self-involved.” Rather, it is a crucial dimension of real faith. This book shows how testimony honors God, strengthens those in crisis, and helps others—including us, the readers.

—JOANNE M. SWENSON, ThD, senior minister, Church in the Forest, Greater Pebble Beach, California; founding minister, 12: A Foundation for Small Group Ministry

Fred Sievert is on a mission to demonstrate the grace, mercy, and power of God, and he does a masterful job in this second book of his. I found it thoughtful, emotional, inspiring, motivating, educational, informative, theologically and biblically sound, and presenting enlightening research. Grace Revealed is a powerful and memorable book to which many will relate, providing sound advice to those in pain, who “hurt,” are helping those who “hurt,” or want to understand a way to help. When I finished, I sat quietly in awe of the message, what people have endured, and how, with God’s help, they turned their lives around.

—STEVEN DARTER, president, People Management SMD; author of Lessons from Life: Four Keys to Living with More Meaning, Purpose, and Success and Managing Yourself, Managing Others: Learn How to Improve Effectiveness, Productivity, and Work Satisfaction

Grace Revealed is far more than a theoretical discussion of Grace—it is a workbook for everyone who experiences pain, addiction, fear, or resentment. In other words, it is vitally relevant to each of us. Fred Sievert combines a pastor’s knowledge of the Bible with real-world trauma to see how grace heals and restores fallen spirits, whether by their own action or abuse from others. It is a message of hope and love—the pure love of Christ. Read it to be inspired. Read it to find grace in your own life.

—JERRY BORROWMAN, best-selling author of sixteen biography and historical fiction books

We are all playing the game of “You Bet Your Life.” You can believe what you like, but you must accept the consequences. In Grace Revealed, after years of misfortune and pain, men and women write about how they came to bet their lives on Jesus. Their stories are both amazing and transformative.

—PETER G. HAWKINS, investment advisor

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength in Any Crisis

Copyright © 2018 Fred Sievert

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5638-0 (softcover)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5639-7 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the King James Version (KJV), public domain.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

Cover design by Chris Garborg at garborgdesign.com

Typesetting by Katherine Lloyd at theDESKonline.com

Author photos by Lisa Mancuso-Horn

Printed in the United States of America

18 19 20 21 22 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my family: my wife, Sue, and my five children, Heidi, Dena, Denise, Zachary, and Cornell. Each of them has unselfishly endured my type A personality and intense working lifestyle for all too many years. Nonetheless, they have remained supportive and understanding throughout my working lifetime, and now during my post-retirement years, because they recognize that I am pursuing a divine calling—to write and speak about my faith. I love each of them dearly and will be eternally grateful for their encouragement and love.

AN IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

Neither the author nor the contributing writers of this book are medical professionals. Nothing written in this book, either in the research regarding the prevalence of certain physical or emotional issues or in the stories themselves, is meant to provide professional medical advice. I present medical information and statistics only to inform readers of the prevalence of certain conditions within the population.

In writing about God’s healing power and loving grace, I in no way wish to diminish the importance of sound medical advice and treatment from appropriate medical professionals.

I also want to acknowledge that I am not an ordained minister. I am simply a retired corporate executive who has known the Lord for most of my life and who decided to retire early to attend divinity school to enhance my spiritual education and development. Little did I know at the time that my writing would become a ministry that reaches out to thousands of individuals who can benefit from a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. I now view my long business career as nothing more than a mere prologue to what I am doing today—writing and speaking about my faith.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

AS WE BEGIN

1

GOD’S GRACE—A BLESSED GIFT

2

CONFRONTING PHYSICAL, SEXUAL, OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Conquering the Cage of Guilt

Amazing Grace

You’re Never Alone

3

OVERCOMING ADDICTIONS

The Riches of Grace: From Prison to Business and Ministry

A Total Transformation: From Addiction to Testimony

Out of the Ashes: Conquering Alcoholism

Divine Intervention: Drug Abuse and God’s Voice

4

HEALING FROM EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ISSUES

Victory in Christ: A Vietnam Veteran Serves Others

Finding Strength in Weakness: How Cancer Saved My Life

Healed in Body and Spirit

“Lord, I Need Your Help”: Facing Chronic Pain

5

LEARNING FROM CAREER-RELATED CHALLENGES

Journey of Redemption: From Fraud to Faith

Faith on Trial

6

RISING ABOVE FAMILY ISSUES

Surrendering to Faith: What Seizures Taught Us

Hope in Action: Drugs, Prison, and Ministry

Comfort beyond Measure

A Renewed Purpose—as an Octogenarian

7

NAVIGATING GRIEF RELATED TO LOSS

Spreading Fatherly Love: Helping Grieving Children

Heavenly Messages: After My Daughter’s Death

8

YOUR ACCESS TO GRACE—ASSURANCES FROM JESUS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NOTES

PREFACE

Throughout my lifetime, hearing or reading about the faith journeys of thousands of Christians has substantiated my belief that individuals most often come to know Christ when they cry out to Him in a crisis. And often, their faith is reinforced, or even inspired, by the testimony of others who are willing to share the stories of their own personal relationships with Christ and how they were triggered.

This book couples those two very common elements of the Christian experience with yet a third element—the overwhelming tendency of those who come to develop a personal relationship with Christ to return God’s grace in the form of Christian service to others in need.

The Christian experience many times progresses through the following three phases:

1.Experiencing a crisis

2.Receiving grace

3.Returning grace to others

Most of the inspiring and compelling stories in this book reflect all three of the above phases. These are stories of individuals who were in a crisis, either of their own volition or imposed on them by others or by external influences.

Whatever their crisis—an addiction, a serious health issue, the pain of an abusive relationship, the loss of a loved one—they all cried out to God for help. In chapter 1, I elaborate on the three ways in which people can receive the grace alluded to in phase two above.

In their desperate appeal for relief, their prayers were answered, and they were blessed immeasurably by the loving grace of God. And in their gratitude, they felt compelled to share their stories and return God’s grace to others experiencing crises similar to their own.

I believe strongly in the power of spiritual sharing. In my post-retirement, post-divinity school “ministry,” I have felt called to touch individuals in crisis with the stories and testimonies of those who have found relief and joy in a way that only faith in Christ and a relationship with Him can provide.

If you find yourself in a desperate crisis that is causing you great emotional pain and suffering, it is my fervent prayer that reading how others experienced God’s grace can provide you with relief and a transformation that inspires you to return that grace to others in need.

AS WE BEGIN

Are you ready—and open—to experience and understand God’s amazing grace in a deeper, more personal way than you ever have before?

Has life worn you down?

Are you weary of remembering past mistakes?

Have you been kicked in the teeth by illness? By the mistakes of others? By being an occupant of this planet?

Are you in crisis?

Then this book is for you.

By way of background, my thirty-year career in the insurance business now seems like nothing more than a prologue to my current endeavors and ministry. Nothing in my life has made as big a difference as living under the grace of God.

After retiring from my position as president of New York Life Insurance Company, I spent four years in divinity school and subsequently wrote my first book, God Revealed: Revisit Your Past to Enrich Your Future.

Since publishing that book in 2014, I have been deeply moved and spiritually enriched by the people I’ve met and the stories I’ve heard relating to God’s saving grace in their lives, often in the face of life-threatening crises.

I faced a number of crises in my own life that are recounted in my first book, but Grace Revealed is not about me.

Instead, it features the stories of those people I’ve met who confided in me about the transformative power of Jesus Christ in their lives at a time of personal crisis or despair. Many suffered from addictions or personal tragedies that endangered their very existence.

Through social media and in traveling the country to make appearances related to my first book, I heard from hundreds of readers about their own encounters with God, their realization of God’s grace, and their resulting commitments to serve the Lord. Those stories deeply affected me and inspired this book.

Grace Revealed was written for you.

The souls who shared their stories with me were all transformed by grace into redeemed individuals with lives empowered and guided by the loving grace of God. Hearing their stories further enlightened, inspired, and transformed me.

Whatever your personal situation may be, no matter how dire or helpless it may seem, I believe the stories in this book will touch you with the transforming power of God’s grace in a way you may never before have experienced.

That is what Grace Revealed will do for you.

The personal stories in this book are compelling because they demonstrate how close people’s lives can come to being destroyed without a realization of God’s grace. They also are compelling because all the individuals recounting their stories in this book have committed to serving the Lord as a result of realizing His grace. They want to pass along God’s most precious gift to others.

Even those who wish to remain anonymous in the retelling of their stories have found it cathartic to recount their examples of God’s grace, and they consider it a blessing to be able to reach others who may be suffering with similar experiences or circumstances. It was God’s grace that drove them into service, empowered them, and guided them. They have allowed me to tell their stories because they truly believe their realization of God’s grace will help you.

In the chapters that follow, you’ll read true stories of people who recovered from debilitating illnesses, addictions, and trauma through God’s grace—when nothing else seemed to help them.

You’ll read how each of them, in their own way, reached out to the Lord for relief. You will see how people of all ages moved from despair to an understanding of the dark places they were in to a new mind-set that made them open to realizing God’s grace and accepting this gift for which Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price.

The following are just some of the people who have shared their stories of triumph in this book:

1.A woman who suffered abuse at age six by a family member, witnessed her father beating her mother, began drinking in the sixth grade, and found God in her forties. She is now an active church member who ministers to others so that, as she says, “they can experience the same healing, hope, and peace that I have received through Jesus Christ.”

2.A corporate executive who served nine months in a prison camp for fraud and then turned his life over to the Lord via urging from his guardian angel, a woman he had known years earlier who had died. He now lectures to others about his transformative experience and current service to other Christians.

3.An award-winning triathlete who overcame breast cancer in 2008, as well as bulimia, and has since competed in the World Triathlon Grand Final in Mexico. She has written several books and is a frequent lecturer and contributor to Christian radio and television shows.

4.A successful corporate attorney who couldn’t cope with the pressure and burden of his workload and found the Lord when his emotional state hit a dangerous low point. He left his position as a highly successful attorney to attend divinity school, become ordained, and has been a pastor of one of the largest churches in Connecticut for nineteen years. His passion now is to enhance youth ministry throughout the United States and beyond.

7.A woman who spent most of 2009 flying back and forth to Colorado to be with her twenty-nine-year-old son, who had inoperable cancer, while dealing with the weekly emergencies of her elderly father’s declining health. After losing both of them, she now speaks before various groups and teaches on the subject of coping with family illness and loss.

8.A father whose son is serving time in prison on drug charges. He now makes presentations to groups about how to recognize and cope with drug addiction in children.

9.A Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from his tour of duty, forever haunted by the carnage he witnessed. He has established a nonprofit organization through which he helps other war veterans heal.

At that moment when a person realizes and accepts God’s grace, his or her life is transformed forever and will never be the same.

Regardless of the crisis you may be facing, God’s grace can heal you and give you hope for a happier, more fulfilling future while mending the debilitating wounds of the past. The stories in this book are about individuals who realized and accepted God’s marvelous gift of grace, and how they, out of love and gratitude, are returning that same love and grace to countless others through an enduring commitment to a life of Christian service.

The stories of real people have always moved me most of all. Stories about the empowering nature of God’s grace throughout all of life’s mistakes and drama have not only shown me the bigness of God; they also have empowered me to live with more grace—for myself and others.

As you read this book, may God’s loving grace bring you through your personal crisis in a way that richly blesses you—and encourages you to share your story and His blessings with others.

1

GOD’S GRACE—A BLESSED GIFT

No book on grace could start with anything else but the Bible’s message of grace, which becomes astonishingly up front and clear once you recognize how the focal point of the Bible—Jesus Christ—truly is the source of all grace that comes from the Creator.

God’s free and unmerited gift of grace embodied in the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has emboldened, nourished, and sustained millions of Christians throughout history and continues to do so today. Receiving God’s grace is not the culmination of your Christian experience but, rather, the potential commencement of a lifetime of Christian faith and service. It enables you to overcome any crisis and transforms and empowers you under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to return God’s marvelous gift to others.

The following verses encapsulate the overarching theme of this book:

Grace was foreshadowed in the Old Testament: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the inequity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Grace is granted for unfailing faith in Jesus Christ: “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” (Acts 4:33).

Jesus declares His grace to be sufficient: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Grace, once realized, is transformative: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

And grace precedes good works, not vice versa: “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The inspiring stories shared in this book are compelling testimonies to the modern-day veracity of these ancient Scriptures. All these stories give accounts of people in desperate need—men and women in crisis—who realize God’s grace and, in response, are transformed and called to a life of enduring Christian service, empowered and guided by God’s greatest gift—grace.

Merriam-Webster defines grace biblically. It is described as “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” The word unmerited emphasizes that we receive what we do not deserve. A blog post on Christianity.com notes that “mercy, not merit,” is shorthand for grace. The author writes the following:

Grace is most needed and best understood in the midst of sin, suffering, and brokenness. We live in a world of earning, deserving, and merit, and these result in judgment. That is why everyone wants and needs grace. … Grace is the opposite of karma, which is all about getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve and not getting what you do deserve. Christianity teaches that what we deserve is death with no hope of resurrection.1

Before you can accept God’s grace, you have to realize it is intended for you. When you realize God’s grace, you take the first step toward accepting that unconditional gift that is yours, regardless of how much you think you do or do not deserve it.

San Antonio preacher and best-selling Christian author Max Lucado says, “God’s grace is not a gentle shower washing away the problem. It is a raging, roaring river whose current knocks you off your feet and carries you into the presence of God.”2 Those who tell their powerful stories of redemption in this book can certainly attest to that.

How do we often come to realize God’s grace? Through faith—by believing in Christ and His power to heal our lives.

Three Types of Grace

As you read the stories in this book, you may find that they raise interesting theological questions about the nature and timing of God’s grace. These questions have also intrigued me over the years as I’ve compared my experience with those of others who have become Christians and experienced God’s loving grace at different moments in their own faith formation.

In my studies, I have found John Wesley’s beliefs about grace to be instructive. They allow me to reconcile my personal experience with the differing experiences of some of my Christian friends.

John and Charles Wesley were the founders of the Methodist movement within the Anglican Church in England during the eighteenth century. This movement emphasized works of piety (working with the Holy Spirit to grow in personal relationship with God) and works of mercy (working with the Holy Spirit to help others grow in relationship with God by addressing their spiritual and physical needs). The doctrines and beliefs that came from John and Charles through this movement became the Wesleyan Doctrines of the United Methodist Church.3

Based on John Wesley’s belief that grace affects us in primarily three different ways, contemporary Wesleyan theology recognizes three distinct types of grace that the United Methodist Book of Discipline summarizes as follows:

1.Prevenient grace—“We acknowledge God’s prevenient grace, the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God’s will, and our ‘first slight transient conviction’ of having sinned against God.”4

My own experience and those of many of the contributors to this book were examples of prevenient grace from God before a deep personal relationship with Christ existed.

2.Justifying grace (justification and assurance)—“We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer in justifying grace with accepting and pardoning love. Wesleyan theology stresses that a decisive change in the human heart can and does occur under the prompting of grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”5

In many of the stories in this book, God poured out His grace after the person in crisis had already been saved and had a personal relationship with Christ.

3.Sanctifying grace (sanctification and perfection)—“We hold that the wonder of God’s acceptance and pardon does not end God’s saving work, which continues to nurture our growth in grace. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to increase in the knowledge and love of God and in love for our neighbor. New birth is the first step in this process of sanctification.”6

In virtually all the stories in this book, those who were touched by God’s grace returned that grace in Christian service to others in need.

The Most Powerful Weapon against Adversity

The poetic wisdom of Isaiah is not only comforting and reassuring but also foreshadows the grace that can come through our faith in Jesus Christ:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1–3)

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, expressed his faith in the face of extreme adversity: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

The author of Hebrews upholds Jesus Christ as a model for how we should approach the throne of God in anticipation of grace: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15–16).

The true stories in this book will reinforce your faith and better prepare you to realize and accept God’s loving, unmerited gift of grace. They will demonstrate the varying ways in which so many individuals have realized God’s grace (either through prevenient grace or through justifying grace by reaching out to their savior Jesus Christ in earnest prayers of supplication) and how sanctifying grace led to a subsequent commitment to Christian service to others.

Precisely defining what grace is and how to achieve it is difficult at best. The Scriptures noted earlier and the views of reliable theologians, authors, and clergy help us understand its essence. Grace typically manifests itself in undeniable ways as God’s intervention in our lives, providing us with relief from our struggles or crises. Grace is real, and our understanding of it is individualized and experiential. The stories in this book are concrete examples that collectively help us more fully understand the nature of God’s grace and the ways in which real people have experienced its miraculous benefits.

Jesus Paid the Ultimate Price

Grace became more accessible with God’s sacrifice and the passion of Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And as the apostle Paul says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5).

God’s grace takes many forms and is available to sinners and saints alike. The Bible tells us that humans are naturally inclined to sin, and that, in fact, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Perhaps the best biblical example of a sinner who foreshadowed Christ’s role in future grace is that of the criminal on the cross next to Jesus, who through the grace of Christ was guaranteed a spot in paradise. The criminal symbolically personified dozens of generations of future sinners who would experience the Lord’s saving grace:

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39–43)

Each of us is like the second criminal. No matter what we have done in the past, we have access to God’s unmerited grace. We don’t deserve to be freed of the consequences of our sins. But Jesus Christ has made that sacrifice for us, just as He did for the self-confessed criminal with whom He was executed.

Pastor Rick Warren reminds us that God’s grace is completely free to us, but Jesus paid His life for it:

That’s why it is only through Jesus that we can find the grace of God—because He’s the one who paid for the grace we receive. … Because you receive the grace of God through Christ alone, the Lord doesn’t look at you like you think He does. God’s Word says those of us who have accepted God’s grace are ‘in Christ.’ That phrase is used more than 120 times in the Bible. To be ‘in Christ’ means that when God looks at you, He doesn’t see all your sins, failures, and rough spots. When you’re ‘in Christ,’ God just sees Jesus. You may see the scars, the mess, and the problems, but God sees perfection in Christ.7

So why would God give us grace at such a high cost? Because God is love, and that love is unconditional and unbounded. He wants to use us to further His kingdom. He wants us to reflect His love in our relationships and our interactions with others: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7–8).

Warren also emphasizes the importance of gratitude and obedience: “So in light of what Jesus has done for us, how should we respond? We must be grateful. One way we can show our gratitude to God is by making our lives count. You can’t really understand the grace of God and the price He paid to make it available to you while living how you want to live, ignoring the commands of Jesus, or wasting your life on things that don’t matter.”8 As the apostle Paul put it, “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

You will see in these true stories about individuals whose lives God has transformed that His lavish gift of grace is so powerful that every one of them is now serving Him. They all desperately cried out to God, realized His grace, accepted it, and are showing others how He can change their lives as well.

Empowered and Guided by God’s Marvelous Gift

Grace is a gift from God, but it is not something we can accept passively. Quite the contrary—realizing and accepting God’s grace often drives us to make a conscious decision out of deep gratitude and love to abandon sin and live the kind of life He has chosen for us. Once He offers grace to us, we are empowered and guided by our miraculous transformation to respond by sharing our experience and our knowledge of grace with others. Grace does not affect us passively; it empowers and guides us to follow God’s example as we navigate life’s hills and valleys:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. (Titus 2:11)

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

Grace strengthens us as well, arming us with the conviction and confidence to overcome old ways of being and thinking and enabling us to be transformed: “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1).

Biblical Lives Transformed by Grace

The Bible tells several stories of how the disciples and other individuals were transformed by God’s grace and were empowered and guided into lifelong Christian service.

Perhaps the most powerful and compelling such story is that of Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee and persecutor of Christians who encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus (read Acts 9:1–31) and was forever transformed into a follower of Christ. Thereafter he was known as the apostle Paul, and he wrote as many as thirteen books of the New Testament.

Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector, was one of the last people Jesus met before His death. Jesus surprised many bystanders by calling Zacchaeus down from a sycamore tree and going to the house of this sinner as a guest (read Luke 19:1–10).

Zacchaeus’ transformation as a result of this encounter was to give half of his wealth to the poor and to return fourfold the taxes he had cheated from others.

In the twenty-first century, examples of the marvelous grace of God are numerous and varied. It is difficult to articulate a common cause or template that describes the form or source of realized grace. The stories in this book, however, present very clear and compelling examples of God’s unmerited grace in its many manifestations in the lives of Christians and among those seekers who turned to Christ in their desperation.

I trust that you will be inspired and blessed as you read these modern-day stories of men and women who experienced God’s grace in their time of crisis and were transformed forever by those divine experiences.

Healing Insights

•The three types of grace (prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying) described by John Wesley can help us understand the varying ways in which people receive grace and are affected by it.

•God’s grace transforms us and empowers us under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

•God’s grace is completely free to us, but Jesus paid His life for it. He gives us the gift of grace because He wants to use us to further His kingdom.

•Grace does not affect us passively, and we do not accept it passively. Rather, it empowers and guides us to follow God’s example as we navigate life’s hills and valleys. It also compels us to pay that grace forward to others in Christian service.

2

CONFRONTING PHYSICAL, SEXUAL, OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE

It is difficult to understand how one of the wealthiest and most socially advanced countries in the world is the breeding ground for all types of abuse, from childhood sexual abuse to spousal abuse and elder abuse.

The effects of abuse can last a lifetime and wreak havoc on a survivor’s mental, emotional, and physical health.

For example, one study of 57,000 women in 2013 found that those who experienced physical or sexual abuse as children were twice as likely to have eating disorders than those who were not abused. A 2015 Atlantic article documenting the prevalence of obesity in childhood sexual assault survivors explained that there is some evidence that stress induces the body to store fat—“a vestige of a time in human evolution when this would have been useful.” The article goes on to describe other health consequences often caused by sexual abuse:

Chronic stress also triggers the release of chemicals called pro-inflammatory cytokines, which prevent insulin from being taken up by the muscle cells. This is called insulin resistance, and it’s strongly correlated with obesity. … Also, among women who were hospitalized for psychiatric treatment after bariatric surgery to induce weight loss, one study found that 73 percent had a history of childhood sexual abuse.1

Sexual abuse is one of the most common and damaging types of abuse a person can endure.

Alarming Statistics about Sexual Abuse

America has more than 42 million survivors of sexual abuse. It is estimated that between 66 and 90 percent of sexual-abuse victims never tell anyone they were abused. In 90 percent of all child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator is someone the child knows, loves, or trusts.2

Given the tragic ways abuse affects people later in their lives, it is not surprising that people who have been abused are much more likely to land in jail or prison. According to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children, people who experience child abuse and neglect are about nine times more likely to become involved in criminal activity. And 14 percent of men in prison and 36 percent of women in prison in the United States were abused as children. This is about twice the frequency seen in the general population.3

According to Adults Surviving Child Abuse, child abuse has many potential effects later in children’s lives, and some of them are severe. Children naturally rely on their parents and other caregivers for safety, security, love, understanding, nurturance, and support. When an adult violates that trust, the betrayal can impair the child’s ability to form attachments throughout life. People who were abused as children often suffer job disappointments, frequent relocations, failed relationships, and financial setbacks.

Emotional problems that people who were abused often experience later in life include the inability to regulate emotions like rage and terror; negative self-perception; chronic feelings of isolation, despair, and hopelessness; and intense suicidal feelings.

Childhood abuse can manifest as physical symptoms later in life too. Commonly reported health concerns that result from child abuse include depression, anxiety disorders, addictions, personality disorders, eating disorders, and sexual disorders.4

A common theme throughout this book is the fact that the difficulties people experience at one life stage can impact the problems they face in later life stages. Many organizations are working tirelessly to prevent neglect and abuse and to treat the survivors. But there is one remedy that seems to work consistently—God’s grace.

Below are Bible verses that can provide comfort to survivors of abuse and insight to people who have abused others:

Bible Verses for Survivors of Abuse

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. (Psalm 91:5–6)

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14–15)

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27–28)