Trauma

I want you to know that if you have been hurt, abused or traumatized, God understands that it will take longer for you to trust Him. He is not mad at you. He is not in any hurry. He knows that you were more controlled than loved; you were more manipulated than cherished. He is aware that you were “used” by one or more adults in your life and then you were thrown away. You were discarded. (I want you to know that I am very sorry for every way you were hurt.)

God is perfectly patient with all of us, especially those of us who have been hurt, abused and traumatized. He knows that we have been damaged. God is like no one we have ever known before. His love is different. He is committed to pursuing us. He has all the time in the world and we are supremely important to Him. He will love us … and love us … and love us some more until we believe (trust, have faith) that He is real and His love for us is real. At some point, most of us will respond to Him and to His unadulterated love. How could we resist the greatest Lover of our souls? In time, as His love unwaveringly continues, we will fall in love with Him. We will love Him with a love that we had not thought possible for our wounded hearts.

Uncommon Graces - by John Vawter

A list of uncommon graces:

• GENTLENESS
• ATTENTIVENESS
• LOYALTY
• CANDOR
• MERCY
• KINDNESS
• REPENTANCE

Take a moment and review each of these Christ-like graces which are rarely demonstrated in today's culture.

How would you rank your ability and consistency of demonstrating these graces to others in your everyday life? Use a scale of 1-10 (where 10 represents "outstanding")

What were the results?

How do you feel about your findings?

Ask God what He wants you to do, via His help, to grow in each of these Christ-like qualities.

Uncommon Graces - by John Vawter

Taken from the foreword -- written by Dr. Leith Anderson(p.8)

...(T)he number one reason for Christians to live Christianly is Christ. Our motivations to do good is to please Jesus and be like Jesus. But there is a second powerful motivation -- seeing the impact of our grace in the lives of others.

Victor Hugo's classic Les Miserables keeps coming back to the public in stage musicals and screen movies. It is the story of a convict who is treated kindly by a French bishop who gives him a place to stay in the bishop's home. In return for generous hospitality, the convict steals the bishop's silver. He is arrested by the police who have the man, the stolen goods, and every intent of sending him back to prison and hard labor. However, the bishop insists that the silver is a gift and the man is set free. The impact of the bishop's uncommon grace is so profound that the convict's life is transformed. Unexpected love, forgiveness, and generosity change him from a hardened criminal into a respectable civil leader whose entire life is marked by kindness to others. He, too, becomes a man of uncommon graces.

Imagine if we were all like that bishop returning good for evil, love for hate, generosity for greed, and hope for hopelessness. We would be more than like the bishop; we would be just like Jesus!

In Uncommon Graces, John Vawter has candidly and compassionately tackled the topic and the tension. He is no "do-good wimp" who blindly allows others to take unfair advantage of him. He is no 'hardened legalist" who knows the law but forgets the grace. John realistically understands our complex human nature and calls us to live uncommonly and graciously as Christians who represent Jesus and transform others.