Covered by grace...

There's a lot of emotions involved in dreams coming true... in prayers being answered... in the long wait giving birth to reality.

Brad and I were at the land today - he was driving by and said, "you have to see this!". He turned and drove by the section of land that is being cleared for the trailers, only about a quarter of the entire plot. I thought to myself, "what's the big deal, I've seen the land before...", but as he came over the hill, and I saw clear, smooth ground, being prepared for bringing forth this great answer to years of prayers, something burst forth in my heart, and suddenly I had tears in my eyes and my heart was beating fast. It caught me by surprise, and Brad just smiled at me knowingly - for he had experienced the same thing when he saw it for the first time.

Yet in this whole process, it is so easy to become self-engrossed. So aware of my part in all of this. So humbled by how little I feel in the midst of something this big. So painfully self-consciously aware of my shortcomings as I gaze in wonder at a miracle springing forth. Even in humility, the sinfulness of self creeps in...

I must not draw lines in my life between the "secular" and "sacred", the "sinful" and "holy"... for isn't everything I touch coated in sin? This is from Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening devotional for August 29:
"We have need that the LORD should have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our preachings, our alms-givings, and our holiest things. How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice! The blood was not only sprinkled upon the doorposts of Israel's dwelling houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of JESUS is needed to purify them from defilement."

I stand in constant need of the the blood of Christ to be sprinkled on every part of my life - my thoughts, my acts of service and worship, my prayers -- my very obedience must be covered by the grace of GOD!