Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
By: Chris Tomlin
My chains are gone, I've been set free................FREEDOM. My heart is so full of love and thankfulness today. I have tried all day to write this blog and my heart is so full I just can't get past praise! I am lost in the joy of the love of God, the wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit witnessing to my heart that I am a child of the King! He loves me and is the source of my strength and my only hope.
Yesterday that truth was sealed in my heart with an everlasting and unimpeachable seal. Having gotten very distressing news recently regarding my health, I was due to visit my hepatologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. The news I expected was not good. An enormous mass had encamped itself in my abdominal cavity and attached itself seemingly inextricably to every organ EXCEPT my heart. There was no hope; those are the words my doctor used when he told me about the mass. BUT GOD.................
But God has other plans for me. He has yet a mission for me to accomplishment. I haven't been informed of that mission yet, but I know He will tell me when it is in His perfect time to do so. To walk so closely to the brink and then be so lovingly guided away from it leaves one astounded at God, aware of life and the freedom of worship His grace allows us.
A new scan yesterday revealed the handiwork of my Father; there was no mass, no evidence of any invasive tissue whatsoever! In one brief moment I went from "no hope" to "only hope"! All because of God! No other explanation was the words my doctor used as he stood with tears rolling off his face. I have issues, for sure, but I have life! I have love! I have eternal security! I have a mission, a task to complete for my King. What an awesome place to find one's self; the receptor of His Kingdom command.
My life has changed in so many ways, ways I could never have imagined only 5 years ago. Things that brought so much pain have also brought indescribable joy and opportunity and blessing. Losing Terry seemed like the ultimate curse, something from which I neither could nor would ever recover. Yet, here I am four years later, not only alive but thriving. My heart is opening up to new beginnings. Exactly where that will lead is yet to be determined, or more accurately, revealed. God already knows the plans He has for me and He reveals those plans as I need to know them.
I rest secure in the knowledge that it is His desire to give me the desires of my heart and He is doing that, even when it seems to me He is so far away. When I was lonely, He wanted to send me comfort but it required action on my part; I had to release the past in order to be able to meet the future. Someone dear to me reminded me of that today. I wonder how many blessings we miss because we think we're waiting on God when in fact it is He who is waiting on us?
Today, I walk in love and reverence for the Creator God of the universe and of my individual cells. From the greatest to the most minuscule, He is Lord, He is the Creator, He is the Giver of Life, He is the Healer. Over all He reigns with love and justice, continually reaching out to His creation with salvation and grace, with the mercy only He can give. We walk in FREEDOM....our only debt to the Triune God who created us, gave His Son's life for us, sent His Spirit to comfort and guide us. Oh, what a Mighty God we serve! YES and AMEN!
Shout praises to the Lord!
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him in heaven,
his mighty fortress.
Praise our God!
His deeds are wonderful,
too marvelous to describe.
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him in heaven,
his mighty fortress.
Praise our God!
His deeds are wonderful,
too marvelous to describe.
Praise God with trumpets
and all kinds of harps.
Praise him with tambourines
and dancing,
with stringed instruments
and woodwinds.
Praise God with cymbals,
with clashing cymbals.
Let every living creature
praise the Lord.
Shout praises to the Lord!
and all kinds of harps.
Praise him with tambourines
and dancing,
with stringed instruments
and woodwinds.
Praise God with cymbals,
with clashing cymbals.
Let every living creature
praise the Lord.
Shout praises to the Lord!
Psalm 150 (CEV)
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| Intertwined just as are our hearts one with the other. |
This concludes my time with the Traveling Sock. I have had adventures I never dreamed would be a part of this time. The sock now moves on to the next Sister. I eagerly await hearing of her adventures in her walk with our God! I love you, my Sisters. This Sisterhood is among the most wonderful blessings of my life. I am changed forever because of your love for our Savior and your love for me. What a joy to participate in this wonderful Sisterhood. I wonder if Mrs. Mac dreamed this could be as precious as it is when she began the group? Farewell to my sock; the mismatched pair will greet you all in New York in October!!!
8 comments:
what a time those socks have had at your place!!!! and with the latest event, they were probably knocked off your feet by amazing grace!!! i've passed your story along and others are praising God as well ... Wa Hoo! you are loved in the Beloved ... as am i ... as are all those found in Christ ... your story is still putting a grin smack dab in the middle of my face! (hugs) & blessings on you!
What a miracle! God is amazing!
I have read this....and cried some more....and will continue to cry every time I think about it. I've lost track of the tears I've shed over this whole situation - from beginning to end - first tears of sadness and desperation as I've prayed my socks off for you...and now tears of rejoicing as I stand in awe of the blessedness of our Healing Jesus who reached His hand down and made you whole. We serve an awesome God. (I can't wait to read the book - I'll cry again!) I love you Di!!!
it is so amazing dearest diane that when you received the sock when you still had the sad news, that you still went on to write such precious posts to us and how moving they have been!..
and now that you heard the good news of your miracle, here you had the sock still with you and you have ended your posts....the beginning sad, the end happy!!!
whoever told you this lady di "I wonder how many blessings we miss because we think we're waiting on God when in fact it is He who is waiting on us?", i reminded me of myself....when i was walking far from god and lost in my sins and telling god that it was no use, he was too far away and that all i deserved was hell, and then i turned and there he was! to take me into his arms...he was there all the time and for 17 years i had missed out on happiness and being saved and becoming his child!
you are so right sweet sisters...the chains are broken and we can walk on!
thank you so much for your faithfulness and i must tell you that dad golden and grace, [who now knows you because betty talks so much about you.]..well they were so happy to hear that you were healed!
god bless you....love terry
Yes, what a timely entry and exit of the traveling sock to your home. another example that we never know from one day to the next what God will do and where we will be standing in just a few days time. He has indeed made us Free...may we open wide our arms to receive every bit of freedom He has given!
Those socks have had quite a journey while on your feet Miss Diane. The testimony of God's healing, grace, provision on and on is overwhelming to comprehend. You've been set free in more ways than one. It's been wonderful to witness such a miracle.
Love the colour contrast in those socks.
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