“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…” Ephesians 1:7-8a (NASB)

I shrieked at him, pounding his desk with my tightly clenched fist. I was trying to make a point. I felt entitled to my sense of outrage, and wanted him to know. It was quite an exclamation mark.

Did I mention he was my boss? I screamed at my boss. AND pounded his desk.

What was I thinking? Obviously, I wasn’t.

When five o’clock rolled around, I rushed out the door, eager to be in the peace and quiet of my home.

A few minutes after pulling onto the highway, my tire started to scream.

Read the rest of the story at EllenChauvin.com.

On Sunday, one of our elders prayed for the congregation. His prayer was so eloquent and true that I asked him if I could share it here. He was very modest, not wanting to be identified, but he willingly shared. Here is an excerpt of his prayer:

I want to know Christ—yes,
to know the power of his resurrection
and participation in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow,
attaining to the resurrection from the dead
(Phil 3:10-11, NIV).

Lord, we see from Your word and Your Son, Your design is for death and resurrection. True renewal cannot come through our efforts to fix things, but must come from death in You and resurrection in You:

For issues in our marriage…death and resurrection
For troubles with siblings, parents, and children…death and resurrection
For problems with our neighbors…death and resurrection
For challenges in our school or work…death and resurrection

Paul tells us, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17, ESV). But so many times I don’t feel new. I have the same old arguments with my husband. Some days, I wake up to a regular companion, discouragement. And often, I battle the familiar foes of irritability, impatience, and selfishness.

Some days this new life doesn’t feel like rebirth—often our failures feel more like the walking dead, than new life—and death makes us feel defeated. But this prayer reminds us that with every death, Jesus brings the promise of new life.

Knowing Christ Brings New Life

For us to experience new life in Christ, we must die first—die to self. Jesus taught that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). We don’t like the idea of death—it scares us! But without death, there is no new life.

We shouldn’t fear the breakdown of things when Jesus is there to rebuild them. I wonder if sometimes we might need to do some tearing down ourselves, just to get the process started? What if we just give up fighting against those problems we battle daily? What if we surrendered to the truth that WE can’t fix them?

If we quiet our hearts of this dread of death, we might feel comfort in the fact that we don’t have to try to save the sinking ships. At first, what we have to do might seem harder: we have to let go of the sinking ships. Let go of our expectations for the way life is supposed to be.

We have to let go of…

Read the rest of this post at BrittaLafont.com.