Mountains of Grace
Lifting As We Climb
by
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Silver Legs
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12 NIV)
__________________________________________________________Thirteen children under six, twenty-six little hands and thirteen glue sticks was a recipe for disaster! As frustration grew, I attempted to remain calm. I silently prayed, “Jesus, help me!” But, it seemed that help was not on its way. Quite the contrary, failure was just a silver leg away.
I had planned a wonderful craft to reinforce the Bible lesson of the day. The plan included making “card stock ants” to illustrate the wisdom of one of God’s tiniest creatures. The evening before, I carefully cut out fifteen ant bodies from green card stock paper and thirty legs and thirty antennae from silver chenille sticks. After making a sample, I decided that yes, it was the perfect illustration—a cute reminder of the lesson. I was so excited for my class of 3 to 5 year olds to see my “little ant.” I, however, neglected to remember the curious nature and uncoordinated movements of young children. No sooner had “the ant” been placed on the table that a rambunctious four-year old quickly grabbed and smashed it! When “the ant” was finally rescued, it could no longer stand on its legs.
I looked at it in dismay as I handed out supplies. After a short time and many annoyed cries for help, I abandoned the project—my patience ran out. The children in their eagerness would not let the glue dry so the silver legs and antennae continued to fall off. The “ants” were never able to stand up like I had expected. In fact, the legs fell off no matter what we did. The project was a total failure, yet the kids still wanted to take them home.
For weeks, silver legs or antennae were found on the church grounds as evidence of my absurd attempt at making ants. Yet, in all the confusion and defeat, God faithfully reminded me of the times when I have given my problems to Him and then taken them back. Those times when, in my own eagerness and impatience, I’ve decided to help Him fix my difficulties. And, just like the children refusing to wait for the glue to set up on the chenille sticks, I often struggle allowing God to formulate and cement solutions for my circumstances.
Our loving and enduring Father continues to remind me that He alone has the right answers for us. But one question seems to remain, “Will we ever have enough patience or trust to wait on Him for those answers?”
—Juanita Adamson
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About the Book
Experience encouragement in your daily struggles and find hope in this seemingly hopeless world as you read the inspirational thoughts of the Women of Grace Writers in this book, "Mountains of Grace." This is the work of a group of Christian writers in Southern Arizona, USA, who, along with contributing authors, share how their lives have been inspired and changed by the unfathomable mercy, grace, and love of God, which is extended to all people. The aim is to provide glimpses of how acceptance of this gift of grace has produced 'overcoming lives' for these writers, no matter their circumstances. Their brave transparency will hopefully energize you to also 'stay the course' in difficult times and to lift up others as you climb in your own spiritual walk. You will see that sometimes this grace is manifested in very mysterious, even supernatural, ways. So, it is the overwhelming desire of the Women of Grace Writers that God will use this book to open the eyes of their readers to the blessed hope they have found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - How amazing is that."
About the Author
"Mountains of Grace" is the third book of inspirational thoughts by this group of writers. Assuredly, more than one cook in a kitchen will certainly be chaos, but this circle of ten like-spirited women, writing and praying together, has been described as like "sitting in heavenly places." With varied educational and professional backgrounds, they openly share as one body how the grace of God goes before us in anticipation of all our circumstances. It immerses us in pure joy, love, and forgiveness. And gratefully, it energizes us to extend that same mercy and grace to each other and to those around us.