God Has Found a Place for Us in His Story

The point is not to find a place for God in our story but to receive the good news that God has found a place for us in His- Michael Horton.

It’s a shift in thinking that makes all the difference. Who is the story about? The gospel, which encompasses the stories of creation, the fall, redemption, and renewal, is God’s story, and we are invited into it. As Christians, we must approach our life, the world, God, and others through this lens. When we turn it around, trying to find a place for God in our story, we’re missing the point. When we make God’s story about us, we have religion.

faith, graceDawn KlingeAugust 5, 2015gospel

How to love- when the feeling isn't there

“But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; the state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.” – C.S. Lewis

The quote above is from C.S. Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity. (affiliate link) The command from Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) is clear, leaving no room for argument. It’s a basic tenant of Christianity. Even people outside the faith know about this rule…and yes, they’re watching, to see how we do (or do not) follow through on it. It sounds simple, but what does it really mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

faith, graceDawn KlingeJuly 19, 2015love, God's love, perfect love

Where the streets have no name

“Where the Streets Have No Name" as written by Dave Evans Paul Hewson, 1993

These hauntingly beautiful lyrics, made famous by U2, were playing on a continual loop in my head this morning. I’ve often wondered at their meaning, believing this piece of art to have many layers.

faithDawn KlingeJuly 9, 2015justice, heaven, God's purpose, glory

The Miracle of Jesus's Incarnation and What it Means for Us

“The incarnation brings unceasing hope and an end to our exile, wandering, and despair. There is great comfort for our souls in the truth that he is just like us. Here’s why: the incarnation tells us that even though we sin, we are not alone; even though we’re weak and finite, he knows what weakness and mortality are because he was weak and mortal just like us; and even though we continually fail, he has committed himself to be part of a race of failures- and he has done so forever.”

-Elyse Fitzpatrick, Found in Him

(This post contains an affiliate link from Amazon, for full disclosure, click here.)

Incarnation means God became a man. Jesus is both fully God, and fully human. It’s a concept full of mystery. What does it mean for us?

faith, graceDawn KlingeJuly 6, 2015gospel, Jesus, grace

Why Does Jesus’s Presence With Us Matter?

“No matter how popular we might be, none of us has ever experienced deep unity or authentic union with another. Since the day that our forefather and mother were exiled in the garden of Eden, we’ve been lost, trying to get back in, trying to find oneness with each other and the Lord." Elyse Fitzpatrick, Found In Him

All of us know what it's like to feel alone, sometimes, even, when we're in a crowd of people we can feel that way. We long for true unity and union. This is why Jesus’s presence with us matters. We were made in the image of God. We were made to live in unity with God and others, but without the love and work of Jesus Christ, his grace, we are lost.

faith, graceDawn KlingeJune 24, 2015gospel, God's love, God's purpose, grace

You've Never Failed and You Won't Stop Now

Once again, I’m pulling a line from that beautiful song, Oceans (where feet may fail), by Hillsong United, to focus on, as I write about trusting God. He’s never failed. Who can say that, but God?

faith, trustDawn KlingeApril 19, 2015gospel, faith, faithfulness, trust

I am yours and you are mine

We were created to glorify and worship God through a loving relationship with him. We were made to enjoy the type of loving relationship that is demonstrated in the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But love isn’t love if it’s not given freely. With our free will, we chose to turn away from relationship with God, through sin, but God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and conquer death, to pay the heavy price that we owed and could never pay, and to bring us back into the relationship that we were made for.

faith, trustDawn KlingeMarch 4, 2015God's purpose, trust, trustworthy, Trinity, what trusting in God is, gospel, glory

My Soul Will Rest in His Embrace

My soul will rest in your embrace. What does that even mean? That phrase comes, once again, from Oceans (where feet may fail) by Hillsong. The soul, according to Merriam Webster, “is the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life”. It’s the spiritual part of us. It’s the part of us that trusts God- or doesn’t. How does our soul rest in His (God’s) embrace? I think it means that we need to trust in his unfailing love, and trust that he will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, in order to accomplish his will. He will show us what and how to do what we can do, and give us the strength to do it. We don’t need to be constantly striving and achieving on our own strength.

trust, faithDawn KlingeFebruary 23, 2015trustworthy, rest, soul, faith, legalism, trust

Only a Part of the Picture

That previous story about me as a little kid, trying to walk on water, blaming my inability to do so on my lack of faith is funny, but unfortunately, I held onto some wrong ideas about God, long after, the result of which led to some tremendous pain. I don’t want to tell this next story- but I will, because out of the pain came something beautiful.

faith, trustDawn KlingeFebruary 11, 2015trust, faith, healing, pain