I said, ‘Time to go!’ An hour or so after we got to the hospital, Norah was born. I managed the contractions by myself for a little while, then I woke up my husband, my oldest daughter, and my friend Amber who was staying with us. Then the birth pangs began before I sat up. I rolled my large self over and turned off the alarm clock. The morning my second daughter, Norah, was born began just like every other morning. It’s an epic birth story-a born-again birth story. No testimony that involves the Son of God bearing your sins on the cross in order to bring you to God could ever be mundane or boring. Then God transferred you into the kingdom of his beloved Son. God rescued you from the domain of darkness-however gilded or ordinary or innocent it seemed. The Holy Spirit of God peeled the scales from your spiritually blind eyes, awakened your soul to the bright light of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ, and breathed life into your lifeless soul. Your testimony may have occurred in the most ordinary of circumstances, but behind the scenes a spiritual battle was taking place. The idea that anyone’s testimony of blood-bought salvation could be uninteresting or unspectacular is a defamation of the work of Christ. Having your sins forgiven and being redeemed and made alive is mind-boggling. 2:13-14)īeing delivered from Satan, sin, and death is anything but average or boring. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.’ (Col. ‘And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. ‘He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ (Col. Then they’ll repeat their disclaimer as a conclusion: ‘So my story is pretty average and boring.’ But the Bible begs to differ. Or they testify to God’s merciful providence in their never having fallen into any scandalous, family-splitting, relationship-severing, law-breaking sin. Or they were part of a church during their childhood and grew up trusting Jesus. Using personal examples and insightful stories, her richly theological reflections help us experience the gospel’s extraordinary power to transform our ordinary lives.Sometimes when I hear people share their testimony of how they came to believe in Christ, they’ll give this disclaimer: ‘Oh, my testimony isn’t anything interesting.’ Then they’ll talk about how they’ve believed in God for as long as they can remember. Whether you are a stay–at–home mom or a working woman splitting time between the office and home, Gloria Furman-writer, pastor’s wife, cross–cultural worker, and mom-encourages us to see the reality of God’s grace in all of life, especially those areas that often appear to be boring and unimportant. So where is God in all of this? Does he care about the way we unload the dishwasher or balance the budget? Do the little things like changing diapers or cooking meals make a difference? And how can we use our spheres of influence for God’s glory and our joy? At times, just catching our breath seems like an impossible feat. Dust bunnies show up on the stairwell, social commitments clutter the calendar, and our families demand daily attention and care. Sometimes life feels a lot like a burden-day–in and day–out its the same chores and tasks, challenges and discouragements, anxieties and responsibilities.
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