What does it mean to have our strength renewed like the eagle’s? Eagle’s aren’t particularly strong except in flight, and in their ability to soar high in the sky. When we ask God to gives us an eagle’s strength, we are asking for the faith and trust that helps us soar above life’s daily struggles. For we can only leave behind the tendency to sink into the mire of doubt and misgivings by rising above them. Amy Gracey
My life today is this kind of beauty.
In my inability to soar on my own will, I have given that hope up and found the strength and security to soar higher than I ever dreamed possible. I feel thankful in good times and bad because I know where to seek solace and place my hope. My weakness is made perfect in His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). I find ways to look forward when all directions seem to try and pull me downward.
There is beauty in my weakness.
I can come boldly to the throne of grace, so that I can obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need (Hebrew 4:16). I can come to Jesus’ feet and bow humbly any time night or day. I know there He will hear me. If I suffer, this is God’s will for me. In it I will find His story for my life–a way to speak to others about how in my weakness I have seen the miracles of plucking me up from the mire of doubt and misgivings and rising above on eagle’s wings. I am no longer ashamed about what I have gone through to survive. I will let my bulldozed pathway to Him glorify His name (1 Peter 4:16).
Finding that place of restoration.
The process entails acknowledging failure, an unequivocal commitment to turning away from offending behavior, accepting Christ as justification, and loving discipline. The genuineness of your heart’s cry is what matters in the process of restoration. I have found it the hardest part of living my life for Christ. Even as I write now, I can hear the pain of submission ringing in my ear loudly (Hebrews 12:11). The scream is one I sometimes yell out in desperation of needing to quell my unbearable pain and frustration. This is where my Savior rescues me. He quells my cries as I fall prostrate. The tears fall. In all of my brokenness, I submit and He grieves alongside of me, as I accept His will for mine. I learn through those moments the discipline of growing faith.
Why it must happen: God disciplines His children.
The basis Biblical discipline comes from Hebrews 12:4-11
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Biblical discipline is to deter destruction. There is consequences for our actions and refusal to heed warnings because God wants us to find Him in all that we do. If we stray, He wants us to come back to Him. This motive is an expression of love for us. I see the way I parent my son is the same way God parents me–out of love and concern for me. Through discipline I learn obedience. I learn to obey His commands and grow in my faith. I learn to accept hardship and pain as a pathway to rejoicing in heavenly rewards. Biblical discipline is God’s way of showing me the open arms of a heavenly Father welcoming a child who has gone astray after that child realizes how foolish it was to not heed His warnings and living out the consequences of his/her choice.
What is gained?
In the words offered up by concluding Amy Gracey’s article on spiritual renewal,
The ability to know life offers us so many different opportunities. I have the power to choose. But God has the power to renew. In my journey, I should remember Psalm 103. For it reminds me that if I look to the Lord for my strength, I can hope to keep my eyes fixed on what is above.
For all I lose, I gain eternity.
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” ~Matthew 10:39
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