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What's Your Motivation? Choosing Faith Over Fear · Grace for My Home | Christian Women, Growing in Faith

• 1:13
  Audrey McCracken: Hello friends, welcome back to Grace for My Home.
• 1:15
  Audrey McCracken: I hope that you are doing well.
• 1:18
  Audrey McCracken: I hope that you are already and have all of your Christmas presents purchased and wrapped and under the tree.
• 1:25
  Audrey McCracken: That would just be wonderful.
• 1:28
  Audrey McCracken: And I have not gotten all of my presents wrapped and under the Christmas tree.
• 1:34
  Audrey McCracken: I have barely bought any of my presents.
• 1:36
  Audrey McCracken: To be honest with you.
• 1:38
  Audrey McCracken: I made a major purchase last night for one of my kids and the others.
• 1:43
  Audrey McCracken: They are at that age when they want to pick out the things that they want.
• 1:47
  Audrey McCracken: They really don't want to be surprised, and that's fine with me, that's easier for me, but I miss the whole excitement of surprises under the tree.
• 1:59
  Audrey McCracken: But to be honest with you, I haven't really had time to put into it.
• 2:03
  Audrey McCracken: So it all works out for the best.
• 2:06
  Audrey McCracken: We are getting ready for Christmas.
• 2:07
  Audrey McCracken: My husband's family they're going to come over this Sunday, his three brothers and their wives and kids and my mother-in-law will come here on Sunday to our home and we'll have Christmas together, and then on Christmas day my mom will come here and spend the day with us, and so we were really pretty laid back when it comes to Christmas day.
• 2:31
  Audrey McCracken: We tried to just to enjoy each other and not make it stressful but fun, but there's always a certain amount of stress that goes with it, right?
• 2:41
  Audrey McCracken: I mean, it's a lot going on, it's a busy season, but the goal right the goal is to enjoy Christ, is to remember why we're doing all this, and it really can very quickly.
• 2:58
  Audrey McCracken: The goal, the purpose of Christmas can get lost in all of the busyness.
• 3:04
  Audrey McCracken: And I know I'm preaching to the choir, I'm preaching to a bunch of moms that are at the heart of their homes and trying to make things meaningful and also make things workable.
• 3:16
  Audrey McCracken: And it's a lot.
• 3:17
  Audrey McCracken: I pray that God would give you and me grace during this season to keep our eyes on him.
• 3:25
  Audrey McCracken: Amen.
• 3:27
  Audrey McCracken: I wanted to talk with you this week about what is your motivation and just kind of ask you that question.
• 3:36
  Audrey McCracken: You know what is your motivation?
• 3:38
  Audrey McCracken: Because sometimes we don't have time to think about that.
• 3:41
  Audrey McCracken: Sometimes we're just in the thick of it and we've just got to do the things right, we just got to do the next thing and we don't have time to really sit around and ask all these rhetorical questions.
• 3:51
  Audrey McCracken: Like you know what is my motivation?
• 3:53
  Audrey McCracken: You know there's dishes to wash, there are diapers to change, there are meals to fix.
• 3:58
  Audrey McCracken: We don't have time to sit around and think about these things, but whenever possible, it's nice to be able to just push back and get a minute and say you know, why am I doing these things?
• 4:11
  Audrey McCracken: What, what?
• 4:12
  Audrey McCracken: Really?
• 4:13
  Audrey McCracken: Why am I doing these things?
• 4:14
  Audrey McCracken: And you may be doing all of the right things, but why are you doing them?
• 4:20
  Audrey McCracken: Is it an important question?
• 4:22
  Audrey McCracken: Sometimes it's not just what, but why, and that's what's been on my heart this week, and I wanted to just share some thoughts with you and hopefully encourage you during this busy time as to why, why are we doing these things?
• 4:36
  Audrey McCracken: What's the point?
• 4:38
  Audrey McCracken: God has given us?
• 4:39
  Audrey McCracken: One of the greatest gifts that he has given us is a free will.
• 4:44
  Audrey McCracken: He did not make us like any other thing or creature in creation.
• 4:50
  Audrey McCracken: He made us in his image and he gave us the ability to choose for ourselves, and that's very powerful.
• 4:59
  Audrey McCracken: You know, he gave us such a complete gift of free will that we are freely able to reject him.
• 5:07
  Audrey McCracken: We're freely able not to choose him, not to love him, not to serve him, not to even believe in him, if we so choose.
• 5:15
  Audrey McCracken: You know that's pretty dangerous, right?
• 5:19
  Audrey McCracken: That was pretty dangerous on his end right To give us something that we could even turn around and use against him.
• 5:31
  Audrey McCracken: And I just I think sometimes we don't appreciate that gift.
• 5:37
  Audrey McCracken: At least I don't appreciate that gift of free will.
• 5:40
  Audrey McCracken: And when we're in busy times and when we have a lot of responsibilities and people look into us, we can just it's easy to go with the crowd, it's easy to go with what's next and, you know, not even think about what we're doing or why we're doing it.
• 5:54
  Audrey McCracken: And we don't even need that free will, right?
• 5:57
  Audrey McCracken: Who needs that?
• 5:58
  Audrey McCracken: We just, we know what comes next, we know what's expected, and lately the Lord has just been reminding me that so many of the things that I feel like are not my choices, right, these are just things that have to be done.
• 6:10
  Audrey McCracken: That you know.
• 6:12
  Audrey McCracken: I'm making a lot of choices in there too, and one of the questions that I always come back to is why am I making these choices?
• 6:20
  Audrey McCracken: What is my motivation?
• 6:22
  Audrey McCracken: And, like I said to start with, we can many times we can do the right things, but not even do what be doing them out of the right motivations?
• 6:33
  Audrey McCracken: And I often find myself betwixt and between two different sides the side of faith and the side of fear.
• 6:45
  Audrey McCracken: You know, fear is a motivator.
• 6:47
  Audrey McCracken: It can motivate us to do a lot of things, and sometimes they're good things, sometimes they're the things we're supposed to be doing.
• 6:53
  Audrey McCracken: But faith is also a motivator and faith can inspire us and encourage us to do many of those same things.
• 7:03
  Audrey McCracken: But when faith is our motivator, those things are a lot more enjoyable and they seem to happen a lot easier, because we're doing them by grace.
• 7:15
  Audrey McCracken: We're not doing them in our own strength.
• 7:17
  Audrey McCracken: We're not doing them because we're afraid of what's going to happen if we don't do them.
• 7:23
  Audrey McCracken: We are able to do them out of love.
• 7:28
  Audrey McCracken: It says in Galatians 5-6, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
• 7:39
  Audrey McCracken: And that word they are working.
• 7:42
  Audrey McCracken: The Greek word for that word is energy, and you can hear our word energy in that, and it means to be at work, to work, to do, to energize, and so faith is energized by love.
• 7:58
  Audrey McCracken: It says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
• 8:09
  Audrey McCracken: So faith is energized through love, and and as the Lord deals in our heart, as he works in our lives, you know it says that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts in Christ Jesus.
• 8:23
  Audrey McCracken: As he gives us his love for people, his love for our family, his love for him, then he gives us the energy, he gives us the motivation to obey him.
• 8:34
  Audrey McCracken: You know, jesus said if you love me, you'll obey my commandments.
• 8:37
  Audrey McCracken: And and yes, there is a fear of God.
• 8:40
  Audrey McCracken: There is a healthy fear of God, and I Honestly don't think there's enough of it in the world today.
• 8:47
  Audrey McCracken: I think that there is an all in fearing and loving God and seeing him as the all-powerful one, as the judge of all, as the one who one day we will stand before and give account of our entire life.
• 9:01
  Audrey McCracken: But at the same time, he is the loving one.
• 9:05
  Audrey McCracken: He is the one who it says of in John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son that whoever would believe in him would not perish.
• 9:17
  Audrey McCracken: He does not want us to perish, but have eternal, everlasting life, and so he is a giver and he gives to us out of love and he redeems us with his own blood.
• 9:30
  Audrey McCracken: And so I I just want to talk with you today about walking by faith versus walking by fear.
• 9:40
  Audrey McCracken: Many of you know, if you've been listening to my podcast, that I'm a homeschool mom and I have been for, I guess, 11, 12 years now.
• 9:50
  Audrey McCracken: My oldest two they're in public school now and that was their choice.
• 9:55
  Audrey McCracken: They went to public school for high school and we let them make that choice and they're doing great.
• 10:00
  Audrey McCracken: But when I first started homeschooling them they were in kindergarten.
• 10:05
  Audrey McCracken: They were kindergarten age and I had this desire in my heart.
• 10:11
  Audrey McCracken: I don't even know how to explain it.
• 10:12
  Audrey McCracken: I just I felt in my heart that the Lord was calling me to homeschool my children, which really came out of that field.
• 10:19
  Audrey McCracken: I'd never had that desire before, but when it came time to start making, you know, enrolling my, enrolling my oldest in kindergarten, I just really felt like I was supposed to homeschool him and I started researching it and just praying about it and and thinking that year before you know what am I going to do here?
• 10:41
  Audrey McCracken: And as I started looking around and seeing different homeschool groups and and homeschool philosophies and techniques and um, I started noticing that there seemed to be a lot of fear and involved in homeschool and you got to understand this was years before covid, right?
• 10:58
  Audrey McCracken: This is when you know it wasn't as mainstream as it is now, but there just seemed to be, even among christian circles, a lot of fear.
• 11:07
  Audrey McCracken: Like you know we're.
• 11:09
  Audrey McCracken: We've got to protect our children from the world.
• 11:11
  Audrey McCracken: We've got to, you know, not don't let them be indoctrinated in the things of the world.
• 11:16
  Audrey McCracken: And and I get that, you know, I want to make sure that I'm the biggest influence on my children's lives and I take serious the threats that are out there.
• 11:27
  Audrey McCracken: But I felt in my heart that the lord Spoke to me during that time as I was praying and seeking his will, that I felt really strong, that he was impressing on me that he wanted me to do this out of faith and not fear and that that makes a difference in how you do something.
• 11:49
  Audrey McCracken: Now, if you're homeschooling and I'm just using homeschooling as an example, this is like my example but if you're homeschooling out of fear, then you're not inspiring, you're just sheltering, right?
• 12:00
  Audrey McCracken: You're just protecting them from the evil forces, right?
• 12:03
  Audrey McCracken: You're not showing them the wonders of creation, you're not sharing with them the wonderful things that God has created in this world, which really is the essence of education.
• 12:17
  Audrey McCracken: Look what God has made.
• 12:19
  Audrey McCracken: Everything we study is from God.
• 12:21
  Audrey McCracken: Language is from God.
• 12:23
  Audrey McCracken: Music is from God, science, it tells us how God set these things up.
• 12:28
  Audrey McCracken: So when you see, when you have a bigger picture, when you're not running from something, you're not running in fear from something, but you have a vision, you have a vision of what could be, of what should be, then you see things much clearer and things take on a much lighter feel and even a joy.
• 12:52
  Audrey McCracken: You know it's hard to be fearful and joyful at the same time.
• 12:56
  Audrey McCracken: It really is.
• 12:57
  Audrey McCracken: And so that you know I had struggled.
• 13:01
  Audrey McCracken: I had thought about fear versus faith before, but that became a very concrete example for me was our homeschool journey.
• 13:08
  Audrey McCracken: And sometimes, you know, through our journey, things would happen and I would recognize oh, I'm running on fear.
• 13:14
  Audrey McCracken: You know I'm not running on faith right now.
• 13:17
  Audrey McCracken: Right now I'm just afraid.
• 13:18
  Audrey McCracken: And I'm doing a lot of these things because I'm afraid, not because I'm trusting God.
• 13:25
  Audrey McCracken: So in other areas I started noticing, you know, I'm doing this out of fear, I'm running from something.
• 13:31
  Audrey McCracken: I'm not running to Jesus, I'm running from something, something from my past or something I'm afraid is gonna happen.
• 13:38
  Audrey McCracken: And, guys, I think this is just part of being in this world.
• 13:43
  Audrey McCracken: There are many things in this world that attack our mind, attack our heart, try to steal our peace.
• 13:49
  Audrey McCracken: And so we're gonna fight.
• 13:50
  Audrey McCracken: You know, as long as we're in this world and we're not of this world, there are gonna be fights in our minds, in our hearts, in our bodies.
• 13:57
  Audrey McCracken: But when we can get grounded in why we're here and we can get a vision from the Lord of what he would have us do while we're here, then we can do that, we can go after him, we can be obedient in the things he's called us to do, and there's a lot more joy and purpose in that than just being afraid of the world around us.
• 14:23
  Audrey McCracken: You know, I think of it like this Faith has a destination.
• 14:29
  Audrey McCracken: Now, we may not know exactly what that destination is, but a lot of times God will push us off or call us into that destination.
• 14:39
  Audrey McCracken: I think about Abram.
• 14:40
  Audrey McCracken: You know, when God called him away from his family and he did not tell him where to go, he just said go, get out of here.
• 14:48
  Audrey McCracken: I'll show you where.
• 14:49
  Audrey McCracken: But Abram, by faith, he didn't let the.
• 14:54
  Audrey McCracken: There were many fears that could have kept Abram home.
• 14:57
  Audrey McCracken: You know the fear of wild animals, the fear of the unknown, the fear of taking your whole family out and you know them starving to death.
• 15:06
  Audrey McCracken: There were so many fears of just going out into the world where you don't know where you're going.
• 15:11
  Audrey McCracken: You're just going because God said go.
• 15:12
  Audrey McCracken: But he had faith.
• 15:15
  Audrey McCracken: You know he's the father of faith and he did it out of obedience and God took care of him.
• 15:21
  Audrey McCracken: And so many times I see it like that.
• 15:24
  Audrey McCracken: You know, faith is like God has called us somewhere and we have to have ears tuned into Lord.
• 15:31
  Audrey McCracken: What would you have me do?
• 15:32
  Audrey McCracken: What is my assignment right now?
• 15:35
  Audrey McCracken: Now there's a scripture in Proverbs and it says in Proverbs 29, 18, and I'm reading out of the English standard version it says where there is no prophetic vision, that people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
• 15:53
  Audrey McCracken: So where there's no prophetic vision, where we haven't heard Lord, what are you doing, lord?
• 16:02
  Audrey McCracken: What am I supposed to be about right now?
• 16:04
  Audrey McCracken: Where are you calling me right now?
• 16:06
  Audrey McCracken: When there's no vision of why we're doing the things we're doing, then we cast off restraint.
• 16:11
  Audrey McCracken: That means we stop doing the hard things.
• 16:14
  Audrey McCracken: Why do the hard things if there's no reason, if there's no reward, if we don't see the point in them?
• 16:21
  Audrey McCracken: Now sometimes we'll do the hard things out of fear.
• 16:24
  Audrey McCracken: Now I think it's better to do the right things out of fear than to do nothing right.
• 16:28
  Audrey McCracken: I'd rather do the right things for the wrong reason, but so much better to do the right things out of faith, to do the right things because we're trusting God, because we believe that God has a plan that we believe were about his business, that we're not wondering Aimlessly that it may feel that way sometime, but we're going out in obedience and doing what he's asked of us at this season.
• 16:53
  Audrey McCracken: You know I don't see the big picture, but I know right now when he's told me to put my hands to work.
• 17:01
  Audrey McCracken: Many years ago I read a, a book to my boys and it was called the spyglass, and I'll try to find that and put that in the show notes if you want to go look it up.
• 17:11
  Audrey McCracken: But it was a short book and the gist of it was a man Came to this kingdom and to this king and this kingdom, and the kingdom was run down.
• 17:21
  Audrey McCracken: The walls of the city had fallen, the houses were in shambles, the crops were not producing, the vineyards were all dried up, it was just a sad place.
• 17:33
  Audrey McCracken: So this man came and he brought this special spyglass to the king and when you look through the spyglass, you didn't see that how things were.
• 17:46
  Audrey McCracken: You saw how they could be, and so the king took this spyglass around his kingdom and what he saw was a magnificent kingdom.
• 17:56
  Audrey McCracken: He saw houses that were billed and strengthened, he saw the city walls built back up, he saw the fields full of crops and he saw the vineyards full and he saw the people happy and he saw the markets full and he saw people living well and, and the point was, this is what could be, but you have to make it so.
• 18:21
  Audrey McCracken: And Every time he looked in the spyglass, that's what the man told him.
• 18:27
  Audrey McCracken: He said you know, you've seen what could be.
• 18:29
  Audrey McCracken: Go and make it so.
• 18:30
  Audrey McCracken: And that was so encouraging for me because I thought that's what we need.
• 18:35
  Audrey McCracken: We need the Lord to show us what could be, what should be, and then, by his grace, we go and make it so.
• 18:43
  Audrey McCracken: You know, I think about where we're working right now.
• 19:27
  Audrey McCracken: In the city where we're at.
• 19:29
  Audrey McCracken: There's a lot of need.
• 19:30
  Audrey McCracken: That's why we're there, because it's a lot.
• 19:33
  Audrey McCracken: There's a lot of need there.
• 19:34
  Audrey McCracken: There's a lot of other cities around that we could have gone into.
• 19:38
  Audrey McCracken: That we're doing a lot better off economically.
• 19:42
  Audrey McCracken: We went into a place that they're not doing great economically, but we did that on purpose, because we believe number one, we believe that was the direction the Lord pointed us in.
• 19:54
  Audrey McCracken: But number two, we believe the Lord has shown us potential.
• 19:59
  Audrey McCracken: He's shown us what could be, what should be, so we're going to make it so.
• 20:06
  Audrey McCracken: And I think even in our homes Sometimes we can see things around us and it just feels like you ever had one of those days or weeks or months when it just feels like everything around you is yuck.
• 20:17
  Audrey McCracken: Everywhere you look it's something that's broken down, it's something that's not painted, something that the kids destroyed.
• 20:24
  Audrey McCracken: You know, it's just like I'm so tired of seeing these things and so many times the Lord will bring back that book to me and say Go and make it so.
• 20:35
  Audrey McCracken: Go see what could be and put your hands to work and don't live in fear or regret, but live in faith.
• 20:48
  Audrey McCracken: And I just want to read to you a few things that I wrote down about fear and faith.
• 20:53
  Audrey McCracken: And I do want to remind you that our faith is motivated by love.
• 20:58
  Audrey McCracken: It's not faith in our faith, and a lot of times people preach faith and it's like, oh, I got to build up my faith and that's just like a spiritual gymnastics, I don't know how to do that.
• 21:09
  Audrey McCracken: Faith is motivated by love Love for God and love for other people.
• 21:14
  Audrey McCracken: You know, when you love God, when he comes into your heart, then you want to please him and faith is that stepping out to please him.
• 21:24
  Audrey McCracken: But there's a big difference between being motivated by fear and being motivated by faith, and I just want to read off to you a few things that have helped me to determine when I'm walking in fear and when I'm walking in faith.
• 21:40
  Audrey McCracken: First of all, faith pulls me towards something that I won't, but fear drives me away from something I don't want.
• 21:53
  Audrey McCracken: No, faith has an expectation for something good.
• 21:59
  Audrey McCracken: Fear has an expectation for something bad.
• 22:05
  Audrey McCracken: You know, I think about where Jesus told if you ask for a fish, he's not going to give you a serpent.
• 22:14
  Audrey McCracken: If you ask for something good, your father's not going to give you something bad.
• 22:19
  Audrey McCracken: And faith asks believing for good things.
• 22:23
  Audrey McCracken: Faith produces hope for the future, but fear produces dread.
• 22:35
  Audrey McCracken: The book of Hebrews.
• 22:36
  Audrey McCracken: Let me just talk to you a minute about the book of Hebrews.
• 22:41
  Audrey McCracken: The book of Hebrews was written for the Jewish people, the Hebrews, right, and it was an encouragement for those who were of the covenant, who had become Christian, who were now being tested.
• 23:01
  Audrey McCracken: You know, they grew up with the promises, they grew up offering the sacrifices, they grew up in the synagogues and the temple and the promises, the covenant promises, were theirs.
• 23:13
  Audrey McCracken: And now they believe in Christ and they have given up their old life, their old Jewish traditions.
• 23:23
  Audrey McCracken: They've come into this new covenant in Christ.
• 23:26
  Audrey McCracken: But they were being persecuted and there was a promise of Christ's return.
• 23:31
  Audrey McCracken: But they were getting weary, waiting because it didn't seem like he was returning.
• 23:36
  Audrey McCracken: And so the writer of Hebrews was encouraging them and saying these, all these things that you know, that you love the traditions that you have loved all your life, those were the foreshadowing of Christ and don't give up on him because what you've believed is true.
• 23:57
  Audrey McCracken: And so in verse, in chapter 11, we call that the faith chapter and he and the writer goes through so many men and women of God who lived well.
• 24:07
  Audrey McCracken: They weren't perfect, but they lived well by faith.
• 24:11
  Audrey McCracken: It talks about Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Rahab, and it goes on and on about all these men and women who believed when it was hard and didn't give up.
• 24:26
  Audrey McCracken: And then in chapter 12, right after the faith chapter, where he where he has this hall of fame of men and women who have believed in hard times In chapter 12, the first three Verses, this is what he says about Christ.
• 24:44
  Audrey McCracken: He says, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us all those people he just talked about in verse 11, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.
• 25:10
  Audrey McCracken: Two for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 25:21
  Audrey McCracken: So he's saying you have all these people as a witness, as an example, and if that wasn't enough, put your eyes now on Jesus, because he is the perfecter of our faith.
• 25:38
  Audrey McCracken: He is the author and the perfecter of our faith and he is our greatest example.
• 25:43
  Audrey McCracken: It says that, for the joy set before him, he despised the shame of that cross, he endured to the end, until it was over, and then he sat down at the right hand of the Father.
• 26:00
  Audrey McCracken: See, jesus had a goal.
• 26:03
  Audrey McCracken: He suffered, he endured hard things, but he didn't do it without a purpose.
• 26:10
  Audrey McCracken: He did it for the joy set before him.
• 26:14
  Audrey McCracken: And what was that joy?
• 26:16
  Audrey McCracken: Well, it was to please the Father, and it was for us.
• 26:21
  Audrey McCracken: He was the firstborn among many brethren and he did it for us.
• 26:28
  Audrey McCracken: We are the joy set before him.
• 26:30
  Audrey McCracken: He loves us.
• 26:33
  Audrey McCracken: We motivated him, we helped him endure because of the love he had for us.
• 26:39
  Audrey McCracken: He endured the cross and despised the shame.
• 26:42
  Audrey McCracken: He had a goal, it had a purpose.
• 26:45
  Audrey McCracken: The pain had a purpose, and so that is faith.
• 26:50
  Audrey McCracken: That's how we need to operate now.
• 26:53
  Audrey McCracken: That's how he wants us to operate now.
• 26:55
  Audrey McCracken: He wants us to see beyond the cross that we're bearing right now, beyond the pain that we're enduring right now, beyond the everyday frustrations that wear us out every day.
• 27:07
  Audrey McCracken: Right, he wants us to see beyond it.
• 27:09
  Audrey McCracken: He wants us to have a vision, a purpose of what could be, of what should be, of what will be, to have our eyes fixed on that and on him and to be going through it so that when we're through with it, when we get through it, we can sit down with him and enjoy him.
• 27:28
  Audrey McCracken: You know we're not.
• 27:30
  Audrey McCracken: We might be going through hard things, but not without a purpose.
• 27:34
  Audrey McCracken: Right, we're not going to be driven by fear.
• 27:38
  Audrey McCracken: We're going to be led by faith.
• 27:40
  Audrey McCracken: Fear drives.
• 27:42
  Audrey McCracken: It drives us.
• 27:44
  Audrey McCracken: It brings torment, but faith brings hope and peace, and I'm learning this.
• 27:52
  Audrey McCracken: Guys, I just want to say that I don't have the market cornered on this.
• 27:56
  Audrey McCracken: I am walking right here with you in this.
• 27:59
  Audrey McCracken: I'm trying every day you know it's one thing to know something as another thing to walk it out, and every day, by grace, I'm trying to walk it out and be real with the Lord and with myself and with you.
• 28:10
  Audrey McCracken: And you know we're growing.
• 28:13
  Audrey McCracken: We're growing and there's enough grace to grow.
• 28:16
  Audrey McCracken: It gives us enough grace to grow and I just want to encourage you in that today and I want to pray for you.
• 28:23
  Audrey McCracken: Father, thank you for my sisters.
• 28:25
  Audrey McCracken: I thank you, lord, that I'm not alone.
• 28:27
  Audrey McCracken: I thank you that we're in this together, that we are the body of Christ, and that you have given us so many examples of faith in the word and outside the word, lord, in real everyday life today, and in so many people, lord, that have walked before us and showed us the way.
• 28:43
  Audrey McCracken: But, lord, none like Jesus, none like Christ, who endured the cross and despised the shame for the joy that was set before him.
• 28:51
  Audrey McCracken: God, let us find that joy.
• 28:53
  Audrey McCracken: Let us find the joy in serving you, father, let us despise the shame.
• 28:59
  Audrey McCracken: And, lord, let faith be our guide and not fear.
• 29:03
  Audrey McCracken: And I ask you this for myself and for those who are listening and praying with me today, and we thank you for your grace, lord, that it's always more than enough.
• 29:13
  Audrey McCracken: In Jesus' name Amen.