U - UPENDED BY GRACE

The fourth thing a S-E-C-U-R-E woman is begins with the letter U. A secure woman is UPENDED BY GRACE.

Raise your hand if you've ever been UPENDED.

I'm almost 65 years old and I can tell you, it's been a LONG time since I literally stood on my head. But I can also tell you, there have been MANY times that I have felt like my life was turned upside down. How about you?

About a year ago I experienced the end of what had been a very dear friendship. Talk about upended! I truly felt like the whole little world of my daily existence had been turned upside down. Upside down and shaken up! It was an emotionally traumatic time. I was devastated. I doubt, at the time, I would have thought GRACE had anything to do with it. From today's perspective I can see that GRACE had everything to do with it.

It began like most rifts in women's friendships. A misunderstanding. Hurt feelings. Nothing that couldn't be talked out and totally forgiven.

Forgiveness.

Reconciliation.

Restoration.

Those were the natural steps to resolution of conflict between two believers. I was ready to move down them. Forgiving was not a problem. Reconciliation was not a problem as far as restoring harmony between the two of us was concerned. But restoration - in the respect that we would return to the level of friendship we once had was not to be.

It was not to be because God chose to UPEND me by His GRACE. On the heels of my friendship rift God began to quickly unfold a pruning work He needed to do in my life. This precious friend was an encourager to me. She poured a lot of affirmation into my life. Her words were spoken and intended as blessing. But I was allowing them to feed my pride without even realizing it. Pride goes hand in hand with insecurity, girls. Remember what we said the other day ... pride FEEDS our insecurities. Out of my insecurity, I began to need the acceptance this friend brought into my life. I desired to please her so that she would "brag" on me. God showed me that He loves to send people into our lives to encourage us but that when we begin to depend on a person for affirmation we are assigning to them a role only HE was meant to fill.

I had allowed my relationship to become idolatrous. Never intentionally. I allocated huge blocks of personal time to it. Time God would have had me invest other ways. I had begun assimilating my friend's opinions about things - and people - and incorporating them into my own opinions. She never required that of me. And I didn't even realize I was doing it until the Holy Spirit began to shine His spotlight on that area of darkness. Sin can be SO deceptive, girlfriends. It can sneak in so innocently. It can cloak itself in scripture. I thought she and I were "iron sharpening iron," sisters in Christ "spurring one another on to good works." Sin is very subtle and we are not always alert to its deceptions. But, you see girls, any time we depend on someone to meet a need in our lives instead of depending on God, it's sin. It doesn't matter if it's a friend - your mother - your husband - your child - or who it is ... if you depend on a person instead of God, it's sin.

God asked me to lay my friendship on His altar as a sacrifice to Him. Was it easy? NO! Do I still love my friend? Yes. Do I still count her a valuable sister in Christ? Yes. Do I miss having her in my life? Yes.

Would I sacrifice the friendship again? YES! God has taught me immeasurable truths in the walking out of this process. Any time He asks a sacrifice from us, He pours out blessings upon our obedience that far outweigh the cost of our sacrifice. He has given me gain from loss. He has given me confidence from insecurity. He has taught me to depend on only Him. That's grace, my friends. My life was UPENDED BY GRACE and I praise Him for it.

What Beth Moore said at the So Long, Insecurity simulcast was:

Grace turns everything upside down.

Grace makes:

• the broken, whole
• the leper, clean
• the weak, strong
• the poor, rich

Are you willing for your life to be UPENDED BY GRACE? A secure woman is!

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9