How did she find herself in the Lord? She describes it from Hebrews 11:6 where it says the Lord rewards those who earnestly seek him.” She says, “I did not always earnestly seek the Lord.” So you say, she discovered church.
If you know anything about the Mississippi delta and the little farming communities living off the fertile soil there, you know that every town is rich with churches and you know that it is rich with people who go to church. Everyone goes to Church in Mississippi. But here is what you may not know, going to church and trying to do lots of things for God may make you look good outwardly but it will do nothing to slake the dry thirsty soil inwardly. Here is how Patsy says it in her own words.
Although others may not have been able to see through the mask I wore. I had no faith to begin my journey to God—just a church habit that had not satisfied my inner longing—and I was so miserable that I began saying in my spirit “There has to be something more to it than what I have seen and experienced.”
So I’m wondering if you find yourself in the same place as Patsy. Working hard trying to do good, trying to please whatever benevolent being might be out there and finding it empty and meaningless. Do find your labor all pain and struggle with little or no reward? Then I would invite you to find what Patsy found to be true. She found that she didn’t have to labor that God had done it all already through his son, Jesus Christ.
Let me explain: Take forgiveness. We all know we are supposed to forgive, even people who treat us poorly. But when someone takes something from you when already you have very little. When you already have very little love and appreciation from those who are supposed to give you love and appreciation, and instead they are mean spirited and ugly toward you, then forgiveness is a complete impossibility. It doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t feel right. Instead it feels like a terrible painful labor with no fruit, no reward.
Here is what the scripture says in response to our inability to labor for the right thing.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For those of us who grew up on a farm or have been around farm work like Patsy you know what happens when you put your hand to a shovel or a hoe. When you put yourself to the task of hard labor what comes out? Sweat and blood. It gives us a measure with which to test the intensity of Jesus labor, what came out? Sweat and blood upon the cross for you. He poured out his life in the ultimate labor for you so that you could rest. No more struggle to please God, just simply resting in his struggle for you. No more trying to do for God, simply realizing and receiving what he has done for you.
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