Grace Received

READY

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.” -- Jeremiah 31:3

SET

Dave Dravecky is a former professional baseball player. He played Major League Baseball as a pitcher for the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants.

Dravecky’s career was ended when his pitching arm and his shoulder had to be amputated following several surgeries to remove cancerous tumors. After his playing days, he began a new career as an author and a public speaker but inside things were very dark for him at that time. He has publicly said: “I felt so much pressure to be an example for others. I entered into an identity crisis and clinical depression. Then, I became a very angry man because I did not know how to deal with these emotions that I had pushed and pushed and pushed down. It was horrible.”

It was at that time that God began to show Dave something that only God could offer to him: grace. Dave has said, “As a result of some really good friends who loved me in spite of my behavior God began to heal me. It’s hard even to admit those things but there’s been great healing in being able to expose the lies of my life, the hiddenness of my life because in that freedom I’ve come face to face with true grace, that love that comes even on my worst day.”

Through a very traumatic and upsetting time in his life, Dravecky came to trust again in God and His grace. Do you trust that God gives grace to His children daily?

GO

• Have you had something seriously upsetting happen to you in your life? If so, recall what range of emotions you went through in the weeks and months that followed it. If you haven’t yet gone through such an experience, think for a moment about how you think a life-changing, career-ending episode would affect you.
• When would you bring the matter before God in prayer for His help, comfort, and strength? Before or after taking it to your family or friends?

WORKOUT

1 Peter 5:7; Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 4:16; Micah 7:7

OVERTIME

“Loving God, my heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder from Your Word that I can bring anything at all to You in prayer and that I can cast my cares upon You when life deals me serious blows. As I contemplate my future, help me to always remember and believe Your trustworthy promises that You will never let me be shaken beyond that which I can bear. For those worst of days, I thank You for grace received and for grace promised. Amen."