A Life Set Free: Embracing God's Grace and Love

Have You Ever Felt God Prompting You?

I have. A few heartbeats ago, while sitting under a mosquito net in China, I felt God leading me to write. So, I did—non-stop—from morning to night. Two years later, I gathered all my scribbly notes onto my iPad at a guest house in Haifa, Israel. It took several years for God to prepare my heart to share this story. It is a story of a lonely, abandoned little girl and God's amazing compassion, grace, mercy, and love.

Once upon a time, fairly long ago, a little girl grew up feeling very lonely, abandoned, rejected, and unloved. Years spent living in other people’s homes convinced her she was an outsider—not belonging—so alone.

When she was a 21-year-old university student, she felt disillusioned with life. It felt like there was a black, empty, hollow space growing inside her chest. The emptiness, darkness, and hopelessness overwhelmed her. She felt the darkness was choking out all that was good in her life. She decided she had nothing to live for. It seemed that suicide was better than living, so she stood by a window on the 18th floor of an apartment building and considered jumping. How do I know this? Because this is my story, and I lived it.

While looking out that window, deciding what to do, I had a vision. I don’t know what else to call it. It had been a cloudless day, but suddenly, thick clouds seemed to appear just outside the window—obscuring everything. I knew they weren’t really there, yet I could see them. Through the clouds, I saw a throne. I couldn’t see His face, but I knew the One seated on that throne was Jesus. I sensed He was crying for me because of the pain, sadness, and brokenness in my life. He spoke—not with words I could hear—but with words that resonated inside me: “Rena, this is not My plan for your life. If you turn your life over to Me, I will bring more beauty out of your life than you could possibly imagine at this moment.”

Then, incredibly—before I had time to think—in a split second, I saw my entire life—kind of like watching a high-speed video. It was too fast to see details, but I had the impression it was an incredibly beautiful life. Wisely, I chose to live. I began searching for God—everywhere. He seemed to be hiding. Thankfully, there was an invitation to a prayer meeting at a church, and I found Him!

He wasn't lost... I had been. I was broken-hearted that I had grieved Him by my life choices. I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. Because of His mercy, I was forgiven. He saw a sad, lonely girl, and in His great love and compassion, He pulled me out of darkness into His amazing light. I was adopted into His beautiful, forever family. A child of God. No longer alone. Such amazing love.

If I had died that day, I would have missed out on so much that God wanted to do in my life and throughout eternity. It sounds crazy, but I am thankful. God used the scenes of my life to give me a greater heart of compassion for others. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death. I found Him—yet—I am still seeking Him.

This story is the heartbeat behind everything I do today. It’s the reason I share, the reason I write, and the reason I believe that no matter where you've been, your past does not define your future. You are cherished, you are seen, and you can truly be free.

A Life Set Free is a story of miracles and God’s amazing grace. It is also a tale of incredible adventures I never dreamed I would live—praying with a voodoo queen in Haiti, staying at an orphanage in the jungle in Uganda, sharing the love of God in Mexico City as an earthquake shook the ground under my feet, leading a dying woman to Jesus in Belize—so many incredible stories. Did you know your story is being recorded in Heaven? It's the story of your life. I wonder if you will see it one day in a high-speed video. God loves you more than you can imagine. I pray He will strengthen you with power in your spirit, in your inner man, that Jesus will fill your heart and mind, and you will be transformed into His beautiful image.

A Life Set Free is available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/4cWVyfG.

I am writing this years after the writing above. In Leviticus 16:2 the LORD says, “…for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.” I sometimes wonder if I saw the mercy seat—the place He showed me His amazing love, had mercy on me, forgave my sins, and made me His for time and eternity—part of His forever family. Thank You, God, for Your amazing love sounds inadequate.

Blessings, Beloved of God.