God truly does love us. Every single one of us. With all our baggage of hurt or shame…with all our bondage of sin habits—whether they are seen or unseen by others.

The last two days I have been blessed and challenged to spend time again (my 20th–22nd visit since 2003) with different groups–two Therapeutic Groups and one Family Group–at Mathom House, the Rehabilitation Center for Adolescent Sexual Offenders in Bucks County, PA.

Having been so horrendously abused myself, it is only by the power and passion of the love of Jesus Christ—who died for all sin committed by all people—that I am able to enter into to the lives of these perpetrators of ugly sexual sins and into the lives of their families and still be absolutely CONVINCED that our God is a God of Transformation! Our God is the Lord of Salvation, Forgiveness, Eternal Life…and RENEWED MINDS and LIVES right here and now! 

BUT! We must do things God’s WAY which is the very BEST way for all of us. Period.

This is what the LORD says—

your Redemeer, the Holy One of Israel,

“I am the LORD your God,

who teaches you what is best for you,

who directs you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to my commands,

your peace would have been like a river,

your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

Isaiah 48:17-18

Our LORD loves us. He alone truly knows what is best for us—what will bring peace and righteousness to our lives…and to the lives of all those with whom we interact. It is time for all of us to pay attention!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Oh, I do want this to be true of me. I want God to grab such a hold on me that everything I say, do and think would be pleasing in His sight. This is my sincere prayer from my heart.

But, sadly and frustratingly, not every word…not every action…not every thought of mine is always pleasing to my LORD. Not from today and not from yesterday. And I’m pretty sure that unless I’m either in a coma or already in Heaven with Jesus tomorrow, that not every word, action and thought of mine in the coming days will be perfectly pleasing to my LORD either.

Yet! We still need to desire that every word, action and thought we have would please our LORD.

And then, we need to accept the full grace that comes to us through salvation and receive the gift of forgiveness and renewal that Jesus alone offers—without ever forgetting the full truth that these gifts come to us at the high cost of Jesus sacrificing His life for ours.

This is grace and truth. Receiving both of these from Jesus will keep us in that place of balance where we truly are able to seek and to pray with sincere hearts:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Twice this past weekend I saw what I consider very optimistic signs which read: Temporarily Out of Order.

I like that. The things that carried this sign were not to be discarded, nor were they to be considered as permanently out of order. There was hope for them yet! They were only Temporarily Out of Order.

And there’s hope for me too. And for all of us who trust our eternal lives over to the King of Heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ! We will walk through this life where things and our bodies and relationships break down and suffer. But in Jesus, we are only temporarily out of order! We can hold onto the glorious promise that all things will yet be made new—for all eternity…and that the old order of things that are temporarily out of order will pass away!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 21:1-4

Thanks be to our Loving Lord, our Almighty God, who makes all things new! Our Lord redeems and transforms all that was once Temporarily Out of Order…all the brokenness of sin and shame and suffering and death from the old order of things will pass away as He proclaims,

“I am making everything new!”

Revelation 21:5

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

“I am the vine; you are the branches.

If a man remains in me and I in him,

he will bear much fruit;

apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5

Jesus is so beautifully, so powerfully direct with us. He tells it like it is. Jesus is our source of life and power and value and fruitfulness. Period.

A branch apart from the vine, apart from its life giving source and flow of nutrients and water, withers and dies. It offers nothing. It can bear nothing. It can do nothing.

Yet in Jesus, in our true and eternal life source, we have been given life and power and value and fruitfulness. In Jesus we are fed by our Lord Creator to bear the fruit that will feed the world—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. In Jesus, our lives will draw others to know Jesus as the source and redeemer of their lives too!

But to bear this true and eternal fruit we must stay deeply attached to Jesus. Because apart from Him, apart from the source of our life, we can do nothing! We do not even breathe on our own. Each breath is a breath given as a gift from our Lord. How much more must we remain in Him in order that we may offer His life giving fruit to others!

Complete and utter, undeniable dependence on Jesus is our greatest strength!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Happy 7^th Anniversary, Transformed By Grace!!

O  LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth!!

Psalm 8:1

Wow! I cannot even begin to express my thanks and my awe for what our LORD has done in my own life and with and through the ministry of Transformed by Grace—and the amazing Ministry Team of Board Members, Counselors, Conference Speakers and Partners in Grace—of Transformed by Grace in these past seven years!  

I am simultaneously on my face in utter humility before our Sovereign God who has chosen to use us as His Ambassadors and I am dancing with joy with my Jesus—the Intimate Lord and Lover of all people!

Back in 2003—we began as a Ministry Team that included 7 hard working Board Members (Lydia Austin, Francisco Batres, Keith Brown, DeAnne Harland, Tim Mack, Chris McCloskey and Karen Secrest—with Karen also acting as a volunteer Treasurer of the Ministry Funds), and 1 Staff member–-that would be me, Sylane Mack-as Conference Speaker and Counselor. 

Today we have grown to a Ministry Team which includes: 8 Board Members (Adding Andy Chirico and Dave Ridder to our original Board team, with Chris M. now in the role of advisor)—all still hard working!

We now have a Ministry Staff of: 2 Administrative Assistants-Cathy Buser, our Book-keeper and DeAnne Harland, our primary Administrator (and my personal right arm!); and for a far too short period of time, we had Carol Mehl acting as Director of Ministry Advancement before she moved to Colorado; 3 Conference Speakers—Lydia Austin, Rachel Mack and I; 6 Counselors–-Patty Arvanites, Mindy Benjamin, Linda Donohue, Allison Taite, Teresa Warren and I—with 1 of our wonderful and wise counselors, Kristin Chace, having moved to Connecticut after counseling with TBG for 2 years.

We are so thankful and blessed to have several Partners in Grace who support us faithfully in Prayer and a few others who support us with their Financial Gifts.

Over these 7 years God has privileged and prepared us to minister to many men, women and youth in both the Counseling Ministry and through our Conference Speaking Ministry—which has taken us to several different venues in our local region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and nationally to Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee and Washington (soon we’ll be adding Georgia and Missouri to the list!)…and internationally to Bermuda, England and Poland (hoping to add events in Scotland later this year!). 

And now with CONVINCED! published—God’s transforming love story written in my life—many people with whom we may never minister face to face have the opportunity to hear (read) of the transforming, unfailing love our Majestic LORD!

It is a joy for me to be part of the Beautiful Body of Christ as a member of the Transformed by Grace Ministry Team! It is a joy to work with these amazingly humble and powerful Brothers and Sisters in Christ as God leads us to reach out to those in the Body…to those who are not-yet-believers…and to those who are in prisons. We are called to reach out to all of people with the same message of hope: The love of our Lord Jesus Christ, His living and active Word and His ever-present, all-powerful Holy Spirit are able to save and transform every life—no matter what someone may have experienced or how far from God he or she may feel! Jesus has conquered sin and shame and death for all time! Jesus brings forgiveness and renewal and life! Amen and Amen!

 O  LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth!!

Psalm 8:1

 Thank You, Jesus! Happy 7^th Anniversary, Transformed By Grace!!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

This week I have been in Minnesota with staff and students at Bethel University and Seminary…and a few from Northwestern too.  So many of the people I met are truly seeking and choosing to live their lives as Ambassadors of Christ whether they are preparing for jobs in the secular world or for jobs within some kind of direct Christian ministry. 

The Body of Christ is beautiful and filled with hope and power when we let our God be God…when we allow His Spirit and His Word to be fully alive and fully released in our lives. We as God’s children always need to grow in knowing Jesus better and all that He has for us in beauty, in hope and in power.

My prayer for all of us who have been saved by our Lord Jesus Christ is that we will also be fully transformed by Him so that we may know Him better, and reveal His love, His hope, His power to all those around us—to all who still need to know Jesus.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,

may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, 

so that you may know him better.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened

in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,

the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:17-19

And this power is not summoned up from ourselves—it is the very power of the One True God!

That power is like the working of his mighty strength,

which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,

and every title that can be given,

not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

And God placed all things under his feet

and appointed him to be head over eveything for the church, which is his body,

the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. 

That is the unfailing, unlimited power we have been given—the very power of the living, sovereign Jesus Christ! May we know Him better…so that we will make Him known to those who are still lost!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

A few days ago I was on an airplane which was approximately the length of a school bus—and maybe even a little narrower. Personal space had no more meaning than what I imagine the inside of a sardine can would feel like. And, yep, you may have guessed this was coming: I was surrounded by a family of four—two of them being under the age of four. Their need to hop up and down, move constantly and change seats continually, parents included, was phenomenal. (And I was the one who had the triple shot of espresso in my non-fat cappuccino before boarding!)

Within the first 30 minutes at cruising altitude my cup got knocked over, my laptop was firmly gripped by the little boy’s fingers (pressing several keys at once while I was trying to write) in an effort to keep himself from falling onto my lap as he got trapped in his iPod cord! And the background noise of pages being ripped from the airline magazine during the last half of the trip was far better than the screaming, crying, slapping demands of the youngest child during the first half of the trip.

Had I mentioned that I was hoping to have a peaceful, reflective time of prayer and writing while on the plane in order to prepare for my ministry trip to Bethel University and Seminary in Minnesota? I hope you’re laughing. I had to!

I was actually grinning. And shaking my head a little. But not at the hyper-active family. I was shaking my head at me and laughing at me…because of the GOD TRUTH that I know is this: Life and life’s circumstances—and interactions with others—are just not all about me. And certainly not about my plans.

Be wise in the way that you act towards outsiders;

make the most of every opportunity.

Let your conversation be always full of grace,

seasoned with salt, so you may know how to answer everyone.

Colossians 4:5-6

God is good…and God wants His goodness—His wisdom and grace—to flow freely and continually through us who are His children. Even when our plans are changed. Even when our peace is disturbed. The members of this precious, albeit hyper-active family, were still sadly “outsiders” to knowing Jesus as Savior (as evidenced by the yarmulkas and hair locks worn by father and son).

And so God called me first to laugh at myself and laugh at my plans (and get over myself!)…and then to offer smiles and kindness and patience and grace as I interacted and chatted with them on the flight—and in the very short time we had been given to share a portion of our lives. 

May God use everything for His glory—to bring all people to His love and salvation. Because all of us, who now know Jesus as our Savior, were once outsiders too.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

There is no fear in courageous people…There is no fear in mentally healthy people…There is no fear in people who have an easy life…There is no fear in anybody else as much as there is in me…No! No! No!

 There is no fear in LOVE.

But perfect love drives out fear,

because fear has to do with punishment.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

GOD IS LOVE.

 1 John 4:8, 16

There is no fear in love.

Perfect love drives out fear.

Fear is concerned about punishment.

I’m not perfected in God’s love if I fear.

God is love.

Five powerful, clear statements in just two Scripture verses in the same chapter of God’s Word. Five powerful, clear statements that as a believer in Jesus—with the belief that God speaks His truth, His living and active Word to me through the Bible—I have to contend with on a personal basis.

Do I truly believe that no matter what has happened in my life, may be happening right now or is yet to happen that I do not have to fear? At all?

Do I believe that God, who is love, truly loves me and is truly in control of all of my circumstances? And since God is in control, I don’t have to fear even when I am not in control? Do I really believe this?

And what about my own sins? Do I believe in God, who is love, to have full mercy on me no matter what I have done? Do I believe that God will not punish me because Jesus has taken the full punishment for my sins? Yes, there may be earthly consequences, and even embarrassing, humiliating circumstances I may experience because of the sin choices I have made. But! Do I really believe that no matter what I may experience—even if it feels like punishment (because I hate to be embarrassed or humiliated!)—that in God’s perfect love there is no room for fear?

And if I am fearing, will I face the truth that it is really because I am not letting God be God?

Human fear is often still an attempt to control the situation. We play out the scenarios that we see coming at us. We won’t trust that God sees what we cannot. And we too often forget that God loves us…that God is love…and that God’s perfect love will drive out our fears. If we will let God be God!

Our human fear may also move us to try to keep our circumstances hidden and covered. We’re afraid of people finding out that we are frail, flawed and finite. We’re afraid that they may turn their backs on us, reject, ridicule us or make our life a living hell filled with shame. I’m not saying that other frail, flawed and finite people won’t do that to us.  All of those things have been done to me at one time or another.

But! God never changed His love for me. God never changed His view of me. God calls each of us to be real and not fearful of being found out! God calls each of us to humble ourselves so that His perfect love may drive out the fear of humiliation that may unjustly and cruelly come from others.

We are to be conformed to the image of Christ. Not consumed with preserving our own image.

May God’s perfect love drive out all fear in each of us so that we may be fuller, freer vessels of our Living, Loving, Holy Lord Jesus Christ! Amen and Amen!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

There is nothing weak about love. There is nothing frail, flawed or finite about love.  

There is nothing weak about our God. There are no frailities or flaws in our all powerful Eternal God.

God cannot fail. God will not fail. Neither will God’s love.

We each must decide if we really believe this. As an individual, we each need to answer: Do I really believe that God’s love will never fail me? That God’s love really is BIG enough to heal all of my wounds? That God’s love is BIG enough to strenghten me in every way and in every circumstance I need to be strengthened? That God’s love is BIG enough to forgive me and transform me?

If our answer is, “Yes, I do believe this,” then, you and I must answer this question: What am I going to do about it?  How will I think differently, speak differently, act differently if I truly believe that God’s love will never fail?

God’s love does indeed have the final word over all of our human brokenness, failure, sin, shame  and suffering. And that word through Jesus is: Victory!

Love never fails.   I Corinthians 13:8

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Love intentionally chooses to hope even when our circumstances seem hopeless. Love intentionally perseveres through our most difficult, confusing, drudgery-filled, and painful times of life.

Why? How? Because of Who the source of our love, hope and perseverence is!

Our God is the God of hope. There is nothing that God’s love cannot transform and work out for our good according to His eternal purposes.

Our God is strong enough to walk us through the darkest, loneliest, most confusing days of our lives. God’s love is mighty enough to carry us when we’re not sure we can take another step. 

God’s love lifts our spirits with His hope and strengthens us to persevere victoriously in ways we never could have imagined.

Love always hopes, Love always perseveres. I Corinthians 13:7

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane