The Increase All-Star DevotionalSample

DAVE DRAVECKY

WHAT’S WORSE THAN LOSING AN ARM?

You probably already know my story. It’s a story of pitching, a battle with cancer, and the eventual amputation of my left arm. But many people don’t know the story of my life after that.

I could no longer throw a ball from a mound, so I began a career as an author and public speaker. But as I stood on the platform and spoke to thousands of people, there was something dark inside of me that was beginning to demand light. As I wrote book after book, I felt like some unknown internal pain was writing me.

As a result of the cancer battle and the loss of my arm, I started to recognize that I had pushed what seemed like a million emotions down into the middle of my heart. And in due time, these emotions were crying for release.

God would heal me, but not in an instantaneous manner. It took something completely different to heal me.

Have you ever noticed that when true grace is offered, there are always people who want to stand around and argue about lesser rules and regulations? That’s exactly what happened in Mark 2. It happened in my life too. My true friends offered me grace, while other people offered me a greater set of rules to get healed.

My real friends carried me into the healing arms of Christ and let Him do the healing.

Up until this point, I had been one of the guys carrying other people. I even made strategies and plans for others to cut the hole in the roof. But now I was on the mat myself, unable to move, or to even plan my own movement. Just getting out of bed each day was a screaming success!

And there were my friends - willing to carry me without judgment or critique, into the presence of Jesus. And in His presence, I experienced the deepest and truest healing imaginable. I experienced grace.

True grace.

My life has become a testimony to the healing power of true grace. And the very same grace I received is also the grace I try to extend to others. After all, they need healing just as much as I did (and by the way, we all need healing, because we’re all broken, whether we choose to display it to other Christians or not).

I share my entire story of cancer, dark moments, and the grace that never left me for a single second of any day. Please join me at theincrease.com to hear it.