My Place of Grace

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7 Waiting on the Lord Pondering His word Delighting in His way Praying through the day Humbled by what He has to say. Resting in His hands He eases life's demands Comforting my pain Peace and joy exclaimed Shining sunbeams through the rain. Showered by His grace Puts a smile on my face Praise to Him I sing My heart to Him I bring Giving to Him thanks in everything. I have a tendency to lose perspective of what is important in my life, getting caught up in doing things, an endless string of activity fills my days. All the "things I do" seem important, worthwhile and more often than not, provide a need for someone. My goal is to serve God, this is why I live. But some times in the serving, I get carried away. I find myself stressed out, my eyes lose focus on why I'm doing what I'm doing, and I...

One week ago today I had surgery on my shoulder. The operation went well. I had never had surgery before, so I have to admit I was a bit nervous. I was knocked out by the anesthesia so quickly I didn't know or feel a thing! Piece of cake! This next 6 week phase, after the surgery is the challenging part. My whole life changed in the moment that I was fixed by the surgeon. I woke up with this huge sling holding my arm still(my right arm, and I'm right handed)I was given strict instructions on what I can and cannot do, and they scheduled me for a regimen of physical therapy to begin the very next day. For the past week, I haven't written much, but have been doing a lot of thinking about what God is trying to show me through this experience. This morning something hit me. A parallel between surgery and salvation! Here's how it goes. My shoulder was broken,hurt, and in need of surgery in order to save and restore it back to use. We are much like my shoulder. Before we met w...

Psalm 139 is of my very favorite Chapters in God's Word. This Psalm tells us some very important things about God's character and how He feels about each one of His children. In verses 1-4 tells us God knows us, intimately everything from the inside out. Verses 5-12 tells of Gods protection over us, He hems us in, goes behind and before us, He is with us always, shining His light, guiding our way. Verses 13-18 shows that God made us and values us, we are His creation made in His image formed by His hand and He not only made us, He planned out our whole lives for us before we were even born. We know He values us because His thoughts of us outnumber the grains of sand on every beach everywhere on this earth...imagine how many thoughts that is. Consider that...Valuable things are always given great thought and consideration. Verses 19-22 tell us that God who loves us so much deserves recognition and first place in our lives. He is our all in All and we shall stand up for Him at a...

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34 We all face difficult relationships, even the best of relationships can be strained. God calls us to love, but let's face it, that can be very challenging especially when we don't agree with someone. So how do we love one another when we are feeling angry, hurt, betrayed, or mistreated? Our natural reaction is to withdraw, lash out, get even, and prove ourselves right at all cost. So how do we love well? Let's look at this command, God tell us to love one another, but the next few words give us the reason/ formula for succeeding in it. When we understand our fallen human nature, we know it is impossible to love all people. When we add God to the equation the impossible becomes possible. "As I have loved you" Have you ever thought about that statement? How many times have we disappointed, hurt, betrayed, lied, ignored, and sinned against God? Yet ...

Have storms and discouragement been plaguing your life? Your thoughts? I think we can all relate to the apostle Paul and the story of the thorn in his side, given to keep him humble and leaning on God's strength. (2 Corinthians 12: 1-10) We can also relate to the life of David, who loved God so much but found himself in all kinds of trouble and trials before God lifted Him up to his prosperous position. (1 &2 Samuel and Psalms) And Elijah who believed God to win a battle but then turned around and doubted Him when he heard that Jezebel wanted to have him killed .(1 Kings 19) It seems in some things we can easily trust God will handle the storms in our lives and in others, we get in our heads that this next storm must be too big and we withdraw from Him. I can almost hear God asking as He did Elijah" What are you doing here?"(after he ran for His life, from fear and discouragement.) That's the question we need to ask ourselves ..."What are we doing here?...

"So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." John 8:36 The other day I was visiting and spending time in our local women's prison. Once a week, a fellow volunteer and I go and hold a Bible study with the ladies. We pray and then hand out song books. We always like to sing. Every week we ask the ladies to pick a song, and every week they pick a Song called "Jesus Signed My Pardon", I had never heard the song before I started going to the prison but the words are so meaningful and it has become the theme song of this group. I thought I'd like to share the word's with you: Jesus Signed My Pardon I was in sin's prison, oh, so dark and cold Like a lost sheep wandering from God's eternal fold; Then the door swung open, and He spoke to me "I have signed your pardon, now you may go free." Chorus: Jesus signed my pardon, this I surely know Took my place at Calvary, now I won't have to go; All my life I'll give to Him - He gave H...

Walking hand in hand with God is my hearts cry. I want to be so completely immersed in Him. I want to feel his presence next to me, as I do walking with a friend. I want His guidance and direction in all things. I want to hear everything He has to say to me, learn all his ways, grow to become just like Him in character. With every task I do, hurdle I leap, trial I go through, and trail I blaze, I want to do it in a way that points to Him. Psalm 119:27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Christian. It's not just a statement. Being a Christian is a lifestyle, it means being set apart and setting Jesus Christ apart as Lord and savior over my life. It means I follow Christ, walking in His footsteps. (I have this image in my mind of child walking behind a parent, trying to step in each footprint their parent has made.) Being a Christian is an active living daily choice I make to ...

See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. -Isaiah 48:10 We go through refining seasons in our lives. Times when God really puts us through the fire to rid us of impurities that take away from our being the person that He has purposed us to be. We need to go through these times as painful as they may be, because it's in these times when we are tested and proved. I write this because I am currently being put through the fire, looking at my situation in this way brings me hope and assurance that God has something important for me to learn through it. He is also using my testing as a means to witness to others as a source of encouragement and proof of His great power and grace when we choose to stand in our faith in Him. Don't get me wrong, though God gives me His grace to get through this time of fire and testing it HURTS! There is pain involved in this process, but as I continue to look to God, He is faithfully revealing His p...

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 It is very easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with all life throws at us, but the battle in our own minds is probably the most brutal of all battles many of us may ever face. It's fierce and merciless at times. How we think about our circumstances can be far more damaging than the circumstance itself. When we go into this battle armed with the God's truth, understanding God has a purpose already planned out for us to achieve the goal of bringing His kingdom full circle, our battle becomes an honor to fight. Knowing that our response to each circumstance we face can be a testimony to God's Power and every choice we make in it will either bring God glory or defame Him really shines new light on the battle. With the eternal mind set, it is no lon...

'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.' Jeremiah 33:3 Sometimes the answers we seek are only as far away as the call. God is always waiting for our call and the best part is, He is always home to pick up. In this age of technology, it is so automatic for us to pick up our cell phones or shoot e-mails and text messages to our friends. We search for answers to our problems and look for direction from friends,counselors, books, television, and Google; but how often do we call on God? How often do we use His resources? God is the source of all life, who better to run to first? He knows ALL the answers we seek before we even ask. He watches our futile efforts at trying to solve our life's problems on our own, and He waits. God waits for us to pick up that direct connect and contact Him. So what are we waiting for? The answers we are looking for are wrapped up in Him. The only way to unwrap them is to call and get to know Hi...

I am praising God for His grace and mercy, wonderful friends, and the gift of children. This has been one eventful week so far...Steven's life was saved, Chris enrolled in college and as of April 10th will be off probation FOR GOOD! He also recently got a job working for the very same drug and alcohol rehab the he, himself went through, Jon applied for college, and Zachary brought home 2 excellent grades on tests! In our time of crisis all three boys rallied with us for their brother, and I am very proud to be their mother. Though Jon is very angry.(and rightly so) He also is the first one to jump in and help. I am blessed beyond measure with my boys. I love and appreciate them and want them to know it! Our worth is not measured by material successes or possessions but rather by the successes of the heart and those characters of God possessed with in it. It is so easy to be sucked into focusing our problems, but where does that lead? Unfortunately only to more problems. When we fo...

This week my house was thrown into turmoil. It is in complete and utter chaos. Everywhere I look there is a mess to be gone through and cleaned up. It's to the point where I just look around and feel so overtaken at the magnitude of it all. It seems too overwhelming to conquer, so I just push it off. The only problem with this is that the mess isn't going anywhere, it's actually growing bigger and bigger. I think that's what happens with our heart sometimes too. The trials of life make these impressions in our hearts, and if we're not careful and diligent in cleaning them up(taking them to God with bucket and scrub brush in hand) then they accumulate and grow to seemingly unmanageable proportions. Today I was reading my Bible and came across this passage in the book of Haggai, chapters 1&2. The word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai concerning the condition of Gods house. God asked why the people of Israel were neglecting the disrepair of His house. He chas...

I've been working on a publishing a book of poetry for the past several months. I am feeling this stirring of excitement as it nears it's completion. To be able to hold the compilation of my thoughts all together in my hands is to me, like scoring the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl or the game winning home run in the World Series. I started writing this collection of poetry a few years ago, during a difficult time in my life. In many ways it is my journey with God through that time. Thus I entitled it "Hand in Hand with God" He has been my "coach" so to speak, in this experience, and I give Him all the credit for training me to score! I wanted to share a little bit about this journey in my life, because I think so many times God uses difficult circumstances to reveal the direction and purpose He has for our lives. He reveals diamonds in the hard, dirty walls of our caves, and shines light and perspective in dark places of our lives. God brings beauty fr...