Broken and Mended

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday.  Join us, if you can.  You will be so encouraged by this brave community of writers who link arms every Friday to write for five minutes flat.  Today's word prompt is Glue.

Go.

I knew, when I saw the box, that my special wedding glasses were shattered.  We were getting married in 5 months, and I moved across the country from Texas to Massachusetts.  I moved all of my precious belongings, including these special Mickey and Minnie toasting glasses that the family I babysat for gave to me when I was still single, longing for a husband.  It wasn't that the glasses shattered that broke my heart, but all that they represented.  There was no way to repair them.

Those glasses were a metaphor for brokenness that was happening in my life.  A year earlier, I lost my best friend, unexpectedly.  I began to doubt and question God, and wondered why I was feeling the way I felt.  I couldn't really wrap my head around the things going on around me.  My aunt, who was more like a grandmother, had only passed away 4 months before she did, so the wound was still raw from missing her more than I ever thought I could miss anyone.

For years, I longed to see the goodness of God, but I couldn't see past my own brokenness, blinded by the shards of glass.  Broken people are like broken glass.  Sharp edges cut deep.  The saying is true that hurting people, hurt people.  I was broken, and was the center of my world.  I didn't want people too close, so I pushed old friends away and thought they were the selfish ones.  It took years for me to find new friends, and to allow the vulnerable places to show.  I could not have done that without Jesus at the center of it all.

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end.  Jesus, the One and Only.  He is the Glue that mended those broken places for me.  I am still learning to be open and vulnerable in certain places, and He's still there with the glue of His love and word to mend those broken places.

end.

I Choose Love

I'm linking up with Lisa Jo Baker and a couple hundred other bloggers again for Five Minute Friday.  The past few weeks, I've been writing my Friday post on Sunday.  I'm late, and I've been going over my five minutes.  I'm not usually a rule breaker, but things are stirring on the inside.  I would love for my blogging friends to join us at the link up every Friday.  You will be so encouraged by the community of writers there!  This week's word prompt is Choose.

It had been a long week.  Getting things ready for my sister's bridal shower with my mom on Friday was just a small thing on my task list.  I had a whole list of things on my mind about home things I needed to do as well.  While I was making my bed, the Holy Spirit spoke softly to my heart.  He said "Love wins.  Choose love."  There wasn't any turmoil going on in my life, so I didn't think of it as something I needed to correct my attitude in immediately.  

However, throughout the past week, there was a lot of political talk going on in our country about who we should serve and why our beliefs would dictate who we could serve.  I don't usually carry strong opinions on this matter, and I'm not very politically active.  You can boo me now if you'd like.  But, this thing I heard while making my bed stirred up something in me I didn't know I had.

I thought about Jesus, who is our ultimate example especially if we call ourselves followers of Christ.  Jesus, in all of the gospels, in all of the words written that were spoken by him, never ruffled the feathers of the sinners.  Instead, Jesus was really good at stirring up the religious elite (Pharisees), and sometimes even His own followers.  

Jesus wasn't out to condemn the sinner, but often shows that He had compassion for them.  I felt so convicted in this area of my life Friday.  I felt fired up, something I very rarely feel in my INFP/green/phlegmatic personality.  I'm typically laid back, easy going, so for me to get riled up, you must know that God is working on something in me.  

What if, as a church, we have it wrong when it comes to the sinner?  What if our call is not to choose to cast them aside, believing our own sin is without weight, but instead to offer them hope and show them love?  What if, as we call ourselves followers of Christ, we acted as such and acted as Jesus would if He was living in 2014?  I'm pretty sure He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He would have compassion on people today just as He did 2000+ years ago.  

I believe that our call as a body is not to stir up and condemn the sinner, but to engage with them and show them His extravagant love that we so often talk about in our music and church services.  Do we even really know what that extravagant love looks like?  Merriam-Webster defines extravagant as "exceeding the limits of reason or necessity; lacking in moderation, balance and restraint."  That is HIS love for US!  For ALL of US!  Y'all, I know how much my Jesus loves me.  Why would I not want to share that LOVE to everyone?  Why would I want to hoard His love?  

I believe that it's time we choose love and lay down our weapons of words that pierce the already wounded and fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.  Instead of choosing to shut our doors to people who don't look like us, live like us or believe like us, let's open our doors and love them relentlessly.  Let the Holy Spirit do His work, because honestly, we can't.  Choose love, friends.  I choose love.

A Thankful Heart: Giving Thanks for Grace

Participating in Five Minute Friday, again.  Click HERE to read all about how YOU can join us and write freely.  Today's word prompt is Grace.

Go.

For from his fullness we have all received, *grace upon grace.  John 1:16  

Some versions say grace in place of grace.  

I really like the Amplified version of this verse:

For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.  John 1:16

There is an abundance of grace awaiting us.  An abundance!  Grace upon grace.  We cry out to God and He pours His grace over us like a cleansing rain.  Jesus is our grace in place of grace.  He is the center of all the grace we receive and give.  

Why then, is it sometimes so hard to receive grace for our sins, our failures, our frustrations, our life?  Sometimes it seems so easy to pour grace out to others, leading them to Jesus, and then beat ourselves up for the very same thing, not believing that same grace is available to us.

This is as much a reminder to myself as it is to you, my friend.  No matter how deep our sin, His grace is deeper still.  No matter how far our failures fly, His grace flies further still.  No matter how big our issues, His grace is bigger still.  He isn't just giving us partial grace, but full grace to cover each one of us through each nook and cranny in our lives.  

Be encouraged today to lean hard into Him when you're not wanting to give yourself grace, and remember that His grace is sufficient for you.  His power is made perfect in your weakness.  Let His grace wash over you today, receive it fully, and live it fully.  When you live in the grace you have received, your life becomes alive in Him.  He loves you, fully, completely and wonderfully.

Stop.

A Thankful Heart: Such Grace

I have had a heavy heart for a couple of weeks.  The difference this time around is that I have hope.  God has been stirring up hope in my heart at the same time.  I'm not going through depression with all of life's overwhelming issues, instead, my heart just feels heavy.  

I learned of the passing of a former church friend.  She was older than I, actually, older than my parents.  I knew her, but did not know her well.  I knew her children well.  This was probably the 5th person I knew this week who went to be with the Lord.  None of them close, but still affecting me in some way or another.  At the same time, a dear friend of mine made a decision to have proactive surgery, a major one at that.  Another friend was in crisis mode and needed some sound advice.  My father-in-law has been in and out of the hospital for the past few months.  My husband had outpatient surgery today, and I had to have a second physical exam after the first one was insufficient.  On top of all this, I haven't had girl time since I don't know when.

May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.  

2 Peter 1:2

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.  Titus 2:11

The point of all this is that life feels overwhelming sometimes.  There was a point that all of this would have drowned me because I tend to take on the burdens of others.  Now, though, I have learned to God's grace has covered me time and again.  I have come to confidently believe that He is always with me, never leaves me, nor forsakes me.  

Such grace is freely given, all we have to do is believe it and receive it.  What is overwhelming you today? Why don't you let His grace wash over you, and rest in the knowledge that He is right there with you.  Lean into Him and let His arms cover whatever is worrying you.  He holds you in the palm of His hand.  The Holy Spirit gives us gentle reminders to lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus.  It's not always easy, but once we learn to do it, a tremendous weight is lifted off our shoulders.  We are not meant to carry the weights we sometimes like to pick up.  Leave them there at His feet today.

Father, I lift up all of my sweet friends to you today.  I know some who are dealing with things that seem impossible.  Thank you, God, for the promise that all things are possible with you.  I ask you to take their impossible situations and turn them around for your glory.  I pray for peace to wash over them right now in the midst of their chaos, and I thank you for the Prince of Peace. Lord, let our bad circumstances and heaviness of life be used to glorify your goodness and faithfulness.  In Jesus' Name, Amen!

A Thankful Heart: Life Through God-Lenses

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39

God doesn't see us through rose-colored glasses.  Instead, He sees us through Christ colored glasses.  He sees us justified, in Him.  He doesn't see us sin stained, but blood washed through the blood of Christ.  The cross' shadow covers our deepest and darkest sins, regrets, mistakes or whatever we think keeps us from God's loving grace.  

The truth is that we don't have to earn His love, His grace, or anything.  There is nothing we can do to merit God's mercy.  The only thing required of us is to trust Him fully, love Jesus, and leave the saving part to Him.  Nothing we do will save us.  That is the great gift we have in Him.  

The works of our hands are only in response to honor Him and show others how wonderful His grace is.  We don't live a certain lifestyle because it's what makes God happy.  Rather, we live that life, the God honoring life, because it honors the One who saved us and redeemed us.  

I think about when my kids draw me a picture.  They aren't trying to earn my love.  Instead, because of my love for them, they respond by the work of their hands.  It's the same way in our relationship with God.  When we understand fully that God loves us, and sees us as forgiven, as washed with the blood, we will serve Him more fully.  It's not because we are trying to earn our way, but in response to His love.  We want to show love to those we believe love us.

And, we know He loves us.  Oh, How He loves us.  His love goes deeper, wider, longer, higher and further than anything we could imagine, and nothing can separate us from His great love. Friend, what if we dared to believe God for that kind of life?  To see others as God sees them? Could we do it?  I believe we can.  Who in your life needs a little extra TLC?  Who is the most difficult person for you to love?  Dare to believe that God can work through you to love them and see them as He does.

Father, how we love you.  We honor you!  We choose to believe you and take you at your word.  We know you have loved us, first.  You love us with an everlasting love.  You have removed our sin as far as east is from the west.  Thank you for your mercy and loving-kindness.  Thank you for loving us past our transgressions and through Christ.  We know nothing can separate us from your love.  Help us to show that love to everyone we come across.  Give us merciful hearts, kind words, and remind us of your love for us so we can see others through Christ-colored glasses like you do.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

A Thankful Heart: Not Counting The Days Anymore

I decided to change my daily posts for this thankful heart blog and, instead, post as God leads me.  I believe that is the direction He is leading me.  I have been focusing on blessing others in my thankfulness journey as well as blogging about thankfulness.  I just came to realize that I am not able to get on the computer as much as I thought I did, and there are bigger things God needs me to deal with in real life right now.  I am not quitting, just changing the frequency of these posts.

So, I am not counting the days anymore.  Not on this blog, and not in real life.  I am not counting down to the next school break, the next vacation, the next whatever, because it is in the counting down that we miss out on the simple pleasures of life.  I am thankful every day, and the lesson I learned from doing it daily was that there is always something for which to give thanks.  I am capable of pressing through a writer's block and accomplish a goal.  Pressing in to God's word gave me fresh understanding of the future and hope I have in Him.

"For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  

John 1:16-17 

Today, I am thankful for God's sweet grace that is poured out on me time and time again.  I drop the ball so many times, and I fail Him so often.  When I look up, He is waiting there with arms wide open to love me and bring me to a place of healing.  For that, I am truly thankful.  I just don't know where I would be without His ever-present grace.  

Do you believe that you have been redeemed from the curse of the law and given life  and grace through Christ Jesus?  If you have never trusted Him or taken Him at His word, let me encourage you to do so today.  Set your heart on Him, and believe that He wants to redeem you, and cover you with His grace today.  To learn more about how to follow Jesus, visit this post here.  Believe me when I say, your life will never be the same when you say yes to Him.

The Pharisee in Me

Yes, I'll admit that I didn't want to say it out loud, but I knew that God was breaking through in my life.  I knew that He wanted to breakthrough for many of us.  I've come to a place of brokenness, not out of sheer will, but out of complete surrender.  When God starts to show you that you've been living a Pharisee life, it's going to hurt.  

It came to a head this weekend when I was telling my husband about how everyone else was doing it wrong, but I had everything right in my own heart and head.  I mean, I know the word, so I must know that following the "rules" is what Jesus would have me do.  All Todd had to do was to ask a couple of simple questions, and the Holy Spirit pierced my heart and opened my eyes.

About a month ago, out of the blue, I started singing a song I learned at Christian summer camp in 1987. I thought it was called the "goat song".  So, I googled it (isn't technology a wonderful thing?), and I found it!  I seriously thought that the guy who spoke at our camp was the one who made it up.  I put the song in at the bottom of this post.  Anyway, as God often does, He started pointing out to me that I was a Pharisee.  ME!  I know, I was shocked, too.  ;)  

Really though, being raised in church, I truly believed that even with grace, I needed to follow the rules, listen to other people who follow the rules, and generally look down on people who don't. This has been an Achilles heal for me for a long time.  The reality is that I was standing up high, looking at people as though they were below me, as a Pharisee.  The Pharisees were full of pride - the look at me, I'm doing it right kind of folk.  Sadly, my heart has been full of pride.  They were polished on the outside, but dirty on the inside.  So I have been.  

Sometimes finding out the truth hurts.  It reveals the ugly deep within that we try to mask over with pretty words.  But, God is so gracious to us.  Even though the truth can hurt us, it also sets us free.  John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  Jesus is truth and life for us.  He sets us free from the sins that enslave us.  

God has been faithfully chipping away at some outer layers of my hard heart that I've allowed to grow up and take root.  I am a work in progress, and there is MUCH more to what God is doing in me right now.  I feel breakthrough around the corner, and I know what has held me back from breaking through earlier has been my hard heart toward the things of God, being full of pride, and believing that I had it all together all while feeling restless and hopeless.

Let me encourage you to pray the prayer I prayed if you feel that God is revealing a Pharisee heart in you.  Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit."  Thank you for hearing our prayer and restoring us to you, Father!  In Jesus Name, Amen!

I'm sure there will be updates to this blog post coming.  I have only touched on a tiny part of what God is doing in me, and showing me through his word about having a hard heart, living a pharisee life and following hard after Him.

Here is the link to the song.

O For Grace To Trust Him More

I used to love a version of this song that Amy Grant sang back in the 80's.  I think that was probably my introduction to this powerful song.  I didn't go to a church that sang a lot of traditional hymns, mostly just stuff written in current times.  Occasionally we'd bring out the Old Rugged Cross or Amazing Grace.  Fast forward to now...  The church I go to sings blends of old and new hymns, so I am being reintroduced to some songs that are solid and mostly new to me.  I've heard of many of them, but because I  never really sang them, they are fresh to me. 

Recently, we've been singing 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus during our worship service.  This song has struck a chord with me.  Line by line, it all points back to Jesus, and isn't that what it's really all about?  I have several lines that are "favorites", but I especially love in the first verse "Just to rest upon His promise, and to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"  

It's truly trusting in His word when you believe what He says.  There are plenty of examples in the bible when "Thus saith the Lord" was written and then whatever the Lord said was done.  Imagine having that kind of faith. Just knowing that because God promised it, you believe it and know it will come to pass.  It's not blind or misleading, it's truth that God can not lie.  He will not withhold his promises from those who trust in Him.

One of the passages in the bible that reminds me of this kind of trust is Mark 11:22-25.  

²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

I love it.  Jesus simply answers them - "Have faith in God."  That's it.  No other agenda.  No other check lists.  No other giving requirements.  Nothing.  Just have faith in God.  The disciples were being taught this just as much as we are now.  Jesus had cursed a fig tree the day before and when they got to that tree the next day, it was withered down to it's roots.  They were amazed.  Jesus wasn't surprised because he already said no one would eat the fruit of that tree again.  He said it.  I pray that I can reach that level of trust to know that what Jesus says is just truth.  To trust that having faith in God is all we need, and that God holds all we need in Him.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!  Help me to have this kind of trust in you, in your word!  Remind me of your faithfulness time and again.  Help me to remember all of your acts of unfailing love toward me.  Father God, help me to be unwaivering in my faith.  Give me a soft heart, but one that is strong enough to trust fully in your word at all times, good and bad.  Help me to have compassion on others, to be wise about your business, God, and to remember your word in each season.  I hide your word in my heart, O God, that I might not sin against you.  Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in me.  Thank you God, for being so faithful, for being a God we can trust and rely on in all times and through all things.  I praise you, Jesus!  I love you Lord!  Amen!

1. ’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
   Just to take Him at His Word;
   Just to rest upon His promise,
   And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
   • Refrain:
     Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
     How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
     Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
     Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
2. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
   Just to trust His cleansing blood;
   And in simple faith to plunge me
   ’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!
3. Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
   Just from sin and self to cease;
   Just from Jesus simply taking
   Life and rest, and joy and peace.
4. I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
   Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
   And I know that Thou art with me,
   Wilt be with me to the end.

Amazing Grace

I have been meditating on the word grace for a couple of weeks now.  Since we started studying the book of John at church, I have become slightly obsessed with the word.  John 1:16 is really what has fueled this passion about grace.  The English Standard Version reads "For from this fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  Grace is literally translated as unmerited favor.  Favor upon favor.  WOW!

God is so full of grace.  It is the greatest gift a man can receive to understand and know the fullness of God's grace.  It is through grace that we experience any other blessing that God would have in store for us.  I would challenge any believer who focuses solely on the physical blessings of God to, instead, focus on the grace of God.  It is not by bragging of what God has given us (home, car, marriage, job, etc) that is our greatest blessing.  It is by bragging on the grace He has given to us through His son, Jesus Christ.  Everything else that comes out of God blessing us is just residual to the real blessing of eternal life.

John 13:35 says "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  We can not fully experience God's love and display it to the world without understanding His grace, His unmerited favor toward us.  

It occurred to me today that the fruits of the spirit correspond directly with our knowledge, understanding and experience of God's grace.  A person full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control has understanding of His grace because it is only by grace that we can display, flow and pour out the fruits of the spirit.  

I am so passionate about God's grace, and I pray that I can show His grace to everyone that I meet.  I pray that I am filled with boldness, and that my spiritual gifts  come into action when God has called me to share his grace with someone specific.  I have so much stirring on the inside of me about this, and I'm sure I'll write more about it at another time.  But for now, be encouraged to show grace to everyone you meet.