Grace Beyond Compare

Grace is defined as "the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God". How very true that is! In spite of our daily failings, poor choices and mixed up priorities, He shows us favor freely when we come to Him.

Today, as our family is introduced as members in our church, I realize how wonderfully graceful our G*d is! The fact that myhusband is at my side in this is nothing short of miraculous and a shining example of His power to change a heart. As I look back at where we were, and where we are today I am in awe. For every material thing that we lost, we have been given, by grace, something eternal in it's place: in exchange for our high paying (all consuming) careers, He gave us trust in Him to provide, for our home and expensive vehicle, He gave us humility and opened our hearts to each other, for our pain, he gave us the comfort of relying on Him - and on one another as a family, for our crazy schedules and full agendas of 'important' meetings, he gave us time with our children and one another, for my arrogance and self-centered lifestyle, He gave me a husband who will share the gift of eternity with me and three teens who now walk in His light. It is true, He gives and He takes away. But, what He has to offer can never be bested by anything anyone else can offer!

I still catch myself holding on to things and putting work above Him, but I am so thankful to know beyond a doubt that when I can finally let those things go, His grace and mercy will flow in abundance! I praise G*d for His grace and mercy and goodness and for His eternal gifts that I do not earn, but am given freely by a Wonderful Father to a typical, stubborn child.

Update as the day ends...

What an amazing day! My friend emailed back that yet another class, for tonight, had been cancelled. So his time was effectively freed up to get other things done and focus on our project for the church web site more. This afternoon, I received a call from a major client that freed up three hours of my time tonight and delayed a new web site launch for a day - so I spent the evening with my teenagers for the first time in too long. He is amazingly true to His word and His faithfulness.

On another positive note, I have struggled so hard with balancing work, family and ministry in recent weeks. Work has been all-consuming, as it often is with a new business start up. Focus on ministry and service was blurred as I dedicated more and more of my time to work. Last week, I began reclaiming and rededicating my life to G*d and serving His purposes with renewed excitement and passion. It is so important that He is first, followed by family and then work and other things. Anything that comes before Him is a stumbling block and will not prosper because He is the author of all good things.

A Chance to Let Go and Let G*d

We all are busy, I get that. But lately it seems that I barely have time to breathe. Things get sacrificed like quiet time, ministry, family time, sleep... This is a common complaint between myself and a wonderful Christian friend. As he considered the idea of giving your 'first fruits' to the L*rd, he began to wonder how much more G*d could do with our time if we dedicated the first portion of our day to Him and trusted Him to make time for what needed to get done for the remainder of the day. When he shared his thoughts with me, we decided that we would both spend the first part of our day in His service and pray for Him to manage our time. We decided to hold one another accountable on a daily basis via IM or email and discuss the outcome.

Well, it's only day 1 and Abba is faithful! My friend has been ill and still trying to do everything and really needed some down time this week. He received an email this afternoon that a Wednesday morning class was cancelled, freeing up some much needed time this week. Praise G*d for answering prayers - and so quickly! More to come on this week's results...

It's Not About Me...

it's all about G*d. It's all about learning to walk in faith, to live in grace, to give up attachments to the things that have no meaning at all in His kingdom. It is casting aside the misconception that we can control our lives and environment and surrender completely to His will. It is realizing that every breath is by His leave and to be used to His purposes. This blogspot is not intended to be 'preachy'...just a journal of my walk of faith - and sometimes failure. It is a true testimony of God's grace and faithfulness as seen from the perspective of a 100% human, mortal sinner.

Welcome to my journey - may G*D be glorifed in all things.
In Christ.