31Days: Grace is....

This poem by Beth Moore spoke volume's to me.. 

Grace is an inflated raft that can submerge to the floor of a sea to save you.
 Grace is the silver thread that stitches up the shreds of mangled souls.
 Grace is the eye that finds us where it refuses, there, to leave us.
 Grace calls the waitress to the table and sits her down to wash her feet.
 Grace sees underneath the manhole on a street of self-destruction.
 Grace is the air to draw a breath in the belly of a whale.
 Grace is the courage to stand in the shamed wake of a frightful falling.
 Grace is the only fire hot enough to burn down a living hell.
 Grace waits with healing in His wings when we’re too mad to pray.
 Grace is the gravity that pulls us from depravity.
 Grace races us to the Throne when we make haste to repent and always outruns us.
 Grace treats us like we already are what we fear we’ll never become.
 Grace is the doorpost dripping red when the angel of death grips the knob.
 Grace is the stamp that says Ransomed on a life that screams Ruined.
 Grace sets a table before me in the presence of my enemy even when my enemy is me.
 Grace is the cloak that covers the naked and the palm that drops the rock.
 Grace is divine power burgeoning in the absence of all strength.
 Grace proves God true and every self-made man a liar for the sake of his own soul.

 Grace is the power to do what we cannot do for the Name of Christ to go where it has not been.

Grace is a room of a thousand mirrors, all reflecting the face of Christ.

Grace is…

The eye popping

Knee dropping

Earth quaking

Pride breaking

Dark stabbing

Heart grabbing

Friend mending

Mind bending

Lame walking

Mute talking

Slave freeing

Devil fleeing

Death tolling

Stone rolling

Veil tearing

Glory flaring

Chin lifting

Sin sifting

Dirt bleaching

World reaching

Past covering

Spirit hovering

Child defending

Happy ending

Heaven glancing

Feet dancing…

Power of the Cross.

Jesus Christ, Grace Incarnate.

Copyright 2013 Beth Moore

31Days: Why Grace?

The simplest answer to this is... why not grace?!

But seriously.... Why grace?

Because I'm tired of living the "try-hard" life

Because I'm tired of living the way people expect me to

Because I am tired of being bound up in guilt or shame 

Because strongholds have no place in my life

Because there is beauty in me in the here and NOW regardless of what the world says

Because I won't want to live under the law.

Because I want to take hold on that gift called grace and LIVE IN IT not look at it

Because I want to be poured over and covered in and enveloped in Grace!

Because FREEDOM only comes from His Grace!

Because I want to live so freely in it that I extend it soooo freely to the people around me.

Because I want my house to be a place of grace and peace and mercy.

Because I want to live WILDLY for Him.

Because it's through His grace that all things are possible.

 Because I want to stop saying I am not worthy when every ounce of HIS being tells me that I am.

Because I want to live in the beauty and see it just as it is.

Because it's His grace that has build such a beautiful life around me.

Because I want to share this grace with my sisters who are stuck in any and all bondage and TRULY be able to show them freedom.

Because this is the step I am at right now. 

Because I accepted His grace and lived in his mercy where I was at 6 years ago,

but now he is poking and proding at me for more.

Because this is a journey.

Because Christ died for me to accept this freedom,

and it's TIME for me to live it to the very fullest way possible.

Because grace is meant to be accepted.

Because grace is meant to be lived out.

Because grace is lavishly poured out to me.

Because grace is of the father,

and I want to live in every single thing that comes from Him.

There is freedom in grace and it's time I start living in THAT and accepting it as MINE.

 

31Days... Grace Like an Avalanche

The first thing that really pricked my heart about this amazing gift called Grace was a blog post I read a few years ago. I can't remember the name of the blog as it was a random stumble upon that I don't think I ever visited again..... but she posted the song "Like an Avalanche" by Hillsong United and a video of an avalanche. And my life has never been the same since....

This whole song is so beautifully written and such a testament to the Gospel of Christ, but the part that strikes me deepest is the Chorus. 

"And I find myself here on my knees again
Caught up in grace like an avalanche
Nothing compares to this love love love
Burning in my heart"

And you want to know why?

Have you ever seen an avalanche? 

I was so encapsulated I had to watch the video over and over while the "Like an Avalanche" song played at the same time.... 

THAT IS WHAT I WANT GRACE TO LOOK LIKE IN MY LIFE.

I want to have grace just avalanche and pour over my heart. Not missing any nook or cranny. I want it to start from the top and sweep through every single place in my heart from the bright clean spots to the dark empty spots. I want every single aspect of my heart and my life so be totally engulfed by the avalanche of Grace that He pour onto me.

That is what this 31 days is about for me. Living in this kind of grace, this kind of a gift. 

"And I,

Find myself here on my knees again.

Caught up in grace like an Avalanche.

Nothing compares to this love, love, love,

Burning in my heart."

31 Days: Grace.... A Gift Freely Given

Grace is a gift.

It's a gift freely given from God, something that we could never work for or earn or ever take credit for (Ephesians 2:8-9). It's a gift simply because He loves us and wants us to have it. It is an absolutely free expression of God's love for man. Grace is something that should stir up a reaction in us.

The very definition of grace is unmerited favor, good will, loving kindness, beauty, and bounty.

The greek word for grace is charis. It means grace, particularly that which causes joy, pleasure, gratification, favor, acceptance, for a kindness granted or desired.

Grace is what separates us from the law and from death. Grace is what makes us alive, it is what raises us up.

Grace is a gift so freely given, but the thing is.... most of us as Christians know what grace is. We read about it in the Bible, we sing about it in worship songs, we write about it in journals, and praise God for it in prayer, and we share about grace with the people around us... and yet so many of us don't live in grace in the day to day.

Grace is a gift so freely given from the father and not so easily excepted by us as his children.

At least if I am being honest I know that's where I have been for most of my "saved" life. I know about grace, I read and sing and talk and pray about grace, but for so long I wasn't truly living in His grace.

I was living stuck under the law without even really realizing the bondage I was placing on myself as I danced around the pretty gift of grace but I wouldn't go and stand under it, wouldn't be covered in it, wouldn't dance IN it! It's funny the little ways the Lord begins to make us aware of these things like a devotional, a sermon, a conversation, a song, a blog, a Beth Moore Simulcast.  ;]

I want to be a woman who lives fully emerged in His grace.
I want to be a woman who relies so heavily on Him and His grace that I can't deny it or imagine it any other way, a woman so covered in His grace that it makes me emotional at the thought of it.
 I want to be a woman that is so full of His grace that it oozes out of me onto every person I come into contact with, a woman that speaks life and love and grace towards her children, towards her husband, towards her friends, and towards strangers because of the infinite grace pouring into my heart.
I want to be so enveloped in grace that when I have moments of weakness or guilt as a mom or a wife or just a woman that they don't cause me to stumble mightily or give the enemy a foothold in my life, but instead remind me even more of the amazing, awe-inspiring, BOUNTY of grace that He gives.
I want to be a woman so wrapped up in grace that I take steps towards His plan and move boldly towards his purpose even when the world tells me to be scared or doubt.

I want to be a woman that so freely accepts the gift of grace that God has so freely given me. 

31 Days of Growing in God's Grace ... and falling in love with writing again...

Around the Blog world you might notice a LOT of bloggers taking part in 31 Days in October with The Nester. It's a writing challenge where you pick ONE topic and write about it every single day in October, 31 days straight. I have seen it for a while, all of my fav bloggers and friends seem to be doing. I thought it sounded fun, but much like other areas of my life used excuses to talk myself out of why I couldn't or shouldn't or wouldn't do it.... the thing is... most of those "reasons" were mere excuses out of fear. If you know Jessi over at Naptime Diaries you know that she's been really speaking to her spear of influence about living "Wild + Free" and about not letting Fear control us. God has really used her in the last year to speak to my heart and with a mixture of the truths she is speaking (which are powerful yall) and plethora of other ways God has been speaking to me lately I knew there was no ignoring this challenge (even though I tried) and that's why even though I am showing up late to the party, I am showing up.

I spent a few days battling what I could even possibly talk about for 31 days that people who care about... the funny thing is that I knew the first day but kept ignoring and trying to change the topic. Finally today I realized the call and the challenge and I accepted it. God has been speaking mightily to me this year about His grace... Grace that He SO freely gives, but isn't always as easy for us to accept. And I knew that I would spend these next 31 days exploring His grace, growing in His grace, falling even more in LOVE with this grace He gives us, and sharing my journey in words that He has had me on for a while. And in the process of exploring and growing and loving His grace, I think He plans to help me explore and grow and fall back in love with writing for Him, and for a purpose. I would be lying if I said this wouldn't be a challenge.. I don't know if I have ever truly been a "regular" blogger, but it certainly hasn't been lately... but I am so excited about this guys. So excited to dig in and live under grace and to write about it along the way.

I can't wait to share so many different bits of my heart with you guys as I explore more of His heart.