Spring!!!

I'm so happy!! I love spring. I love that life is peeking out from under the drab of winter. I love the hope that spring brings. It's automatic for me! I love life as a whole but there is something that happens deep within when it begins to get warmer and I start to see green bursting forth and birds singing.

And it is nostalgic for me too. I had a spring baby. He was due the first day of spring but he seemed to like the safety within so he waited one more day. And then, suddenly, I do mean suddenly, 54 minutes of labor, he burst forth!!! Thank God I was in the hospital or he would have spilled out who knows where! Again, new life, and what a wonderful life it is!!

I am grateful for God and His great wisdom of the seasons. It is one of the Creator's masterpieces. They roll over and over, no two alike, however constant in their coming. Each has it's own wonder and treasures within. I wonder.....what all does this spring bring? I love the bluebirds that already have appeared in our backyard. What a treat Lord! I love the many bulbs that are already springing up all around the front of my house. I love the warm air, all the people I see outdoors now. Longer days, planting pansies and planning projects.

Perhaps, it is all a result of the Resurrection. That great event that gave us real life. Perhaps creation celebrates His resurrection with spring. Sounds like a great idea to me. So Father, if there is anything dead inside of me that needs resurrected, I pray that it will come alive with all of creation this spring. I love that you are alive within me and you bring forth life. With all of my effort I cannot do it, it springs forth from You!! Again, I say thank you, Father, for giving a gift so wonderful it makes my heart sing and my feet dance. I praise You, for spring, for resurrection of all that was dead and lifeless to be brought back to life, and to every treasure that will burst forth in the days ahead. My soul does magnify the Lord!!!!

Thoughts concerning transition....

My great friend "livin life" inspired me this morning. She posted her thoughts concerning transition on her blog, you have to check it out! She's great and I love her lots!!! I got to thinkin....

I have found that life really is one transition after another, kind of like the seasons. Ohhh, I love certain ones better than the others, like the breaking forth of Spring and the warmth of summer and the beautiy of fall and the reminder with every fresh snow that my sins have been washed just that clean.

But there are things in each season that are work, not fun. Like getting the ground ready for new plantings, pruning back what died over the winter, the unbearable heat, raking of leaves and cold north winds.

I know that I will find things I can enjoy in each season and things that are hard, disappointing. And I know that "this too shall pass".

I am grateful for everything the Lord reveals to me, some in the good, and some in the hard and difficult places, knowing that each of the revelations, whether in the good times or the hard ones, brings me closer, makes me wiser and matures me in Him. I think they call it "seasoned".
So, I cherish what I am taking from the season I am leaving and I look forward to finding Him in the new season I am about to step into. For He is good, and His mercy endures forever!

My story

I have a story, I was lost, looking for love and acceptance...I have found I am totally loved and accepted by Father God!

Please take the time to watch this and then share your story: http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/cardboard-testimonies/

Finding myself in Him

I've been so enjoying "Papa" lately. I find my heart just wanting to be with Him. He is so inviting!! It wasn't always this way. I was a maidservant for so many years and grateful for the position but there is nothing like being a daughter. And the great thing is that even when I didn't see myself as a daughter, He treated me that way.

I so love to be with Him. We don't have to be doing a thing, in fact, I like it when we are just hanging out. I can just crawl up and be with Him. No conversation is necessary either. I love just hearing the constant beat of His heart. I am comfortable with Him, at peace and find such rest.

And like Moses, when it comes to leaving, I reply, "if you aren't going with me, I'm not going". I want Him a part of everything I do and everywhere I go. And you know what the best part is? He WANTS to be a part of everything I do and everywhere I go. We're BFF!! Only more, He loves me more than any of my best friends, He protects me better than any best friend, and He is always with me 24/7, closer than any best friend can be.

I hope you are enjoying His Presence too. If not, why don't you stop, sit a spell, and invite Him to sit with you. I promise, you won't be sorry.

I am filled with His grace

Last night was our last class on the "Gifts of Grace" (Romans 12:6-9). (for those who don't know, my husband and I are students in the School of Ministry at Christ Community Church) It has been so eye opening to me. I found myself! And you know what else I found, it was Him all along, His grace in me!

Since Jesus is all the gifts of Grace, (prophesy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, administration and mercy) He is actually demonstrating Himself through us! How cool is that? And I also see for me personally, the Grace's I most function in, He was that for me first. That is how I discovered it in the first place and that is why I understand somewhat what it looks like and how it functions. And I found that the gift of Grace flow out of the heart of the Father for us and for others.

You know what else I discovered? That when all the gifts of Grace are functioning, not all in me but others functioning in their gifts of Grace along with me, a full expression of Christ is seen! I have learned to embrace the gifts of grace carried in my brothers and sisters. It is fun to bless Christ in others and how much a blessing it is to have them display Him by functioning in their gifts of Grace. It is so freeing not to have to be all things to all people. It is a joy to defer to others that they may display His Grace.

I thank God that He has expressed His Grace to me, that He expresses His Grace through me and that His Grace resides in every believer to give a full expression or picture of Christ to the world!

So I ask you, what gift(s)of His Grace in Romans 12:6-9 has Christ expressed in you that He wants to display through you to others? If you have Christ in you, you have all these gifts because He is all of them but He has given you one or two primary ways for to express Him. Ask Him to show you today and do it with the heart of the Father from which it was poured into you!!

I had a blip

I'm soooooo sorry for how long it has been since my last blog. I actually changed my email and then it messed with me logging into my blog. Changes really gives me a "blip". I don't know what to do in the "tech" world with blips. But I have a few close friends who give me advise and after some trial and error, I figure most of it out.

How about you? Ever have a "blip"? Like when the lights suddenly go out, and as quickly turn back on. But the point is, they eventually come back on. I'm so glad that "blips" don't last. They are just that, "blips". I've had many. They come, they go, some last longer than others but not one of them have lasted forever.

So I hope you'll excuse my "blip" and give me grace. Oh, I love Grace!!! Grace is a person you know. Grace really is grace. He not only IS it but He gives it, and displays it. I know what it looks like 'cause I've seen Him. And I know what it feels like 'cause He's given it to me and I know in part how to display it because of seeing Him and receiving it.

January has passed me by and now it's February but I think that I've just had a blip and that now I'm on a roll again. So to all you from Pennsylvania, Happy Ground Hog's day! Why do we do that? Oh, short answer, the weatherman said last night that it's the middle of winter and we check the critters to see what they are doing to try and determine how long winter will continue. All of us from PA know that "Phil" is no accurate prophet so we will actually watch the flowers and trees and see what they know. One thing for sure, "all creation will praise Him", whatever the season!

...and there was no room for him in the inn

I've watched "The Nativity Story" several times in the last two weeks. I've been struck by a line in the movie where Mary is in labor on the donkey and Joseph is trying to find a place for her to bring forth the child. She simply prays, "Lord, will thou not provide a place for us? At that moment, the innkeeper gives the only place he has, the stable, to them.

I've pondered this. In the stable, they were alone, to behold the wonder of the birth of the Messiah. There was no interruption, no babling, no advice, no arguing, no fingerpointing, no world. It was Mary and Joseph, and perhaps a choir of angels and the Father beholding, beholding Himself as a babe! Oh the quiet wonder of the moment, of the night, because there was no room in the inn. Perhaps even before His first breath, He was saving, saving the moment for those who would bear the greatest sacrifice of all!

So in my heart I am feeling that Mary's prayer was perfectly answered. He kept the moment for them alone. No hustle in the inn, no celebration. A silent night, a holy night......

If it seems like the Lord has forgotten you and hasn't heard your prayer, perhaps you should look again. He may have chosen to still everything else to be with you alone. I urge you to behold Him, wonder silently, alone.....

"I desire mercy...."

Amazing! Yes, my God is amazing. I see new things in His word all the time. He is so alive and so filled with new awe and wonder. I think it's funny how we try to figure Him out yet He wants to fill us with wonder. I think I'll be childlike and choose wonder!

I've been reading Matthew lately. I was heartstruck by a You Tube video concerning a group from JHOP who went into a homosexual district and began to worship God. They got noticed alright, and attacked. They escaped with their lives only because of the police who escorted them out! One thing struck me, they kept chanting "shame on you, shame on you". I heard what their hearts heard, "shame on you homosexuals, you sinners". I wanted to see how Jesus responded to those in deep sin.

In reading through Matthew, I was struck by a small statement he repeated twice. In Matthew 9 he invites Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him and be one of His disciples. Then he goes and eats with him and other tax collectors. The Pharisees see this and comment, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and "sinner"? Then Jesus replys, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Again in Matthew 12, He and the disciples are walking through a grainfield on the Sabbath and some of them pull some wheat to eat because they are hungry. Again the Pharisees accuse Him and He begins by telling them of David and the priests, things they knew from the scriptures and then he says, I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice", you would not have condemned the innocent.

For days and several weeks now this has been resonating in my spirit, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I believe it has something to do with seeing with eyes of compassion those who are lost and in need. And not meeting them with condemnation, the law, or accusation, but with sincere heartfelt love for the person God created them to be, even while they are not yet walking in it.

It was mercy that He gave so freely to each of us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! Oh, that is love that I wrestle with understanding. Today, and for now, I choose to wonder in it and to continue to ask Him to help me "learn what this means". I'm after His heart of mercy.

From Within...

I'm walking in a new season of life. From within. In order for me to describe this I have to share a prophetic word that was spoken over my hubby & I this past April. It begins:

The picture I get is of the two of you standing on a bluff overlooking a wide expanse, open as far as you can look in every direction. It is beautiful, breathtaking. What is remarkable is there are no roads, no path. It is just this huge expanse. There is this sense, "ok, we are ready to move, where do we go"? Deep down inside, He has placed a desire in the two of you and that is the path, that is the way. It is what He has for you. Allow those dreams and desires to be stirred up again. I am seeing them arising out of you. It is time for what He has placed deep within you to come forth. It will not be defined from others, from the outside. So stop looking there. Trust what He has put in your hearts. As you learn to live in His presence, as you bask in His love and the joy of that, He will just overflow out of you.

We have spent months trying to "figure it out" and all the while knowing that is exactly what we were told not to do. So, we just "found" ourselves sitting back, taking in a deep breath, deciding to just do what was in front of us for the moment, pretty much laying it down and keep (as a friend of mine says) livin' life!

And we found it! What's inside is family. God's family. Dads and moms, sons and daughters! In the last several months, low and behold parenting has bubbled up. Now we still love being natural parents and grandparents but a new love and desire has grown for us to consciously parent in the faith and encourage, teach and release others to do the same.

So, we are pregnant again. Pregnant with expectation that when "fathers" are looking for their lost sons, they will come home. Pregnant for those that haven't found a home to have a home, with a "dad" and "mom" to greet them. Pregnant for increase in the family of God and that everyone there will be loved, cared for and would grow up and have Christ formed in them according to Galatians 4:19. And everyone knows, when you are pregnant, life will come forth. What is within, naturally comes forth and is held.

What are you pregnant with? Nurture it, look forward to it and wait on the Lord and when the "time has come", what is within, will come forth!!

And lastly, God's heart is for family and Godly offspring. Hopefully, you are walking in being a son or daughter of God. And while you will be forever His son or daughter, he calls you to bring forth Godly offspring, He calls you to become a father or mother, perhaps in the natural, but for sure in the faith. Along with the Father, we are calling forth fathers and mothers!!

Dad, Mom and Braylin Grace - 10/2/08

And now we are 5!!!