Authorartistmomof2

Today I am trading my efforts for His Grace!  Much easier said than done of course.  God’s grace is not just unmerited favor which I need and desire in my life, but it is also His ability on my inability to accomplish what he has called me to do.  His word says that I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthens me.  How do I get His strength on my weaknesses so that I can accomplish all things? Yesterday my pastor called it ” The great grace exchange! ”  Which in one word, simply means surrendering.

Sometimes just mentioning the word ” surrender” brings with it all kinds of resistance.  “But what about my rights?”  “Or don’t I get a say so?”  Surrendering to the Lord does not mean I give up my freedoms or choices.  As a matter of fact Jesus came so that I would have freedom, but he does not force anything on me.  Accepting Jesus in my life was a choice.  Because I chose him,  my eyes were opened to a new ryhmn of possibility and  choices that I never even knew existed.   He died to give me choice.  In the scriptures the Lord says I can choose life or choose death.  Being a Christian is all about choice and surrender.   I can choose to live with his grace in and on my life or not.  When I find myself struggling to be a Christian all the time or striving to get anything accomplished  then obviously something is not right.   It is like a spiritual alarm clock that is telling me to wake up.  I  probably need to see if I’ve done a grace exchange in that particular area.  Have I surrendered that particular area of my life to him, so that I can obtain His grace.

Salvation through Jesus came as a work of grace in my life.  I did not obtain salvation through my own efforts or by my works it was a free gift.  So in saying all of that, what makes me think that If I obtained salvation through faith and grace, that I can now go on to live out a Christian life without that same kind of grace?  Paul addresses the Galatians and asked them point blankly “Who has bewitched you?”  He let them know that what they began in the spirit they could not now do in their own efforts.  I need this reminder often, because when I am struggling or striving, it is usually because I am trying to do it on my own works instead of  by His grace.

One thing I have discovered about the Lord, is that He delights in giving me His grace. He is not withholding anything from me.   He desires for me to be all He has created me to be and wants me to fulfill all of His plans for me.  The scripture says that it gives Him great pleasure to give the kingdom to His children.  If you are reading this blog today , I hope you can sense His presence and His grace.  Maybe if you’ve been struggling and striving this blog will be a simple reminder or a gentle alarm clock that awakes you to “the great grace exchange!”

I wanted to share my Secret Garden painting with you.  In the Song of Solomon the Lord tells us to arise my beloved  and come away with him for the spring rains have come and the winter has passed.     I often picture him and I walking through a garden that is peaceful and beautiful.   He also says that those who will pray in secret he will reward openly.  So I feel it is important to have a place, a secret place that is all yours to where you can go and be with the Lord.  Sometimes it’s just a place to escape and collect your thoughts, but I have found when I can get quiet then creative ideas, thoughts and even answers to prayer will come.

I have a wonderful big front porch and I live in the country so it is not hard for me to escape.  When the weather is nasty though, I have created a little nook area in my bedroom that has this painting on the wall.  It is actually sort of set up to be my office, so after I put the children to bed, I escape into my little Secret Garden.  I have found it to be so wonderful.  I wanted to especially encourage Mom’s today.  Being a Mom myself, I know that  you need a quiet place to escape to.  I have a friend who took her walk-in closet and made her a secret place. Maybe you do not have that luxury, but  Many women like to light candles and relax in the bath, where ever you choose to go, I encourage you to go often.  Let the Lord refresh you!

Why Sit Here?.

Have you ever wanted something to change in your life so badly that you felt almost sick inside.  I’ve been there many times and never really knew what to do to change my situation, except to move!  Move? You ask! How? Where to? When?  We usually run these questions over and over in our mind until we are exhausted in trying to figure out the answers and so we never do anything. We never move, and we remain in our situations day after day, year after year hoping some day that things will change.  How insane is that really? When we refuse to move into change we actually sabotage our own lives.  We become critical and miserable inside and blame our misery on circumstances and other people.  It’s time to grab yourself by the nape of the neck, drag yourself in front of a mirror and answer one or two questions.  Who decides your future? Who says you move or you stay?

God has a beautiful future laid out for us, but it doesn’t just fall on us.  The first two letters in his name are GO! Which tells me that he never expected us to sit around waiting for heaven to come to us, no he taught his disciples that they were to pray “on earth as it is in heaven.”  We must bring the reality of heaven to earth in our own lives.   Jesus died to make everything available for us, so why do we sit around like we have no hope or future.  The number one answer is-because we are afraid of the very change that we desire!

“But, ugh what if I act like Peter and get out of the boat and I sink?”

Ugh, but what if you get out of the boat and like Peter find that the water is solid under your feet?

“But, Peter sank!”

“But Peter got one of the greatest faith lessons that day that he had ever received.  Fear will cause you to fail, but faith and keeping your eyes on Jesus will cause you to win every time!”

Fear will always cause you to look at yourself and your abilities instead of what the Lord wants to do in you. Fear will cause you to be stuck and never moving.  You have to realize that if you’re not moving, you become like a stagnant pool.  A pool becomes stagnant because the water doesn’t move and it doesn’t receive fresh water.  This will cause your life to become desperate.

For most people, desperation is a horrible enemy, but I have found that sometimes when those feelings of desperation come, that they could be a friend.  How can feeling desperate be a good thing? My answer is this:  People who are desperate do desperate things.  These things could either be bad or good, depending on your focus.  My thoughts go back to hearing the story of the four lepers who were dying outside of the city.  Because lepers were outcast, the risk of going into the city usually meant death, but the city itself was dying of a famine.  So the lepers realized how desperate the situation was and that they were dying anyway.   So, one day one of the lepers who obviously was sick and tired of being sick and tired, looked over to the others and said to them, “I’m not sitting here any longer.   If I go into the city I might die, if I go to our enemies camp I might die,  but if I stay here I know for sure that I am going to die, so I’m going for it, who’s with me?”

So the story goes that they all four got up and headed into the enemy’s camp to find that the Lord had gone ahead of them.  As they headed toward camp the Lord made them sound like a huge army and so their enemies fled.  When the lepers arrived at the enemy’s camp they found that there was enough for them and enough for the city if they took it back?  Hello, they are still willing to risk their lives to return to a city that shun them, but by this time, they knew that the Lord was with them and marched forward with confidence!

Sometimes, it takes a courage that you never even knew you had to make a move, but what do you have to lose.  It could be that the very thing you fear will happen, will be ambushed by the Lord and when you go into the enemy’s camp that everything you desired is there!

I encourage you to please, look once again in the mirror, who is stopping you?

I wanted to encourage someone today with these rosy benches.  You might be saying to yourself, ” this gal has gone off somewhere.” When I found these benches they looked like they once were red stained.  I shook them and they were pretty wobbly, but I  bought them  for practically nothing and took them home.  I remember asking my husband if he could tighten up the legs to see if they would become sturdier! Well when he had done as I had asked, these benches were as solid as could be and really sturdy and stable.   I then repainted them with a base paint and liked them just with the base color.  However, I just could see something else in them and so I began painting the first rose and then the second until Viola!  Two matching benches that I received some awesome money for at an arts and craft show!

“Okay, Okay, your still wondering what does that have to do with me?  How could that possibly encourage me?” Well, I once was like these old benches, I had been through some things that really made me look and feel pretty wobbly.  You might say I was very unsure of my purpose and wasn’t the least bit stable in my mind, will , emotions, spirit, or even in my body.   Life is a rough game to play sometimes, and  especially if you play it hard!  Eventually the life you’ve led catches up with you.  But one day, when I thought I was no longer useful, or was so ugly that no one could ever want me, The Lord Himself bought me with the highest possible price!  He didn’t just slap a coat of paint on me, but he cleansed me from the inside out and totally remade me. He tightened up every” loose screw.” I was stable again and had new purpose and meaning.   I was in HIS eyes as beautiful as any rose….like these benches He seen something more in me!

He is looking at you right now with those same piercing eyes.  He is remaking you and making something so beautiful out of you.  I just wanted to encourage you to know that He has found such value and purpose for you that he paid the ultimate price to have you.  He loves you so much.  He considers you His finest piece of art!

As I write this, I was thinking about the past few weeks and how the Lord has just blessed my family beyond anything that we really asked him to.   I also thought about people who are still waiting for their promise to come and how sometimes when it seems the Lord is passing out to everyone but to them, how that something just sorta rises up in them and mumbles “Wait a minute, Why am I not getting blessed? or When is my season going to come?”  I know because I’ve been there myself.  The one thing I’ve really learned though, is that it is all available to me.  I don’t want to get upset because others are getting theirs and totally miss mine because I’m off pouting somewhere.  No, I’ve learned to rejoice with others, because I know that the same blessings are available to me!

When the prodigal son left the Father’s house to go and “live it up and waste what his daddy gave him” He had to come to a place of realization.  That regardless of what he did or didn’t do the Father’s love was enough and that he could go home to the blessing. His older brother, however,  was upset that the Father would just welcome the prodigal son back home and throw him a party, kill the fatted calf, put a ring on his finger and his give him His best robe…Why? The older brother didn’t realize that all of it had been available to him all along. That he could have lived in a perpetual party, but let envy and bitterness rob him from his blessing.

How sad it will be that many Christians will get to heaven and then find out what was made available to them while they lived upon the earth.   When Jesus bled and died, he said “It is finished!” So everything is available to us, but not all things are entrusted to us right away.  Like the prodigal son had to go through some character building lessons, so do we.  My son would love to have a mustang car, he is only 11.  Do you think I will give him a mustang car now?  NO WAY….Why?  Because he is a child and he is not mature enough to handle a mustang…So many Christians are still childish and they not mature enough to handle all that they want from the Lord.  It gives the Father great pleasure to give his children the kingdom, so He is not withholding from you permnently, but only long enough to for you to build character, that whatever you want from him will not destroy you, but will benefit you.