Solitude-RJD Feb. 2013

Some of my journals and one of my prayer shawls.

2/09/1997-

“In solitude,” Henri Nouwen says, “we can slowly unmask the illusion of our possessiveness and discover in the center of our own self that we are not what we can conquer but what is given to us.” I find that to be a powerful thought.

The idea I get is that I am not made up to be who I am by God to be victorious over my shortcomings by myself. But God make me as I am to allow Him to work out the shortcomings and the frailties of who I am.

               Back in the early 1980's, I used to get very rattled, upset, and even frustrated very easily. I began hearing the word “trust.” Every time I would see a passage of scripture that contained the word trust, it looked like this TRUST. I believe that God was speaking to me at that time.

               However, I really did not fully listen as I should have. I went through a phase where I realized that I lost a considerable amount of energy each time I got angry. It was a while after that when I found Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust the Lord God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)

               God does not give up on refining us; He lets us go until we mess up. He accepts our apology and allows us to grow from the experience. Thank You, Lord.

Update:

               Whenever I go through something, I try to reflect on the events and see if I could have done something differently and maybe the outcome might have been more pleasant. What I have learned amazes me. A lot of the events that happen in my life are not necessarily about me-the majority of the time, I am there to help-kind of like an extra in a play. I have learned that I am nobody special and harsh things can happen to me.

Linking up with:beneaththesurface-dawn

Justified because of Grace

Being Rebekah .com

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in

which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)

”‘ . . . justified through faith. . .’” Because we believe in God, He treats each of us ‘just as if I’d’ not sinned. When we ask Him to forgive us of our wrong doing, He takes his arms of love and wraps them around us and He speaks to our hearts as if we were completely whole.

”‘ . . . peace with God . . .’” in the process of confessing our sin, we begin to feel a calmness about certain issues involved with our lives. We express thanks to God for our newly found calmness. We feel His presence in new found ways.

” ‘ . . . access by faith. . .’” As we proceed through the process of confession we find our faith strengthened. Because our faith is strengthened, we gain more insight into the things of God.

”‘ . . . into this grace . . .’” We experience God’s grace as we walk with Him through our daily lives. Sometimes we have times where we see God’s hand in an event in our lives-a friend might say something to inspire us, we might feel the need to pray for someone and later find out they had a need.

”‘ . . . rejoice in the hope. . . ‘”We are to have joy in our anticipation of our being in heaven with Jesus when our time on earth is over. 

”‘. . . of the glory of God.’” When we get to heaven we will see God in all His splendor. We will experience our arrival at our true home. All that we will see and share in will be ours because of His great love for us, love that we do not deserve.

Click here to hear an American favorite hymn on grace:Amazing Grace

Grace in My Life

Bing.com

Last fall, I read and reviewed a book by Max Lucado, GRACE, MORE THAN WE DESERVE,

GREATER THAN WE IMAGINE. I decided then to adopt the word Grace for my word for 2013.

Several years ago, I was in a study of grace using Phillip Yancey’s book, What’s so Amazing about Grace I realized then that, as a follower of Christ, I was to extend grace to others I met.  I recognized the fact that those to whom I extended grace might not get the message of what I was doing but it was my task to exercise grace anyway.

I recently went through an ordeal that required me to extend grace as opposed to react like an injured party. I found myself repeating my word for this year over and over again. The next day I had to take a stand in reference to the original circumstance. The person acquiesced and got someone more skilled than either of us to do that which had caused us frustration.

We are still speaking to each other. I am thankful that I had this experience in extending grace. I kept my mouth shut and did the best I could with the circumstances.

As I reflect I recognize the grace of God works often in my life. I will watch out for it as I continue to live for Jesus. Here it is the end of January and Jesus, through my word for the year, has already taught me a valuable lesson. I wonder what He has in mind for me during the rest of 2013.

I Did It. . .

I am on twitter. One of the ladies I have had contact with @LinkedIn invited me to join Twitter. I wasn't sure about this; So I help off. In my email today was a reminder. This lady was waiting for me to join. It took me a while to get my account set up. Lunchtime came and I was in the middle of this process. If you would like to follow me  add my twitter user name to your list. @quietspiritcll

I hope this will be a good experience for me.

Conversation with a Friend

Bing image

Today, I am being interviewed by Marja Meijers over a her blog   sacredsabbath

She asks me some neat questions. Feel free to go over and read.

Grace Upon Us

Central Baptist Church, Little Rock Arkansas.

 ”

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and much grace was upon them all."

Acts 4:33 (NIV)

God lavished His grace upon the apostles. In doing this He gave them strength to tell others about His Kingdom. These men didn't stay in their own clique and talk to each other about Jesus. They went out places that hadn't heard of Him and taught the people of His love.

Churches send missionaries to people who need the Lord. Some of these groups send emissaries to foreign lands either for a lengthy period or for short terms-say a week or so. Our church has sent people on mission trips to areas of our nation ravaged by hurricanes. Some groups have gone to impoverished areas of Appalachia. More recently the missions committee has focused on people’s needs here in our community.

Whenever a denomination has an annual conference or even a general conference, the delegates spend time one day doing outreach to distressed areas in that community, painting, building a ramp, or working with children at a community center.

People who follow the LORD perform these tasks as a testimony of God in their lives. No matter where these deeds are done, the message is, ‘God loves you.’ They are able to do these acts because of their receiving God’s love in their lives.

Now, a lot of us may not be able to go to a distant land or to a distressed area of our nation. We may have some health issues that interfere with our ability to build a ramp or install a bathroom, or build a porch but we can support those who go either by financial donations or by committing to pray for them. We might want to find a way to assist children at-risk of continuing destructive behavior.

When I originally wrote this,I sat here in my living room two days after the tragedy that has us praying for families in Newtown, Connecticut. I wonder if the outcome for the young children and the adults at that school would have been better, had someone taken the time to share the love of Christ with the one who caused this disaster.

Listen to a modern song about grace. Your Grace is Enough

Grace Poured Out

Grace being poured out on God''s people(Bing.com)

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“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”1 Timothy 1:13-14 (NIV)

We see the grace of God at work in Paul’s life as he reflects on his past. 

 “Even though . . .” In spite of the fact.

“ . . . I was once a blasphemer” blasphemy is “insulting, cursing, lacking reverence for God, claiming deity.”^ A perfect example of lacking reverence for God is the words John Lennon spoke when he compared the Beatles to Jesus Christ.

“. . . a persecutor . . . ” Saul went from town to town dragged people from their homes and imprisoned them or worse.  (Acts 8:3)

“. . . a violent man. . . ” Everywhere Saul went he arranged for believers in Christ to be either imprisoned or killed. In the beginning of his journeys to tell others about Jesus Christ, people feared him.

“I was shown mercy . . . “God did for Paul what He does for each of us—He extended mercy, forgiveness for Paul’s enmity to His followers.

“The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly” Our Lord didn't give Paul grace sparingly. He lavished grace on Paul and he still inundates us with His unending love today.

“ . . .along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” God instilled Paul with faith and His love. This passage magnifies the expression, “God empowers those He calls.” We have written evidence that God does this for those who invite Him into their hearts and lives.