We do not make requests of You because we are righteous,
but because of Your great mercy.
Daniel 9:18
If only, when God smiles and says we are saved, we'd thank him and live like those who have just received a great gift.
We seldom do that, thought. We prefer to get salvation ourselves: we try to earn it. To accept grace is to admit failure, a step we are hesistant to take. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great He is. We dizzy ourselves with doctrine. Burden ourselves with rules. Think that God will smile on our efforts.
He doesn't.
God's smile is not for the healthy hiker who boasts that he made the journey alone. It is, instead, for the crippled leper who begs God for a back on which to ride and healing for his infirmities.
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There is such peace and fulfillment when I allow myself to claim God's grace, to not do it all on my own, to acknowledge that His plan was never for me to save myself, but for me to claim everything that Christ has done, to love Him and allow Him to work through me and in my life. To use His strength for my days. To allow His love to pour out of me. To allow His voice to speak through mine. To fill my heart, mind and soul with His words through His Word (the Bible). This life that I am living, this walk that I am walking, the stands that I am taking aren't about doctrine and rules and efforts. My life and walk and stand are about bringing glory to God. And how is He best glorified? By working His way, through a willing soul who begs God for a back to ride on and for healing for infirmities - whether self-inflicted or casualties of life. I long to be one of these souls. I want my life to glorify God - always.
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These Sunday posts are soul-bearing for me. But I want to share them with you. I know that all of us who read each others' blogs have different beliefs about religion and politics and family and child-rearing, but I also know that we can learn a lot from each other. I know in this past year of blogging that I have learned a lot about myself, who I am and who I want to be, what I believe and why. I've been challenged to think about things that I never had before, or to put faces and stories to what had before only been concepts or ideas or pre-conceived notions to me. And because of this, and because I am serious about what I wrote on my "About me" page :: I am realizing more and more that my life is not my own. I am here to share the grace and life that I have been given so freely through the One and Only Son of God, Jesus Christ. I plan to share bits of my life story throughout my blog posts and am so excited to just do this and see how it all comes together. :: I want to share with you bits of what I know to be true in my life, things I have learned and tested and tried and found true about God.
I invite your questions and thoughts. But I do not invite criticism. I do not expect you all to always agree with me and I do enjoy a discussion. But I do not want the comments to become a place for disrespect.
I am so thankful for this community of blogging friends who share life and love and recipes and crafts and laughter and support and pieces of our hearts with each other.
So here's to all of you, dear readers, a hug and a wish for sunshine on your way! Happy Sunday to you!