Strength From Within

February 5, 2020 Gracie

No Muscles Required

Got a six-pack?

Yeah, me neither.

Well, maybe some of you do. 🙂

Every time I go to the gym, I see beautiful people working out.

I’m talking about men and women with painstakingly acquired sculpted bodies possessing the kind of physical strength and confidence that I could only hope for.

When we ask God to give us strength, is this what we’re talking about?

Strength from Within

Possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life is a close friend of mine whom I hold dear to my heart.

When I say she is “beautiful,” I mean both inside and out.

If you met her, you’d know exactly what I mean.

What tears into my heart is that she continues to suffer from a painful autoimmune disease.

Please Lord, heal her. Ease her pain.

Throughout all of her suffering, there is something very different about her than other sufferers with this disease – the ones who have no hope.

It is unmistakable.

Her poor body continues to rage with new and horrific symptoms, and yet I see a strength shine through her that can only be described as God-given.

I treasure a card she sent me a while ago. I keep it in my office where I can see it every day.

She told me she doesn’t concentrate on the “whys.”

In her words,

“Jesus is the blessed controller of ALL things.

Knowing Him is all I need to comprehend – not why He chose

or chooses to use instruments to draw me closer to Himself.

No, all of the ‘whys’ will one day be answered.

Until that day – please hold me accountable to a childlike faith.”

You can see why she is precious to me.

Heroic Strength

Childlike faith – having the untarnished humility of a child bolstered by unshakable love, complete trust, and dependence on our Heavenly Father knowing that He will always be there to comfort us.

Courage is keeping our focus on Christ when everything in life is trying to pull us down.

It’s the “right stuff” that enables us to go on despite our circumstances.

I’ve got wonderful news: there is hope beyond your circumstances. You can live above them.

If a man named Paul could live above his unbelievably trying circumstances, so can you. But Christ must become your central focus.

He, alone, can empower you and teach you to live above the duress of adversity. Your external circumstances may not change, but deep within, you will. As Christ is allowed first place in your thoughts, changes will occur. Those changes will be evident to your mate, your children, your friends, and your coworkers. Instead of seeing yourself as a victim, you will begin to realize a strength that is not your own.

The result? You will make a difference because of the way you respond to the circumstances that once defeated you. To the people closest to you, your contentment despite your circumstances will be nothing short of heroic. – Chuck Swindoll, Christian pastor, author and educator. ¹

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¹ Chuck Swindoll quotation, courtesy of Insight For Living, “Despite your Cirumstances,” n.d. para. 4. Web. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Accessed 29 January, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/insight-for-living/read/articles/despite-your-circumstances-10196.html

Our Exceptional God

Grace

September 21, 2015 Gracie

His Grace Is Enough

The word “Grace” is, to me, one of the most beautiful words in the English language. When you think about what the word means, unexpected and unmerited favor, it gives me great encouragement to know that God created the potential of this beautiful quality in all of us so that we can share it with others.

Grace started with Him. His grace is enough When Jesus paid the penalty for yours and my sin, His grace covered all of it.

Do we still sin? Yes, but if we truly repent, God forgives and continues to refine and perfect us. Remember the “potter and the clay” analogy? It’s a perfect description of how God works in all of our lives. God’s grace is a refining fire in the midst of trials.

Everyone has the opportunity to receive His grace. It makes me sad when I hear that there are people who still believe they have to earn their way into Heaven.

They can’t. It’s impossible. We must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal salvation and that is the path we must take.

A Thorny Path

It’s a path that’s sometimes filled with thorns. Bad things will happen to us – we can expect it at some point in our lives. We may even question God about the injustice of it all.

Take heart, dear one.

God has promised He would always be with us, and if it’s in His divine plan, He will bring healing if it accomplishes His purpose. There is always a purpose.

Cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease – there are so many words like these that strike fear and discouragement when they become a part of our lives or of someone we love.

How do we survive a diagnosis such as these?

faith and prayer With Faith. It has to be with Faith.

Please add “a lot of prayer from friends and family” to that because God listens to every one. He hears your every heart beat and He hears your every word. Trust in Him and His plan for your life. We know that God is already working your suffering for good, maybe tomorrow or maybe way into the future. We must trust Him, even when the healing doesn’t come in this life.

A friend of mine, Martha F. from Texas, has experienced God’s grace within her own family. We are all sinners in the eyes of God. Here’s a verse to illustrate that from the book of Romans:

Romans 3:23 —

* ²³All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All is Not Lost However

Taken by itself, one might think that all is lost, that there’s no way we can measure up. But all is not lost. Jesus provided a way for us to spend our lives eternally in His presence and where there will be nothing but joy.

Martha adds:

This verse sums up the human race to me and the grace that is available to all who receive Jesus as their Savior. It is a reminder to me that no one, no not one, of us are pure and blameless, but we have hope in Jesus as He took the punishment for our sins. Everyone has sinned, but everyone also has the opportunity to receive Christ. Because we all are sinners, Jesus died for all, not just an elect few. We all have the opportunity, as we are all sinners, to receive eternal salvation.

Nothing Compares To God’s Grace

We will have an eternal future with Him that will be better than anything we have ever experienced – that means all the beautiful sunsets, fun times spent with our loved ones, personal experiences with grace, exciting vacations, alone time spent with God – when it’s our time to leave this world, we will spend our time with Him in His holy presence and nothing can even compare with that.

His grace will always be enough. Here’s a song I love by Sara Groves. I hope you enjoy. God bless you all this week.

Our Exceptional God

Serenity Now!

October 23, 2014 Gracie

Serenity Now

Ever have one of those days? When it seems like nothing is going right?

Stop it!

You know you have 🙂

There are a few ways I can get back into focus when that happens to me.

Here’s what I do: I say a prayer and then look at something beautiful that God created. I know it sounds simple, but it works.

Here’s one of my favorite photos for you.

serenity now

How I Get Serenity Now

I put Philippians 4 into action and get my mind focused back on God, whether it’s through music or something visual.

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

– Philippians 4:8-9 ESV, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Here’s what happened on that day I’d rather forget:

I got on my computer to go into the writing directory I’ve been a member of since 2010.

Lo and behold I was met with an official message saying that the directory had been sold. I needed to make a decision quickly as to whether I would allow my articles to be republished on a new site (a site that I didn’t like) or all of my work would be deleted.

Wait – What????

It wasn’t just me that was affected by this behind the scenes sale. There were a million other writers who got the discouraging news.

All of my work was about to go “Poof!”

Never Giving Up

Out of all of my articles, the ones I really cared about were the ones about my faith in God. I was devastated.

As the deadline to either “move or terminate” my member account approached, I slowly started deleting my articles on the site and then re-saving them onto my hard drive. Each article removal hurt. Those articles represented a lot of work, but it wasn’t just the hours spent writing all of them.

I had put my heart into those articles.

It felt like I was being kicked in the stomach.

Why God?

After some initial tears and a pep talk from my husband and some encouraging friends, I picked myself up and started my own website.

Peace Through Jesus Christ

It’s nice not to be tied to a writing directory now, always subject to their conditions and potential to “sell out.”

So here it is, my new website.

I hope you are enjoying Delight in God.

Bad days will come and go, but the sun always rises and sets and reminds us that God’s love is as constant as the blessing of each new day.

Serenity is found through Him.

Be blessed!

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Our Exceptional God