Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts

28 Days Left and Lesson to be learned

Challenge number two done, 28 days to go!!! For this challenge I thought I would be friend a man I see walking every day, always alone and always at the same time. I thought this would be rather effortless because I know when he is out walking and he always looks friendly, but to my shock he wasn’t there today and in a mystified I said to God “now what”? But God always has a plan and after that unfortunate incident I went to my Mom’s and as I was driving there I passed by a little white and blue house. Since I can remember the same lady has lived there “the Cat Lady” is what we as children so fondly called her and we all believed she was the town witch!! And if any of you have ever lived in a small town you know that every town has a town witch, and she was ours. Now as an adult I don’t believe in witches anymore but still she is out of the ordinary. So as I passed by that house I got a feeling that she was the person I was to befriend, the nobody, and I said to God “really?” I have never even been close to her front for the fear of being turned into a rat or frog or something, but God replied “Yes” So my rational side of me knew that this lady was just a quiet outsider, not a witch just a regular human, so I took a deep breath and put my foot on her property. As I knocked on the door I felt almost certain that when she opened the door she would turn me into a frog or maybe steal my bones right from out of my skin leaving me a helpless pile of skin, I could hear my heart racing in my ears, but I knocked and waited and when she opened the door, she didn’t steal my bones she was just a regular lady. So I said to her my named and I told her that I have lived in this town my whole life and it occurred to me that we have never met and I gave her a small heart shaped dish full of cinnamon hearts. She looked at me with bright blue eyes, that were gentle and thoughtful and through her wrinkles and bushy hair you could see that this is kind person. She smiled and told me “My name is Glenda...nice to meet you.” And in my head I laughed thinking like the good witch. I walked away from that house no longer afraid, and I hoped that today would remain a wonderful day and full of blessings for this lady that the world has forgotten!! This challenge was a delightful challenge that brought me back in time and it let me see how harsh children can be and how as adults at times we hold on to our childhood notions and those notions may hold us back from making wonderful connections!! So this leads to Challenge number three: Make contact with a person that you have lost contact with and that you may blame for this relationship dissolving.


Lord Jesus, you are the source of all love and goodness. You have created us to love and be loved and you have given us our family, friends and loved ones to experience this love. I come to you now humbly asking for healing as I suffer now because of a broken relationship. Grant me, Lord, the grace of true forgiveness, to let go of all my bitterness, anger and buried resentments and choose to forgive even if it hurts. I ask that you grant me the grace of humility to ask forgiveness, too, for my own mistakes and for patience and perseverance to keep on in this journey towards reconciliation despite the challenges and trials along the way. Lord, you know all things, you can do all things and you love me as you also love (name of person). Touch our heart with your power that can heal all damaged relationships and bring reconciliation realizing the importance of being at peace with ourselves and others. Let all blaming ease and let each person see things from your point of view and through your eyes of love. Let your love break down all dividing walls and barriers, restore this damaged relationship and lead us to seek and follow your will and divine plan for our lives. Let joy rest in our hearts once again.

The Proposal

Today in church we were learning about grace, and the message made me think what is grace? and that if we are made by Christ to be like Christ then we all have it in us to show Grace and mercy regularly; but how many of us do? The Biblical definition of Grace is the unearned gift the Father gives his children, and likewise the Webster dictionary defines Graces as a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people, and the infinite love, mercy, favour, and goodwill shown to humankind by God. Also other words for Grace are: mercy which is kindness or forgiveness shown especially to somebody a person has power over, benevolence is the duty to do good by others, blessing which is help believed to come from God, and charity which is the impartial love of other people and the voluntary provision of money, materials, or help to people in need. Therefore Grace’s is the duty to do good, show tolerance, forgive, show impartial love and help others in need even if it is unearned. We have been saved by God’s Grace as pointed out in Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."And Eph.2 8, 9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” God has given us this unmerited gift of life and continually shows us Grace by giving us blessings when we repeatedly are undeserving of them. Thomas Watson said "How many steps may a man take in the way to the kingdom of God, and yet miss it?" This is true how often we have lost our way, but God by grace shows us the way back. We have Christ in us and we were made in his image, then shouldn’t we try to live like Christ? And if God shows us Grace and Mercy day after day then isn’t our obligation to show our Grace and Mercy to all people? And if everyone made an effort to show Mercy and Grace habitually then wouldn’t our world be a better place? In the Bible there are scripture saying we should live with grace, for instance: Luke 6: 35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you are kind.” And Romans 12: 14-21 “Bless your enemies; [...] get along with each other; don’t be stuck up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover the great beauty in everyone [...] if you see your enemy hungry, go buy the person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing well.” God is telling us to live well and do well; my final question is if we were to show Grace and mercy daily would this have an impact on our life? And this is the question that leads me to my challenge for myself and my readers: I am proposing a 30 day Challenge where we will make an effort to find one person a day and show them our mercy and grace. I will document the challenges, reaction and in the end the difference in my life. This is not for the faint of heart and it could be life changing. One day one person and we WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! February 8 will mark day 1 of the Grace Challenge and challenge number one is: To find a person in need that most people would say about them “they made their bed” and bring them a one dish meal!! A final prayer to help "Dear Lord, bless us and lift us up. Thank you for your wonderful mercy and grace! There is no other like you. Increase those qualities in us. Help us to show mercy and grace to others. Forgive us for the times when we have not. Praise you for your awesome character and your consistent love. Increase our faith and our love for you and others. In Jesus' name, Amen."
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