Grace for Grace

 With marriage on the horizon, the subject of long-suffering and faithfulness feels topical.  I think of Melissa and Jonathan Helser. I love listening to their podcast. Even though I don't agree with all of their theology, I trust the fruit of their lives. It is evident in their humility, it is evident in the gentleness and steadfastness of the community they have built around them.  I want my relationship with God and with my future husband to have the sweet savour of faithfulness and steadfastness. It is forged through continual submission.  I ask myself "At the end of my days, when my life has been lived, what do I want to be able to look back on? What do I want to be remembered for?"  Obedience, faithfulness, thankfulness.  Work in me the fruits of obedience, faithfulness, and thankfulness.  So what is faithfulness?  I think faithfulness is a long-term practice of standing on our foundation no matter what is happening. When I think of faithful...

I am convinced that nothing can separate me from God.  I am also convinced that the greatest gift I have been given, besides salvation, is the presence of the Holy Spirit. I am not alone. Someone once described it as the crescendo of the cross, and at the time I thought that was religious mumbo jumbo, but I think I understand it now.  While salvation is a fixed thing, the day to day struggles and tension is answered by the companionship and comfort of the Holy Spirit. He changes my life every day.  Yesterday I felt pricked to refocus my mind on choosing joy and the blessings of God in difficult situations, and today I feel carried to the songs and the perspectives that I need.  I am being reminded of truths that God taught me years ago, when He was cultivating exponential growth in me, and now I have old growth to lean back on. I am so grateful for His planning and timing, I am feeling the strength of what He has built in me, and I am amazed at how He knew I would ne...

Proverbs 27:7 - "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet." This verse is so interesting to me because it could be taken so many ways.  The full soul could be one that gorges themself on pleasures and things to fill themselves up, so that even when true sweetness and real good comes along, like how the Word of God is compared to honey, they don't want it, they don't see their need and there is no room for it in their bellies because they have filled themself with things that don't truly matter.  It's like not wanting real maple syrup because you're used to the sugary fake stuff that's terrible for you.  But to the hungry soul, the one that trained their appetite to want that which is prudent and reasonable and good, even trials and difficult situations are sweet, are desirable because they recognize the work that is wrought in the soul because of it. They are hungry for God, for His hand and His word in e...

 I started feeling sorry for myself, I was grumbling, and I was about to let it affect my whole day.  Then a little flip was switched and I felt led to listen to worship music. There was a line in a song about heaven surrounding me, and I had a little moment of clarity. I saw what I had been headed towards: self-pity, ungratefulness, resentment, and it would have ruined my day and soured a precious time with my nephew. And then I saw how that switch had to have been the Holy Spirit, had to have been heavenly fortification, because I myself love a good pity party, I love a good wallow, but God said "this is not what I have for you." It was divine interference in the most mundane, sweet way possible. It felt very practical, very "God-with-us", you know? I am grateful.  ^^ This is a great example of the Holy Spirit teaching us, and us cooperating. The reason why He is a teacher is because so much of the Christian walk is a learned skill like anything else. We are told ...

Life Lately has been me relishing the contentment and joy that I feel in my everyday life.  I am aching for Ecclesiastes, and wanting Proverbs. I want practical, slow wisdom.  It has just now -- as I type these words -- occurred to me that my birthday is tomorrow. I am going to be 23, the oldest I've ever been, yet I am keenly aware of how young that is.  I am praying for wisdom and peace.  I am grateful for the grace I have felt to be hands off, to trust the Holy Spirit and try to open myself to teaching.  Teach me Holy Spirit. It is what You are here for, to comfort and teach, and I need both together. You know what I need.  My birthday has passed with a surprising outpouring of love and celebration. It was lots of tiny moments that made me feel so seen and cherished.  Holy Spirit, my prayer for 23 is this: that I would welcome you into every interaction, every decision, and every thought. I don't want to live life the same as I always have. In the s...

lol. I read this back, and I can see it and remember it a little more clearly for what it was: a kid who loved God and wanted to be closer, and had been shown that the way to be closer was "breakthrough", was big emotional revelations. Those big emotional revelations -- in my mind -- were still something to achieve, something I could do, and it meant that I was making linear progress in my walk with God, because no matter how much I said otherwise, I still craved milestones and achievements that proved I was more set free than others.  A Bit of Backstory: January of 2017 -  I was wondering why I felt like I was in the same place I had been for years, and searching for some magical quote or phrase that could fix my stagnant heart. Somehow I stumbled across a song:  Pieces by Steffany Gretzinger. The moment those first few notes started playing, I burst into tears. I felt something so intense and scary and all-at-once powerful, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that ...

Haha, so this is a post I wrote but never published. I wrote it...maybe three years ago? If not longer lol A lot has changed in me, and I would like to think I've gained more perspective and maturity. Let's see if I actually have.   I fully believe that grace is the message of my life. Do ya now? You believe that you have special claim to knowing God's grace like no one else? You? haha no. More accurately, you want to feel spiritual, you want to feel like your story is unique. And you want to emulate the spiritual leaders you are listening to right now, which means you need a message for your life, an over arching theme. It has settled into the cracks of my heart like nothing else, revealing how much I lack it, and how much it can solve. The first part of that sentence sounds good, but I don't really know what I meant by "cracks of my heart" lol  I did and still do lack it, and it can solve so much, that's true.  My name is Evangeline Grace, or "b...