Graced with Grace

    I've pleaded for strength, I've pleaded for grace, For mercy, For hope, I've pleaded for your will to be done, Yet for courage too. I've pleaded for healing, And for peace in this storm.   But when I run out of words, And run out of pleas, And the pain is still there, I come to you in tears. Its all I have left. Please, Lord, hear my tears!

When I am home at last, yet still have plenty of things on my brain to distract me and discourage me, it could be easy to miss the little gifts in life this week and next. Friday's blessing was a fun day of shopping with sisters and mom, great deals and wonderful finds at thrift stores, my first hamburger from Cook Out ( Yeah, I know! I have lived in North Carolina this long and never experienced their hamburger, but in my defense I was too busy enjoying their milkshakes instead), and a free sugar cookie from Harris Teeter because I am definitely still a kid. And lets not forget the very sticky sweaty woods-tramping we sisters did together in which we tried our best to get lost, but considering we have roamed these woods for so long, it was really near impossible to get lost ( though at one point we thought we had accomplished it). Friday is now here and its wonderful to have a little sister like mine to keep sunshine in my life. She has the art of making sunshine wherever ...

  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17     Another year of school is coming to a close and it has certainly not lacked in its mountains and the valleys.   There have been challenges  And adventures And ice cream And chocolate And papers to write And books to read And dishes to wash.      There has also been Hope and disappointment, Repenting and forgiving , Heart wrenching sadness and overwhelming joy, New friends and old friends, Giving up and persevering, Dancing in the rain and weeping in the rain, Trusting and waiting, Learning and failing, And always grace new every morning.