Graced with Grace

    Cars speeding by, Honking horns, Screeching brakes. People hurrying here, And there; People everywhere; Yelling, screaming, Impatient to arrive. Always going, Never pausing. That’s how life In the city Goes. Time to pause; Time to think; See the beauty. Smile at the lonely. Watch the clouds Drifting across the sky. See the flowers In your neighbors garden. Feel the gentle breeze And breathe in the fresh air.   Take time to pause In life. Take time. See beauty there. Slow down and watch. See Beauty all around.

I lived in Minnesota for a whole winter and didn't go ice skating once, even though it is the perfect place to go ice skating being the land of a thousand lakes. Then I come back to North Carolina and go ice skating in an ice house during the summer. That sounds kind of backwards doesn't? :) Now ice skating is one, among a million, skills that I do not have. I simply was not born with the gift of moving on ice. So as you can imagine I move at a very slow tedious pace and even then I fall quite often. That is when I discovered that I ought to be very thankful God made me short. He certainly had a reason for it. He knew that some day I would be on ice and that the shorter I am the safer it would be. Small children on ice can be absolutely adorable, if they know what their doing, but I must admit they freak me out at times. For, although some of them are very good at skating, they don't always look where they are going or else don't take into account that there will b...

Ever since I can remember being able to write, I have loved sending letters to friends from far and near. As a young girl, I always looked forward to and excitedly anticipated a letter in return which was part of my motivation for writing in the first place. But as I got older and those I wrote to got older, I knew that they may not have time to respond, but some how I knew that they would be blessed if I sent a letter anyway.  Writing handwritten letters through snail-mail may seem like an old fashioned, slow, and rather quaint past time communication. But I have been discovering, to my pure delight, that I am not the only one who wants to keep this old fashioned communication going.  There is true beauty, delight, warmth, joy, strength, and encouragement that can be found through simply writing a handwritten letter and sending it through the mail. There is beauty in the note card that was picked out for someone special. There is pure joy and del...

There seems to be so much talk in the Christian circle these days about the grace of God. God's grace is indeed wonderful and should be talked of much! Everyone of us would be destined to hell without God's grace. Yet I believe God's grace is being misused in today's Christian culture. So many Christians are willing to continue living a sinful life style, because God's grace has paid for there sins they argue. Yet this misuse of grace is not completely new to the church. One can find that Paul the Apostle had to confront this very issue in his letter to the Romans in chapter 6 specifically. He starts off saying, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Paul says here that those who are in Christ have died to sin and are to no longer live in that sin. If sin has been put to death on the cross with Christ, than it can no longer have dominion in one's life ( 6:6-7...

I've always loved a good story. If someone has a good story to tell me then I 'm all ears. I love to find out a little about the back ground of someone; where they grew up, what kind of family they grew up in. knowing the kind of life someone lived, helps me to understand that person better. It helps me to understand why they might think or feel or talk or act a certain way. It gives me a new perspective of that person. Yet not only do I love to hear peoples stories, but for a long time now I have had a desire to write down peoples stories. There are so many people who may seem to have lived such an ordinary life, but if you sit and listen to their stories then you will find that their life isn't as ordinary as one may think. The truth is, I really can't say that anyone's life is completely ordinary, because God created every life and every life is a miracle and every life is unique with each person having their very own unique story to tell. So today I woul...

My little sister, Lydia, had a splinter in her toe this evening, so several of us all gathered around her ready to pull it out. My dad of course got out his knife, thinking that was clearly the best option. But I'll have you know, that she nor any of her sisters thought that was a good option. Known of us like the idea of having a knife digging into our foot, splinter or no splinter, thus, we all plead on her behalf. I stepped in and said I could pull it out with my fingers. So while I pull and push at it with my fingers, some are trying to comfort the poor girl and my dad is standing there insisting that he use his knife. In the meantime, Lydia, is making all kinds of funny noises and comments, because no matter how much pain she is in she always seems to say something funny and make us ( or at least me) laugh, even though we are trying to be all serious and be her doctor. Dad finally wins and gets to use his knife for a short time, but after a little bit of picking at it, I had ...

When I fall, Grace lifts me up. When I fail, Grace stands strong. When I run, Grace holds me tight. Sin can't hold me down, Cause grace has set me free. Grace is stronger. Grace is stronger.