Grateful....

This morning these beautiful thoughts rolled out to me through a sister .... what a way to kick off the morning, huh?

"To be thankful is to be humble and beautiful. It gives rise to praise, which rolls into worship ~ your lifestyle not just your songs ~ which then persevered, brings you to a state of dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, the very presence of GOD. So be thankful. Not only in this season of America's Thanksgiving holiday, but always, in everything, be thankful."

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of GOD in Christ Jesus for you."
~I Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV

This is by far, my favorite holiday after Valentine's Day every year! And ....
I give you thanks today for so much, but the focus of my gratitude is that you are GOD.....my God and Your love is so rich and deep and powerful.....Your grace and mercy sustain me constantly...minute by minute....
Thank You for creating me just as I am....for loving me without any conditions....and just for each and every breath of every day. For this and so much more.....I thank You, Father.

I love You......

Sharoni
...giving voice to those with none....

more about.....grace

And the thoughts just keep rolling through me about Your grace.....much like the tide of the ocean I sit beside today, the current gently continuing the movement. While what we see with our eyes appears as a gentle driver, the current actually carries immense power. That is the part hidden to the natural eye. But when we actually study what's going on underneath the depths, overhead in the gravitational pull, it can blow our minds!
And that's a pretty good picture, for me anyway, of Your grace.
Many years ago, a friend who is a really great Bible teacher gave us a definition of grace that captured the essence of this concept. It literally changed my life! She said, and I held in my heart from that day forward, that grace is "GOD's ability to do in me, through me, and for me what I cannot." Pretty simple summation of something that is so immense in reality. And from that day forward, I learned to literally walk in that grace and Your mercy.
She also taught me that grace is not something that is a one time deal, or that which we receive an occassional dose of, but a part of Your love that carries us through our life moment by moment. I can't even use the word daily here because it is truly a momentary thing!
You showed me a well that I can come to at any time and draw grace from.....that spring of life that only You provide that sustains us. And it is always there, and it always carries me. I memorized Hebrews 4:16 ~
"Let us then (boldly) approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." NIV

These words, the concepts and the power within them have carried me every day since I learned them. I remember when Holy Spirit dropped them into my heart and they literally became "rhema" to me. Grace is a bit like that manna You provided Your people back during the exodus..... "gather only what you need for right now, today." I believe those were Your instructions. Anything left over or hoarded for a "tomorrow" was spoiled.
Like the manna, grace is there for the "just when we need it."
Now here's the thing....I have become almost unable to conceive of a day without it! And I don't want to approach anything in life without .... You. And grace is a part of that.
My heart is so ..... well, full for lack of a better word, with all this. So I'll end this blog today, because I just feel that I will throw words out here without much substance should I continue.

Sharoni
....giving voice to those with none....

.....by Grace

Overwhelmed by grace.......I hear it all the time...... I see it in so many titles but seldom am I able to really get the author's true feeling of grace. I hear their stories, I see in my mind's eye their situations, and I feel their pain......but where is the true grace? As the focus is so often, even in my own telling, on everything but the grace that carried them through, or at least it feels that way in the reading, how do we walk away with anything other than a thought of 'and?'.............

Okay, I am guilty of the same. But today I do not want to be ..... today I want to truly be able to express how I am daily, minute by minute..... second by second really overwhelmed by Your grace. Because I am......humbly.....I am. When I look at the man lying beside me faithfully for over 25 years now, I am overwhelmed by grace. As I look back at our life together and all our experiences both those that felt wonderful and those that hurt like heck......I am overwhelmed by grace.
As I consider the birth of each and every child You placed in my womb, both those that lived and the one that lives eternally with You at this very moment ...... I am overwhelmed by Grace. When I consider the absolutely amazing and lovely life I have lived and how immensely I have been blessed by You ..... I am overwhelmed by Grace.
When I consider the outstanding upbringing and mentoring I have had as Your child .... I am beyond overwhelmed by Grace.
And ..... when I consider You..... just You and Who You Are...... I am speechless, almost breathless as I am truly overwhelmed by Grace.
I think about the miracles.......dozens and dozens of miracles You have performed in my life, our lives.......emotion wells up in me and I gasp for breath, again, at the overwhelming concept of that Grace.
And it's all because You love me. That's all......You. Love. me.
And I am ..... overwhelmed by grace.
Seriously.

Sharoni
....giving voice to those with none....