Grace

Not Ashamed.

You are the fullness of the beauty I seek
You are, You are
You are the Healer of the broken and weak
You are, You are

Even though few may stand and proclaim
Your great name
It's the life I want to live
'Cause I'm convinced
There is none like You

CHROUS:
I'm not ashamed of the gospel
I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ
I will stand and boldly say
"This is my life"
Whoa...

You are the Author of salvation and faith
You are, You are
You are the victory that conquered the grave
You are, You are

Even though few may stand and proclaim
Your great name
It's the life I want to live
'Cause I'm convinced
There is none like You

Jeremy Camp.

I think the reason that I have not added a spiritual element to my ‘Remains of the Daze’ blog is that I have been afraid. I have not been so much afraid to proclaim my Christianity to the world so much as I have been afraid to expose the workings of my heart to other Christians. I’m afraid of their judgement or criticism…of them thinking…she thought that or believed this? How long has she been a Christian? How is it she is still dealing with that issue? I know I should believe better of all the amazing Godly Christians I have in my life….they probably won’t even go there…but there is always that little voice in my head that wants to protect my heart.

To continue on from my previous post that explains my testimony (for anyone who is not a Christian that is reading this, your testimony is your story of how you came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.), we attended the church that we were saved in for another 22 years. In November, 2007 the church closed under a series of circumstances that made it impossible for the church to continue in any kind of capacity as a functioning vessel of God. The Pastor was accused of immoral activities which he denied and refused to repent from. There was a trial and he went to jail. The story is not complete but I’m not at liberty to give any details.  There were also issues of control, manipulation and lying and deceit. There may be those that read this post and deduct that I write this out of bitterness or retribution but I’m just stating a fact that 22 years of my spiritual growth and life were in this atmosphere. That is not to say that God was not working in the lives of those in that church. Many good things happened there. I was married while there, gave birth to 5 children, homeschooled my children, lived, loved, laughed and wept. But by stating the facts I can move on and refer to any time in my past without shame and regret. I recently came to the place in my life where I can say that I’m thankful for everything that has happened in my life to bring me to this place. This place of grace.  In the last year, God has been teaching me about Grace. The dictionary definition of grace is:

Grace (noun)

1.      Elegance-elegance, beauty, and smoothness of form or movement

2.      Politeness- dignified, polite, and decent behaviour

3.      Generosity of spirit- a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people

4.      Prayer at mealtimes- a short prayer of thanks to God said before, or sometimes after, a meal

5.      Same as grace period- in finance

6.      Pleasing quality- a pleasing and admirable quality or characteristic

7.      Gift of God to humankind- in Christianity, the infinite love, mercy, favour, and goodwill shown to humankind by God

8.      Freedom from sin- in Christianity, the condition of being free of sin, e.g. through repentance to God

9.      Same as grace note- music

U2 defines Grace with a song.

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world

And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything

Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a wrapper on chalk
She's got the time to talk

She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma

When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips

She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hers
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stains

Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace finds goodness
In everything

Bono

The Bible definition of grace is: unmerited favour.

Wickipedia defines grace as: Christian theology, grace is an attribute of God — a spontaneous, unmerited gift of divine favour for his children—a favor most manifest in the salvation of sinners. It is understood by Christians to be the "free gift" of an uncaused and overflowing love and mercy—'totally undeserved' by humanity.^[1] Christian orthodoxy has taught that the initiative in the relationship of grace between God and an individual is always on the side of God. Once God has reached out in this “first grace,” however, each person has the option to accept it or reject it, and a responsibility for the continuance of the relationship.


I love how grace is an attribute of God.


And that it is an initiative on the side of God.




All of this to say that this place in my life that God has brought me too…this journey…I would like to call Graceland. It is a place that I have come to dwell in and I plan to sojourn here for a while. Drop in and visit from time to time and see what God is doing with the place….