I'm listening to a group from Hungary talking about the Story of Grace, when they first heard the Gospel. We all have a story of Grace. Some have not experienced it yet, because they haven't experienced Jesus yet. It is Grace that has kept them from destruction. Those of us who are saved are bathed in Grace...may I say, every day.
We know the riches of Grace. It doesn't always look the same. We feel broken, so that we may be healed. God allows us to suffer so that we can know His Grace. In all the pain that we experience...scorn, rejection, loneliness, you name it, if you give it to Jesus He will bring Grace and peace to your heart.
Tonight my heart is hurting for another. My heart fears for her and breaks for the situation. I can't go to her, so I pray God's Grace to bathe over her. That somehow, however hopeless it may seem, she will know that God is All-Seeing and All-Knowing. He can deliver. I believe He will deliver.
That is what Jesus saw, a hurting people, a hopeless soul. He saw it from ages past to ages to come. That held Him to the cross so that we can be saved. The soldiers didn't take His life. He gave His life so that we have life Eternal.
Grace...my favorite word in all Scripture. When I think of grace, I think of the basin of Grace, when Jesus washed Judas' feet. Who would want to wash the feet of the one who would betray me? Jesus did. He knew what Judas was going to do, yet He washed his feet. That is a tangible picture of Grace.
Amazing Grace!! Oh Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.
God, bathe us in your Grace.
Grace Abundantly
Barb
Friday, June 27, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Road Signs
Patrick and I are having a wonderful time in our travels. This morning I was reading Psalm 19:7-14, which is a great map for our walk with Jesus. It gives us direction and the value of following and obeying His Word. His Word is absolutely perfect. It is solid and true. God doesn't change His directions. They all lead to Him, they take us Home to Him. The only way His Commands work is if we obey them.
This is also true of traveling. We have our destination mapped out. We had a starting point and have a final destination. Jesus did too. He left His home with the Father, came to earth, and has returned to the Father.
Along the way, we have many stops for many reasons. We stopped to have lunch with my mom. It is so fun to bless her. In our spiritual walk, it is so important to share Jesus and bless people along the way.
We need to fill our tank with gas and our bodies with food. So we look for gas stations and restaurants. We need to read the Bible on a daily basis to replenish our hearts and minds. We cannot go from Sunday to Sunday and expect church to supply all our spiritual needs. Not at all, God has specific messages for each of us for the times we are in. Your pastor cannot do all that for you. We need to pull up to the station and get a personal fill-up.
Along the way we come to rest stops. Those are the moments we pull back from the busy-ness of the highway and take a deep breath. Maybe take a short walk. Breathe in some fresh air. God has those moments all along our way. Too many times we are so busy we pass those moments up. Is there a problem to stop "and smell the roses?" We think we have no time. God gives us all the time we need, we just don't always ask Him how to use that time. Don't miss an opportunity that God places before you.
Of course, there are always detours, slow traffic, accidents, etc as we go along. That is just like satan, trying to get our attention off the road, trying to bring us to complete stops. Maybe he puts a detour in our way, distractions. Hoping to that we lose our way back to the Father. Maps and a GPS are great helps for traveling. I'd hate to travel without them.
You don't need to be on a literal trip to experience these things. We can see it in our daily lives at home. Prayer is a #1 essential tool to stay on the right path. The Bible is the best map and GPS to take us Home to our Father.
Don't be discouraged. Keep on the Road. Keep your eyes on Jesus and your Heart turned toward your Father. He will never take you down a wrong road. Safe Travels.
His Grace Abundantly
Barb
This is also true of traveling. We have our destination mapped out. We had a starting point and have a final destination. Jesus did too. He left His home with the Father, came to earth, and has returned to the Father.
Along the way, we have many stops for many reasons. We stopped to have lunch with my mom. It is so fun to bless her. In our spiritual walk, it is so important to share Jesus and bless people along the way.
We need to fill our tank with gas and our bodies with food. So we look for gas stations and restaurants. We need to read the Bible on a daily basis to replenish our hearts and minds. We cannot go from Sunday to Sunday and expect church to supply all our spiritual needs. Not at all, God has specific messages for each of us for the times we are in. Your pastor cannot do all that for you. We need to pull up to the station and get a personal fill-up.
Along the way we come to rest stops. Those are the moments we pull back from the busy-ness of the highway and take a deep breath. Maybe take a short walk. Breathe in some fresh air. God has those moments all along our way. Too many times we are so busy we pass those moments up. Is there a problem to stop "and smell the roses?" We think we have no time. God gives us all the time we need, we just don't always ask Him how to use that time. Don't miss an opportunity that God places before you.
Of course, there are always detours, slow traffic, accidents, etc as we go along. That is just like satan, trying to get our attention off the road, trying to bring us to complete stops. Maybe he puts a detour in our way, distractions. Hoping to that we lose our way back to the Father. Maps and a GPS are great helps for traveling. I'd hate to travel without them.
You don't need to be on a literal trip to experience these things. We can see it in our daily lives at home. Prayer is a #1 essential tool to stay on the right path. The Bible is the best map and GPS to take us Home to our Father.
Don't be discouraged. Keep on the Road. Keep your eyes on Jesus and your Heart turned toward your Father. He will never take you down a wrong road. Safe Travels.
His Grace Abundantly
Barb
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Quietly Wait?
Isaiah 30:15 "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." But you would not..
How sad! God promised His people a safe haven and peace if they return and trust in Him, but they didn't. They wanted their own way. They wanted to flee on horses, on swift horses. Oh that sounds quite familiar. God wants me to sit quietly and learn from Him, draw confidence from His Word, but I'd rather have my prayer answered "Right Now." I really don't like to wait.
Waiting and resting in quietness when the burden is so heavy, we feel we are going to lose our sanity. How can we? After all, shouldn't God see that our prayers need answers now? But no, many times God wants us to keep our eyes and heart on Him. The answer will come in His time.
Many years ago when our children weren't serving the Lord, I would pray and pray. I confess, I would worry. We were in Haiti and our children were in the States. I couldn't get to them, and I'm not sure what I would have done if I could have gotten to them. Sound familiar, moms? But every time I prayed, I heard God's soft whisper, "I know where your children are every minute. I love them more than you ever could. Trust me." I wish I could say I stopped worrying about them. I didn't. That quiet rest and confidence that God speaks about, seemed to elude me.
But the Bible is loaded with promises and invitations to give our burdens to the Lord. He will carry them for us. Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you.." What a comfort, in the midst of our deepest need. He is waiting for me/you to give Him our burdens. He desires to pour His grace over us.
Grace....my favorite word in Scripture. But that is for another time in another blog..
His Grace Abounds
Barb
How sad! God promised His people a safe haven and peace if they return and trust in Him, but they didn't. They wanted their own way. They wanted to flee on horses, on swift horses. Oh that sounds quite familiar. God wants me to sit quietly and learn from Him, draw confidence from His Word, but I'd rather have my prayer answered "Right Now." I really don't like to wait.
Waiting and resting in quietness when the burden is so heavy, we feel we are going to lose our sanity. How can we? After all, shouldn't God see that our prayers need answers now? But no, many times God wants us to keep our eyes and heart on Him. The answer will come in His time.
Many years ago when our children weren't serving the Lord, I would pray and pray. I confess, I would worry. We were in Haiti and our children were in the States. I couldn't get to them, and I'm not sure what I would have done if I could have gotten to them. Sound familiar, moms? But every time I prayed, I heard God's soft whisper, "I know where your children are every minute. I love them more than you ever could. Trust me." I wish I could say I stopped worrying about them. I didn't. That quiet rest and confidence that God speaks about, seemed to elude me.
But the Bible is loaded with promises and invitations to give our burdens to the Lord. He will carry them for us. Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you.." What a comfort, in the midst of our deepest need. He is waiting for me/you to give Him our burdens. He desires to pour His grace over us.
Grace....my favorite word in Scripture. But that is for another time in another blog..
His Grace Abounds
Barb
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Blessings Are Where?
I was privileged to attend Women of Faith this weekend. The highlight of the weekend was hearing Laura Story tell her story which is the foundation for her song Blessings. I have loved that song for a long time but now I have a greater appreciation for the message in the song.
Her challenge was that many times we are looking for blessings in the wrong places. We are looking for answers to our prayers, and God hasn't answered them yet, or at least not in the way that we expected. In our dashed expectation of "the" answer, we become distraught and downcast.
What if our trials are "God's mercies in disguise?" The rain, sleepless nights, rejection, and the many other hardships that so often turn our hearts to other sources for peace and hope, but only makes us more miserable. Can we really trust God in these seasons of suffering? The answer is yes!!
We are pilgrims on a walk, through the desert, and on mountain tops. This world is not our final home. Trials are for our growth in Christ. God has promised that we will suffer. Are they fun? Not at all. But if we keep our hearts and minds on God and His Word, we find blessings in the storm.
Perhaps you have been in an ongoing trial or suffering, and you wonder how much longer it will last. Where can we find encouragement? God's Word. Read the stories in the Old Testament. God's servants suffered greatly, yet they stood strong. For example, Daniel suffered in a foreign land away from his family for 70 years! He didn't know the end of his story. But what he did know was that God was his Fortress, his Rock and strength. Hebrews 11 is a great chapter that takes us through the Great Hall of Faith of God's people in the Old Testament.
Truly God's mercy and grace comes in the midst of trials, suffering, and hardships.
Isaiah 26:3-4 "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock." (NAS version)
His Grace Abounds
Barb
Her challenge was that many times we are looking for blessings in the wrong places. We are looking for answers to our prayers, and God hasn't answered them yet, or at least not in the way that we expected. In our dashed expectation of "the" answer, we become distraught and downcast.
What if our trials are "God's mercies in disguise?" The rain, sleepless nights, rejection, and the many other hardships that so often turn our hearts to other sources for peace and hope, but only makes us more miserable. Can we really trust God in these seasons of suffering? The answer is yes!!
We are pilgrims on a walk, through the desert, and on mountain tops. This world is not our final home. Trials are for our growth in Christ. God has promised that we will suffer. Are they fun? Not at all. But if we keep our hearts and minds on God and His Word, we find blessings in the storm.
Perhaps you have been in an ongoing trial or suffering, and you wonder how much longer it will last. Where can we find encouragement? God's Word. Read the stories in the Old Testament. God's servants suffered greatly, yet they stood strong. For example, Daniel suffered in a foreign land away from his family for 70 years! He didn't know the end of his story. But what he did know was that God was his Fortress, his Rock and strength. Hebrews 11 is a great chapter that takes us through the Great Hall of Faith of God's people in the Old Testament.
Truly God's mercy and grace comes in the midst of trials, suffering, and hardships.
Isaiah 26:3-4 "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock." (NAS version)
His Grace Abounds
Barb
Friday, June 6, 2014
Desert Walk
I am finally back at the desk, starting a new blog. This has been on my heart for some time, but as always, excuses. You know the scoop. We make excuses for many things, if not most. So my final excuse was, "I don't know what to call my blog." Immediately Diamonds in the Desert was bold in my heart.
Why the desert? My life has been a continual desert walk. I have mountain top experiences, but soon I find myself in the desert again. Sometimes, I put myself in the desert like Hagar in Genesis 16, when she ran from her problems at home. But she met God in the desert, and she needed to address her problems in order to live in freedom.
Other times God has led me to the desert as the Children of Israel to learn some hard lessons. Lessons of gratefulness, patience, love, worship, and the list goes on. For you see, in the desert, my comfort is taken away. Those things on which I have set my heart is not there. Just God and I. This puts my 29 years in Haiti in a nutshell. Although, it was not a horrible experience in Haiti, but a life long lesson of many things I did not understand before my life began in Haiti.
Now I am beyond the quake since 2010 (for those who read this and may not know, my husband and I are earthquake survivors). But God continues to work in my life.
Psalm 84 (especially verses 5-7) has been a favorite of mine for many years. It describes what I feel. When I am in the midst of a trying time, I pass through the valley of tears (Baca), but there are blessings along the way, I walk from strength to strength. For me those strengths were encouragements from people, tidbits from God's Word, or God showing up in unexpected ways.
God is my Strength, my Shield, Grace and Glory! I am blessed!
My prayer is that my blogs will encourage you and be a blessings
Why the desert? My life has been a continual desert walk. I have mountain top experiences, but soon I find myself in the desert again. Sometimes, I put myself in the desert like Hagar in Genesis 16, when she ran from her problems at home. But she met God in the desert, and she needed to address her problems in order to live in freedom.
Other times God has led me to the desert as the Children of Israel to learn some hard lessons. Lessons of gratefulness, patience, love, worship, and the list goes on. For you see, in the desert, my comfort is taken away. Those things on which I have set my heart is not there. Just God and I. This puts my 29 years in Haiti in a nutshell. Although, it was not a horrible experience in Haiti, but a life long lesson of many things I did not understand before my life began in Haiti.
Now I am beyond the quake since 2010 (for those who read this and may not know, my husband and I are earthquake survivors). But God continues to work in my life.
Psalm 84 (especially verses 5-7) has been a favorite of mine for many years. It describes what I feel. When I am in the midst of a trying time, I pass through the valley of tears (Baca), but there are blessings along the way, I walk from strength to strength. For me those strengths were encouragements from people, tidbits from God's Word, or God showing up in unexpected ways.
God is my Strength, my Shield, Grace and Glory! I am blessed!
My prayer is that my blogs will encourage you and be a blessings
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