Out of the Box - Under Grace and Clothed in Joy!

Grace.
What does grace MEAN?
What does grace LOOK LIKE?
Do I live grace out in my life?
These are questions I have been asking myself the past few months. And what a journey it has been and continues to be! One morning in the hustle and bustle of getting out the door for school, I felt out of breath, parched. Thirsty for HIM that is. For His love. For His words. And then the whisper....

My grace is sufficient....

And as I sit here writing, He floods to mind all the morsels of deliciousness He has been teaching me. That whisper was the answer to the GUILT I had been feeling from not spending hours of 'sit down' quiet time with Him.

Do you do this? Do you have a picture of what quiet time with Him looks like? Is it wrapped in a pretty little box and tied with a pretty bow? And when you don't get that 'pretty little box' time you feel guilty, angry, frustrated, not spiritual enough, not good enough?

I sure do.

I think I don't tap into the POWER of the Holy Spirit at its full, because I get hung up on 'not feeling good enough or spiritual enough'.

That if I don't follow these X and O's:
*if I don't have DAILY quiet time
*if it doesn't last more than 15 minutes
*if I don't have quiet time first thing in the morning
*if I have made poor choices
*if I have had impure thoughts
*if I'm angry, bitter, tired, jealous, negative, unforgiving...
*if I didn't hear from Him

Then I can't:
*pray with a friend or for a friend
*send an encouraging word
*ask for anything...healing, wisdom, peace
*be joyful

But you know what the word is?! GRACE!

He wants me all parts of the day, all emotions of the day!

There have been quite a few times I have prayed for friends and with friends, and there is part of me that has ALMOST not done it! This is because my 'self' has said, "you're not worth it...you haven't spent enough time knowing His thoughts to have anything that your friend needs to hear". And what I tell my 'self' back is...

'I didn't deserve Him in the first place!'

I don't deserve how great, wonderful, loving, forgiving and magnificent He is. I can't earn His love by what I do or what I study. But He loves me and wants to use me for good. I don't deserve the spiritual things He gives me to say to folks. I am not that smart. Please hear this girl who knows she is very loved beyond measure by her loving God, but knows...it ain't nuttin I've done on my own! I don't gain spirituality. and I don't lose it. I am just supposed to use it. Use it to love Him. Use it to love others. And I won't let the 'you're not spiritual enough or good enough', keep me from Him.

His grace is enough. His grace is all I need.

Lord, I wanna shut guilt out and have YOU come rushing in! Today is a fresh day...I wanna get quiet time out of the box. You have been so faithful to me. You have showed up everyday and everytime I have invited You in. You are faithful...even when I'm not. You show up...even when I don't. I love you and praise you!

In my next blog, I will be sharing some things I have been doing 'out of my box' to get with Him throughout the day.

'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' 2 Corinthians 12:9