its been a minute

I plan to offer no excuses for my absence, I have come to expect them now and again. I no longer view these times of silence as a bad thing. I consider them a time of healing. reflection. growth. man have I been doing alot of all 3 lately.
in moments taking me way back in time. other moments to yeserday.
all these moments add up togeter to produce in me a new sense of peace mingled in pain. I am not sure I am able to put words to my thoughts and feelings. But if anything gives me inspiration to do so it is this gem that

I stumbled across taken by a dear friend of mine. I see in this photo every feeling that has been swirling about in my heart.
I want to tell you what I learned about faith, grace, trust and frustration....

Faith is the road we travel to recieve Grace, God provides grace to meet us where our need is. If we try to do things on our own without being open to receiving the Grace God has for us then it really does not matter how much faith we have we will not receive what we are asking for. The bible says that Grace is the power of God coming to us through our faith to meet our needs.

If we get frustrated it is because we are trying to make things happen on our own. It is not because we have no faith, it is because we have stopped there, just short of allowing His Grace to make the difference.

We get frustrated because we have plans for our lives and sometimes those plans don't work out as we thought they should. What we need to do is trust and rely on God's Grace. Because He knows what we are facing everyday, at work, at home, every step we take, in every situation. If we trust Him enough to allow Him to lead, then He will work out all the details. And what the end result is will be better than what we could have imagined in the first place.

When we get into those situations where it is difficult to remember how to rely on His Grace, lets face it, we are human, so those situations come more often than we would like. See the frustration, stop, ask God, "God, please give me grace in this situation". Then believe that God has heard your prayer and is answering it as you walk through the rest of your day. Leave it there at His feet, trust Him and he will give you the grace to survive any change that comes your way.

I am so guilty of this. I get caught up in the emotion of my passionate beliefs and plans. I stall out just short of Grace. I find myself spinning out of control and searching for peace again. WHen all along it has been here, by my side, waiting. Wiating for me to greet her and accept her and USE her.

I am not perfect. I am far from that. I have many flaws and shortcomings and fall short daily. But I do know this. I a going to try harder to push through the pain and passion of who I am and reach beyond myself to grab onto Grace and allow her to lead me through.