Psalm 39; Ephesians 2; Romans 12; Hebrews 4, 10, 12, 13 - "Until Grace"

I woke up with a song Tauren Wells and Rascal Flatts sings called "Grace Found Me" and the direction from God to read Psalm 39. We all have a choice to make to live in God's love and grace or not. My heart breaks to see people in misery because they are not walking with God. It breaks to see people who used to be in relationship with Him live for themselves instead of for Him. Grace is something none of us deserve yet something He gives us freely. David's words In Psalm 39:13 in The Passion Translation are where we all need to get to while on this earth so we can live for eternity with Him. We must strive to live Christlike. When we do, we are living as God desires of us. We are not nor can we be perfect but we need to strive to do what God desires of us every day of our life. The more we strive to live in such a manner the more we will be successful. God is there to pour His grace over us when we fall. He is there to love us back into relationship with Him when we walk away. Jesus taught of grace in the story of the prodigal son. Paul taught the concept of grace throughout his writing. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us we are saved by grace. In verse ten he tells us in the New International Version, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We were created to live for God. There will be times we do not live as He desires or we fall but He is there to pick us up with His grace. Praise His Holy Name! I loved my reading over these last few weeks in the sermon series 'You Are Unique!' The reading we all have been doing over these weeks in Romans 12 speaks volumes to me about grace. The first part of verse six reads in the New International Version, We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If it not for grace, we would not be in a place where we could have the gifts God has given to us revealed. Woo hoo! Hebrews talks of grace as being a part of every aspect of life on this earth and when we depart to heaven. Hebrews 10:29 speaks of the Spirit of grace; 2:9 the connection between grace and salvation; 4:16, 12:15, and 13:9 connects grace and sanctification. if it were not for grace, none of us would be where we are today.

I knew I was broken but there was no one that I could tell
Praying felt like I was throwing pennies in a wishing well
And I started believing I was cursed to carry this weight
I was listing the reasons of why I should walk away

Until grace called my name
Oh, I didn't know I could be free
Until grace found me
Until grace broke these chains
Oh, I didn't know I could be free
Until grace found, Your grace found me

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for Your love and grace! I know I would not be where I am today without it. Thank You for the opportunities You presented to me yesterday to love with Your love! Thank You for our visits with Ms Carol and John; Mike; Will and Sandy; and Kayla! You are so good God at providing exactly what I need. Thank You for Rickey having a few days here to make memories! Thank You for Darrell getting my Vitamin Water! Once again, You are so, so good to me in all the ways You love on me. Father, I pray You will cleanse me so You can fill me to overflowing with more of You. May You shine brightly through my words, actions, attitude, and thoughts today. I pray for Marion to cooperate with the therapists and for me to be able to visit with her. I also pray for many others who are struggling with life to find comfort in knowing You love them greatly and are ready to bless them. My Momma; my sisters Linda, Sally, and Mary; Dan; Ben and Colleen; Ofie; Scott; Pete and Delores; Cindy; Carrie and Chris; Little Ivy's family; Cathy Coe and her family; Norma Hall; Sharon Sebolt; Mike with his shoulder; a young man in rehab for anger issues and another one for addiction; some young ladies with anxiety issues; my friend whose uncle died from cancer; many with COVID and those with deaths in their family from it; Ms Savon and Mr John; Gay and Doug; Roger and Kathy; families of those in accidents over the weekend; families in turmoil amongst themselves; and so many others. Lord, be greater than the hurts of life. Thank You for safe travels Jennifer had for her trip to Ohio! Thank You for being My Grace Giver! Amen.