Grace: I Just Can't Get Enough!

I apologize for the delayed post! While I should have been better at making time to write, I have been so happily distracted! I’ve been busy with work and mostly, having fun with friends. Praise be to God, I have made another bosom friend… Sarah! :] 

I met Sarah through my soul sister Amanda, and now we are a soul sister trio! Hehe! Our alternate identities are Bri-Bri (me), Ray-Ray (Sarah), and Day-day (Amanda). Anywho, while we all have a lot in common -mainly silliness, weirdness, love of laughter, crafts, beautiful things, and food-we each come from very different places and are able to offer new insights to one another. Both of those women looovee Jesus! And it’s amazing to see what the Lord has done in their lives over the years. 

Here's a picture of the two beauties :]

Well, recently, Jesus has been doing a lot of work in my heart. Two Sundays ago, our pastor talked about being discontent with your character without bearing guilt or shame. He reiterated that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) and told us that growth is continual, not completed. Now, when he said that we should be discontent with our characters without bearing guilt or shame, literally, the first thing that popped into my head was, that’s impossible. I can’t do that. I become so shameful when I mess up, when I let people down, or feel like I have let God down. I feel unworthy, undeserving, and unlovable.  Well, because this attitude is exactly the opposite of the attitude that we should have in light of the gospel, it is pretty unacceptable that I keep falling into that pattern of thinking!

So, once again, theme of the week: GRACE.

As I was sharing with Amanda and Sarah one night that I felt like a failure, their responses were that of concern, honesty, and truth. I’ve been battling my tendency to think of the God in heaven as a God who looks down at me with a furrowed brow and shaking finger. I have to continually remind myself that I am in Christ… meaning, God seems me as he sees Jesus. But when you have to tell yourself that 300 times a week, it becomes so exhausting! So, these wonderful women graciously 1) pointed out that I was putting unfair blame on myself and 2) pointed me to scripture. The next day I decided to look up as many verses about grace that I could! I flipped to the back of my bible and went down the list of verses about grace given in the concordance.

Here are the ones that fed my soul like no other:

John 1:16
“And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”

Romans 5:20-21
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:14
“For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law but under grace.”

After a lot of reading and journaling, I came to these realizations:

I am a bad accepter of God’s gift of grace. I don’t take it when he holds it out for me take freely because I forget that it is a gift and not something that I can earn. Choosing to feel shame is basically telling God that what Jesus did on the cross was not enough. This verse says it how it is…

Galations 2:21
“I don’t set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.”

I decided that I needed to memorize these verses to keep that fresh in my mind.

Our sinful self is the old self. The old self is no longer who I am. I am a new creation under a new reign: grace. My new self is covered by grace and defined by Jesus’ righteousness.

Amazing, right? God’s love for us is so overwhelming. Why he loves such sinful creatures, I will never understand, but I am so thankful that he does!

Well, let me briefly share with you what else the Lord has done these past couple weeks. Praises and prayer requests…

• City Dance was given a bigger space to hold studio classes! Not only that, but mirrors, paint, and other supplies have been donated to us. We’re really hoping that from now on, enrollment and class offerings will grow.
• We’re going to be using this space on select afternoons as a place where parents can drop their kids off while they run errands. While the kids are here, we will do crafts and activities. Again, all of the art supplies that we need have been donated. God is so good, right?
• We have a few events coming up that will really allow us to get our name out there and hopefully boost enrollment. Please pray that these events are a success!
• In addition to getting a new job at The Hyacinth, Barnes and Noble called me yesterday apologizing for the delay and asking if I’d still like a job! If we can coordinate availability, then I am going to take it. God is providing left and right!
• My homies and I want to start a Bible Study once a week. I can’t wait to grow with these women!
• I started shopping for wedding dress fabric this week and wow oh wow it was fun and successful!  We’re still looking for a location, so pray that we find one soon.
• I get to go to Bloomington once a week until the end of October to work on a flash mob dance that a few girls have volunteered to do with City Dance!! I’m so happy I get to do that because it’s the perfect excuse to hang out with them ;)

Well folks, as you can tell, the Lord is great! And he is faithful. That’s all for now :]