Were it not for grace

Were It Not For Grace - Larnelle Harris

Time measured out my days
Life carried me along
In my soul I yearned to follow God
But knew I’d never be so strong
I looked hard at this world
To learn how heaven could be gained
Just to end where I began
Where human effort is all in vain
Chorus
Were it not for grace
I can tell you where I’d be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace
So here is all my praise
Expressed with all my heart
Offered to the Friend who took my place
And ran a course I could not start
And when He saw in full
Just how much His would cost
He still went the final mile between me and heaven
So I would not be lost
Repeat Chorus
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace

After sin comes shame

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
It happened since the very beginning. Sin was introduced to the world and has been our nature til this very day. As women of God, as gentle, sweet and innocent as we might seem in the end we are  all just sinners saved by grace.
Let me ask you a question, "When was the last time you sinned and felt shame?
If we know we are sinners and the bible tells us that we are sold to sin, that there's none righteous not one! Then we surely would agree that sin occurs in our life even as believers .
So the question is not if we have sinned but rather if we have felt ashamed of our sin. So have 
you?
Did you know shame is a good thing? Yes the bible tells us about women who where godless, harlots, and shameless. In proverbs chapter seven we read about the temptress and again she is described as shameless . We read about the rebellion of Israel against God and they too where described as a shameless adulteress . 
A lack of shame is a display of a lack of care towards whatever God has to say. As women of God we must ask ourselves if when we fall into sin , we become convicted and ashamed. Do 
we? When we gossip? When we envy? When we lie? When we act or think on impure things? 
Is there a shame? Or are we so habituated to sin in our lives where we walk in shamelessness 
? 
My sisters sin will come, we are not perfect and we will fall but let us be ashamed of it and let us have a repented spirit. Let the shame lead to a genuine repentance and confession. May our falls lead to a real conviction and not to a careless indifference and conformity .
When true repentance manifests in the heart of a woman who seeks to be holy, then God can begin a restoration and his grace will always be sufficient no matter your sin.  Yes we can live in peace with God even with a sin nature but let us not ever use it as an excuse to deliberately dwell in sin.
For now my sisters we stand in hope knowing of God and knowing Him personally . Knowing 
He is holy. Be ye therefore holy as He is holy but if one has sinned we have a more abounding 
grace. May you be encouraged knowing Jesus offers forgiveness and his blood cleanses our hearts.

You can let go now daddy

It's 2:20 am on an early Friday morning. I'm sitting quietly in the fluffy mat of my bathroom floor. As much as I enjoy writing  I've never had the urge in the middle of my sleep and least of all during a dream. I can't explain the why I'm here then, simply writing. It could be because I'm thinking about him. His laughter is is echoing in my heart. His eyes are in my thoughts. The desire to hold him very closely has awaken me this early and left me wanting more. This man I write about has always been very strong. As I grew up in my eyes he could conquer and carry anything . His arms always brought security and comfort to me.  I can still hear his voice, though I haven't heard it in a while I could recognize it anywhere. Its the voice of my father, my daddy, my friend. I cherish beautiful memories with you.  Come to think of it I have so much of you in me ; the love for writing, nature, animals and an optimistic view of life.  So many beautiful memories of you and today the Lord  has granted me one more, a beautiful one indeed. I had the most beautiful dream I could ever ask for. My sister and I sat at a beautiful gathering , outdoors . There was a long table covered with fine food and drinks. There was many people around us all dressed in very fancy clothes. As my sister and I enjoyed the beautiful moonlight view and the garden setting my daddy walked up to our table. Happily and excited to see him we both stood up and greeted him with a hug. He responded the same with a smile on his face. But thru that smile I could feel something was wrong, he took us aside and asked if he could talk to us . We walked slowly with him thru the paths of flowers and shiny lights. He couldn't breath very well and he finally sat by a big stone and leaned against it. He was sweating a lot and his voice was low. He began by sayin, do you girls remember when you where little and you would sit in my lap, one on each side? Yeah we both answered. Can you girls sit here again? So we did, his hands on our hair and soft strokes back and forth. He continued saying, do you remember when you girls would play dolls?What I would give to buy you some beautiful dolls again and to watch the two of you playing with them again he softly laughed we all laughed for a moment.  He went on to say, remember when we all went out and we didn't know where exactly we where going ?We simply knew we where going somewhere but that's exactly what made it exciting.  He paused for a moment and stood quiet. He then said: I won't be here too long, I must go for now but I want you to know that we will go out on adventures again. I'll get you whatever toy you girls want, I'll watch you play dolls and ill let you sit on my lap. Please take care of your mother, tell her I love her. I will miss you girls and tell your brothers to behave and not get your mother upset. He began to breath very heavily and tears running down his cheeks kinda like mine right now. As he stood quiet my sister began to tell him how much she would miss him too. I then told him: Don't  worry daddy we are gonna go together to buy some dolls, this time I want you to choose one for me. We'll play by your side and we'll sit in your lap. I embraced him tightly and as I faced the moon I prayed within my heart, my God give me strength for we need your grace. I looked at my daddy again his eyes closing and he still said ill see you girls soon then. Yes daddy we replied. I'll see you soon we will be together again. He said I love you my two little girls. His heavy breathing stopped, and his eyes shut. I turned to my sister and said: his time has come. He came to say goodbye. I woke up in tears and in much joy, I'm gonna see my daddy again! I wanna embrace him and I know that I will.

She is not my enemy

Hello Ladies
It's sure a beautiful Friday morning, it's windy and cloudy. The kind of weather I love whenever I'm writing. However I know many times days like this may seem too grey to enjoy but we must learn to look at the beauty of all things God puts in our paths. I wanted to talk about a subject this morning that occurs very often in women and ladies everywhere . When even being christian doesn't mean this wont happen to you. That unpleasant feeling when she walks into the room . When you hear her name or she simply just gets in your way. I'm talking about the lady in church or at work or maybe at school. The one you simply don't like. If you're like me you might have even thought of reasons why you don't get along and why it's okay to avoid her. The reality however is much deeper than that. Like any delicious fruit must come from a tree, must have a root somewhere. The same is our feeling of rejection towards specific groups, individuals or sisters in Christ. We must examine our hearts, often we will find that when we dislike someone the root of the problem is not her, but our evil heart. The bible tells us that out of the heart comes all evil things. Could it be that we are fooling ourselves into believing that she's gotta change and not me? The heart of a godly woman must identify the enemy and then take it captive under the obedience and rule of Jesus. So we realize that we have an enemy, an evil heart who takes our most godly intentions and turns them into pride, who finds the faults and imperfections in others but never seems to mind it's own. How is it then that when it comes to loving others we trust it so much? We must love even when our heart doesn't feel like it. Many women find themselves struggling to accept someone else simply because their heart is blinded with sins such as jealousy, envy, bitterness, insecurity and guilt. We must return and repent. Lets begin to identify our enemy and fight the battle in much prayer. Pray not that God changes her, but that he may change me. We must love our sisters, we must pray for them and serve them humbly. Remember Jesus died for her just as He did for you. He loves her, He has plans for her life. Could it be that maybe God wants to use you to bless her life? Remember the story of Jonah when God asked him to go preach to the people he considered his enemies. Jonah disobeyed God and ran from His presence yet God gave him a second chance and showed mercy to him. Can we receive the same mercy and accept the second chance God is giving to us today? We might be the instrument God wants to use to win the souls of those very people we dislike. My sister let us seek The Lord that He might change us within so we can reflect His love and compassion to others.

Update

This simple update to my readers, letting you know I will resume posting as often as I can. The Lord has been working mighty things in my life and I can't wait to share much of it with you ladies. For now all I can say is I'm thankful for the God I serve and His power to restore broken hearts.