Thankful for God's Grace!

I look back 6 months ago and can't believe how far I have come. Divorce is never easy, and while you might not be dealing with divorce, there are other things that hurt us and cause us to stumble. I can't tell you the number of times I went to pray and had no words to pray with. My prayers began to consist of me stopping in my tracks and saying, "God, you know, help me." When I say it happened often, what I mean to say is that was my prayer for about three months. God did help me in those times. He guided my heart to realize what He had planned for my life. His love, his spirit, and his grace covered me in those times.

I think we often try to convince ourselves that we are not good enough and not worthy to talk to God. The simple fact is, we are. Thankfully, we are carried by God's grace! We will never be "good enough" but grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. It is God's gift of salvation granted to all of us! That is not to say we cannot fall away from grace, but for the humble, those that love God will receive this amazing gift of grace! The key here is the "gift" of grace, it is not earned, it is given! 

God has blessed my life beyond what I could have ever imagined. Yes, I have and still do deal with heartache and struggle through some things relating to my past and divorce, but I now have a different view on the life God has given me. Everything I have and everything I am is because of God's grace and blessings. All the praise and honor goes to Him every second of every day! I am so thankful for the woman I am starting to become because of my relationship with my amazing God! 

I'll leave you with part of a song I sang at church camp as a kid. It still remains true as an adult and gives my heart great joy to think about what the words truly mean....

"I'm all wrapped up, I'm all tied up, I'm all tangled up in Jesus, I'm all wrapped up, tangled up, tied up in God oh yeah!" :)

Have a blessed weekend friends!

Megs

Forgiveness

I'm in a very weird state of mind right now. My brain is active, but my body feels limp. I just forgave the last person that hurt me so incredible bad throughout this whole divorce process. I used to think that you had to forgive someone right after their offense. Time, wisdom, and God have taught me differently. To each person forgiveness will come at different times. How could you put a time frame on forgiveness. As the one who has been hurt, you are dealing with too many emotions, too many memories, too much pain, but one day the time comes to where you can look at it and say, "I'm ready".
Granted, I don't believe one will ever forget the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of that particularly painful moment(s), but in time, the hurt will be reduced. The only thing that stinks most about these situations happening is that four little word that all of us who have gone through at one point or another hate and the word is "Time". We must be patient and learn about ourselves, trust in God, and fall to our knees in pain and suffering before the "time" comes that we can see how we have grown stronger and learn to forgive.

Myth: Forgiveness is easy. Hello!? It's the hardest thing of them all. However, it must be done. Where would I be if Christ had not died on the cross for my forgiveness? If he can die for me, a woman who sins every single day against Him, then who am I not to forgive those that have done wrong against me. It is hard, it is painful, but one can only pull the trigger and learn to forgive once they truly mean it. No taking it back once it is given. No hard feelings once it is given. The pain will remain and dissipate over time, but the joy to know you have forgiven that person and that their actions no longer haunt your very soul is victory enough.

God has granted me the peace and understanding not of my life, but of his presence in my life. His hand leads me and wherever he goes, that is where I want to be.

Megs