Author: tiff

Grace deep- move past superficial decencies to sacrificial investment.  Into my story, into my insecurity.  Into their story, into their pain.  Past my prejudice, beyond my opinion….

We can walk away clean when we live life and interact at a superficial, skin deep level.  It’s easy to walk away from uncomfortable situations, struggling circumstances and heartbreaking realities when we never move past the cover.  Shallow interactions are light and unattached but they lack truth and depth.

How many times does our perspective of grace become polarized from the eye of the receiver?  God’s grace to us, given freely and so undeserving.  Available even through our biggest faults and failures. 

But when it comes to us, grace isn’t always that way though, is it? 

Sure, grace is freely given, but not without sacrifice from the bestower.  God’s grace is able to fill the gap of so many insufficiencies of life and living in this world.  However, grace when it comes to relational intentions, is rarely a clean exchange, it’s sacrifice.  Grace is simple, but most often not easy. True grace, it digs deep, leaves a scar. It takes courage, it takes grit.  It lingers when it’d be easier to run away. It opens doors that would feel safer to keep closed and diminishes the distance we used for security.

When through hurt someone can extend forgiveness or in trial can relinquish blame, that’s grace.  

Grace goes beyond comfort.  Sure, we can find contentment through grace, but it doesn’t offer us complacency.   As soon as we grasp our barring and find forgiveness in it’s free offering, more frequently than not we are directly in need to bestow it towards another.  Undeserving, it works both ways.  

Yes, grace is goodness, but not our goodness.  It’s His goodness through us.  It goes deeper than our flesh would choose to suffer.  Grace is holy.  Grace is deep. 

On Sunday at church, as worship was taking place they began singing a popular song by this worship band called Bethel.  If you’re familiar with church or church music you’ve probably heard of Bethel.  Regardless, they sing a song titled, “Worthy of it all”. A portion of the lyrics to this powerful song are, “You are worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all it, for from you are all things and to you are all things, you deserve the glory”.

Since hearing this song for the first time, my church girl heart has always just guided me to an anthem of praise and magnifying the Lord.  For exalting him as worthy and holy.  For praising his sovereignty and majesty and his reign. All good and valid expressions to make about Father God our creator.  He so deserves every bit of our praise and gratitude.  However, it wasn’t until this past week, fully lost in his presence that the words rang differently to me. Maybe I’m just the last to pull up a chair to this table, but it was as if God was gently opening my heart to see that He doesn’t want us to just be in awe of His splendor and power, but he wants us to come to the place that we trust Him with our complete surrender; with it all. To come to a place we receive and release that He is worthy of ALL of us. Not just all the praise of our lips but worthy of everything. Worthy of all our heart.  All our trust. All our life.  So many times, we grant God access to certain parts of us and our lives, but He is beyond worthy to have it all. He is beyond worthy to be trusted with it all.  All our fears, all our struggles, all our plans.  Not just the ones we are comfortable surrendering into His control or the compartmentalized areas of our life.  The clean and whole pieces as well as the weak and broken parts. He is worthy of it all.  All our finances.  All our dreams. All our hopes and even all our doubts.  He is so worthy for us to release everything we cling so tightly to control. Commit everything to Lord.

“Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37:3-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬
I love that it tells us to dwell in the land. Don’t just frequent it or visit at the good times or run desperately to it in the bad.  No, just dwell in the land, stay a while.

“We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Oh, how many times I justify my way and my motives and attempt to camouflage them as Godly directives when they are merely selfish desires laden with manmade initiative.

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”‭‭Psalms‬ ‭24:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬
A friend reminded me of this verse.  It’s such a definitive reminder.  It all belongs to him regardless of how tightly I cling to anything. I am but a keeper on this journey. 

He is worthy and trustworthy of all of me, every single piece and part.  He is so worthy of all of you and every space in your life.

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” Galatians 2:21

It’s not the rules of religion that buy our grace, but the sacrifice of death that ransoms our hearts.  Grace received with only one intent, relationship.  It is the redemptive mercies we undeservingly obtained through the cross that allow us to fill all the gaps in our life.  Our delinquencies all delivered through one act of unconditional love.  Any insufficiency turned to plenty in the hands of a savior. 

To recognize that His unmerited favor relies solely on the goodness of the giver and not on our merit as the receiver, offers so much hope.   In our own trying, our hands would never be clean enough or strong enough to grasp hold of its freedom.  And so, all we have to do is come to the throne of grace with hands wide open in surrender.  Letting go of all inadequacies for the fullness of His grace.  There we can replace our failures and fears with His goodness and mercy.  There we find His grace is truly sufficient.  For it is not by our own hands or works that we can begin to know the Father, but rather by the grace He gives us to walk in relationship with Him. 

“But he replied, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

(an excerpt from one of my larger pieces)

….Are these same subconscious restraints what keep us from praying big prayers to a big God?  When, as children of God, we have been promised provision and protection in alignment with the Word of God, but yet live orphaned from all the kingdom blessings our Father has set forth for us because we are too afraid to ask.  Fear, self-doubt, shame, pride; these things all have the ability of paralyzing our faith and holding captive our freedom.  Freedom to pray and dream big things that a sovereign and all powerful God can provide.  Feeling unqualified for a call that lingers just beyond the depth of comprehension, yet keeps us awake some nights wondering, is there more?  

Or maybe we’ve been given so many delicacies of living in our own world of provision and earthly success that we have never depended on him in faith and therefore have no concept of His divine ability to supply not only our every need, but also our very heart’s desires.  We have not, because we ask not.  After all, it is Him who has placed those deep divine yearnings in the very hearts he created.  Even still, we go day in and day out circling a target we know is there but can’t seem to get within our cross-hairs.  

Complacency and comfort become our master as a world we may dream of fades further into fantasies of what-ifs.

Unknowns and risk factors overwhelm our imagination, our vision.  Unforeseen circumstances flood our minds as we try to play out all the things that could go wrong or would go wrong.  Questions and worry begin to gray an artistic tapestry of  hope and wonder.  And in the back of all the whirlwind of wonder and worry, we still can’t drown out the still small whisper that lingers in between each quiet breath.

In conversation this week, I was reminded about the importance of compiling your royal archives, remembering all the times God supplied the need, filled the void, bridged the gap in your life. When His provision filled what was lacking or rebuilt what was broken.
Though what God is doing and directing in this chapter of life may not look or feel the same as it did when he answered your prayers in the last, it doesn’t mean he isn’t working all things for good. Though this temple may not look like the former, God is rebuilding and refining you in this stage. And all that you need has already been provided. Your royal treasury is limitless with supply. Grace, covered. Strength, bestowed. Direction, given. Healing, provided.

Since I’ve been a parent I feel like I have so many more…umm, revelations if you will, about God’s father-like role in my life. 

For example,

Many of my mornings are spent disputing morning teeth brushing with my ever so strong-willed 2 year old.  

Me, trying to explain that she needs to brush them so that they stay healthy and clean.  Her doing her best to persuade me to “do later mommy.”  I battle inside myself whether to give in because really we don’t have time for this saga.  However, knowing what my child does not, I simply stand there holding the toothbrush out until she finally takes hold of it and most the time reluctantly starts brushing. 

You see, I know that missing this brushing will not cause her teeth to fall out today.  What I also know, is that a continual bad habit of not brushing sufficiently will leave her teeth susceptible to cavities and all the things that come with not taking care of your teeth. Ultimately, ending in a dentist office visit that will be just as heart wrenching for me as it will be for her.  

A 2 year old in a dentist chair with all the scary unknown. 

All consequences of her actions, but nonetheless try explaining that to her.

I couldn’t help but relate that to our Father and his persistent daily nudging to “brush our teeth” so to speak.  Clean those areas that are unseen.  Those places that are hard to reach.  The daily care that isn’t so much hard as maybe just time consuming.

The little habits we build or break today can end with us in the dentist chair with a lot of unknowns caused by our own decisions or neglect.  and those times are just as heart wrenching for Him as they are for us. 

So thankful that God our Father loves us too much to give in to our sometimes excessive whining and continues to just simply hold out the brush. 

#toothbrushandGod 

🙂

How many times in our lives are we standing amidst a storm, often times one we may have very well create on our own. swirling around things to do, all our well planned dreams and naive, yet best sought intentions, trying to sort the chaos? All the while the perfect peace speaker is whispering to us in an ever so still and quiet voice…. be still.
Challenge is we aren’t dialed into the his tone. That soft, peaceful, smooth voice that ever so gently tugs at our hearts. He’s longing for us to just slow down enough to realize his presence. He is surrounding us. If only we just be still.

So maybe today, we can step outside the noise for a moment. Walk away from our chaos. Look up from our lists
And maybe take a seat at the table and sip from his cup of endless supply. Find our calm, find our peace, feel the comfort, know His joy and embrace His mercy. Just be still and experience our Father’s boundless grace for this journey we are on. Beckoning to us, just be Still.
Breath in His goodness. The very same spirit that raised Jesus from the grave, lives inside of you. Just be still long enough to recognize His ever-present abundance in our life.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

My shortcomings of yesterday need not consume me today. My mistakes, my failures. The not-good-enough. The areas where I may not have walked in obedience. The areas where I may have missed the mark. The words that I could have spoken with more love. Those areas where my imperfections flourished. The silly guilt of just not completely every to-do on my list. All those things do not consume me. God’s compassion and love for me allows a fresh slate every morning. I can walk in the grace He has given me for today! Resting assured that His mercy is new and His love is great. His grace is sufficient.

We are so focused on fixing all the things we deem as broken, with no regard to the heart of the broken.  This world has become so saturated with opportunity to truly BE the heart, hands, and feet of the Savior; yet we have rendered ourselves paralyzed of this capability by our judgmental positions.  Opinion does not over-rule command.  Our command was to love.  We were not instructed to ration God’s love based on our convictions.

I often think we try too hard to define courage. We look for it to be a big cataclysmic event or episode of infallible bravery. But what if it was simplified to just one step towards faith, away from what confines us to familiarity. Or one proclamation of weakness, in which we rely on God to fill that gap between our incapability and His outcome.
Maybe courage is simply having the faith to know God will fill the space. What if courage is just the faith to say yes to obedience and trust that God is in control of the outcome? Courage may just be freeing ourself of the pressure of outcome.
Think about it, what makes us hesitate in the first place? What is it that opens the door to the need for courage in the first place? Many times it’s not the act itself that I need the courage to complete. The majority of my fear I truly believe isn’t in the act, but rather in the outcome.
When we free ourself of the responsibility of the outcome and truly put our obedience in His hands, our faith that His strength and His plan is higher than our own capabilities is liberating.
When I am free from the pressure of the outcome I am able to align my courage with His call. I take the step, he maps the destination. I make the move, he holds the result. What is my role? My role is to align myself to my Father’s heart. My role is to realize that in my greatest weaknesses and most uncertain stances that is where the Father resides eagerly waiting for me to boast gladly of my weakness. Urging me to step out, not in my own courage, but in my obedience so that His perfect will can be complete. He never meant for me to carry the responsibility of the outcome. My courage comes from releasing it.