This school-year seems to have started without warning, catching us {well, maybe just me!} off guard. As we get used to the swing of the many new changes that this month of September has brought us, I feel like the days are going fast-forward...
Amid all the frazzle, I found myself stumbling upon my 1000th grace-gift this past week... oh. the. joy! This calls for a pause in my busy-ness in order to blog... about reaching 1000 gifts!
I must say that this counting of grace-gifts, this hunt... it has changed me. It was in November of last year when I started with grace-gift #1... it is well with my soul. It was a time when I needed to choose joy... to live fully right where I was, to nurture a sore heart back to wholeness again. And the hunt, this practice of counting my blessings {naming them one by one} did indeed bring healing.
In February of this year, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself turning a corner.
Since then, I have not looked back... I am running the race, keeping my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith!
In the ensuing six months, God showed our family how our story is {and has always been} a part of His plan. He brought us to places we never dreamed we'd go... showed us things we never expected we'd experienced... broke our hearts for things we never thought we'd care about.
Which brings me to the now... to this moment in time... of my soul becoming fully awake to this new thing that God has led our family to... to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with Him! (Grace-gift #999, God's requirement of us, Christ-followers, found in Micah 6:8)
And then to grace-gift #1000...
A gift I must count this one more time...
It truly is well with my soul!
In hindsight, I can truly say that if I had to go through it again, I wouldn't change the story one bit... all the pain and frustration, all the not-knowing and fumbling in the dark, all the waiting and asking why... they are all grace. They were all necessary to wake my soul up!
Speaking of my soul waking up, I love Shaun Grove's new song Awake My Soul, from his newest album Third World Symphony. It is the song I wake up to each morning on my alarm.
Awake my soul to live this moment.And this hunt will continue... grace-gifts #1001 - #1005, with a heart bursting with thanksgiving:
Awake my soul, give thanks and hold it.
Dear now. Be here now.
God is here now. Awake my soul.
~ Writing to our Compassion children.
~ Maximizing my mornings with Inspired To Action.
~ My girl making the Junior Girls' Basketball Team!
~ Relatives visiting...
~ An opportunity to talk about Compassion's ministry to fellow moms.
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Unwrapping more of His love in this world.
Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!
1000! That's wonderful! Grace and more grace. Truly He is the giver of all good gifts and all his gifts are good. Bless you.
ReplyDeleteThat is great... I started my list back in 2007 and just in the past several months made it to 1000! It has changed me too. So much of what you share I can identify with. I love the Shaun Groves cd. I have been listening to it all week. I love All is Grace, Kingdom Come, Come by here, Awake... just so good.
ReplyDeletealso that verse has been what God has impressed on my heart this past year... act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with our God. Have you heard the Courageous song.. at the end it says it "Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk humbly with your God."
Praying for you and so thankful for you.
Hugs,
Teena
Hi Teena. Yes, I love the Courageous movie theme song by Casting Crowns. We saw the movie at a pre-release screening... it's so good. A must-see!
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