Jesus is teaching me about grace.  It's blowing the perceptions I've held right out of the water.  I'm realizing that I don't understand it at all, I still haven't fully accepted it, and I've not extended much of it to others.  Theologically speaking, I would consider it a basic tenet of Christianity; yet 22 years into this journey of mine and I've still not even begun to know what it looks like.  Much less embrace it and live it out.

But I woke up today with a better understanding of it than I ever have.  And it literally made me smile even before I opened my eyes.

And it's through the lense of this newfound nugget of understanding that I want to read and listen to every sermon, verse, and hymn that mentions grace.  I have literally become enraptured with this trait, this gift, this facet of God.  So much so, that I went to the library and checked out Philip Yancey's book "What's So Amazing About Grace?" in an effort to better understand.  I want, no, I need someone to flesh out all that's running through my head, to help me think it straight.  I can't wait to dive in!

"If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life." ~Paul Miller, A Praying Life

"Prayerlessness isn't an issue of self-discipline, but of extreme arrogance or unbelief." ~JD Greear

*****
I've been mulling over these statements the last few days since JD said them as apart of his sermon a couple of weeks ago.  Hearing and trying to digest these statements was like a personal storm of thunder and lightning in my being.  It was convicting.  It was hard to hear.  And it was true.  Truer than I'd like to admit.

I have struggled with this never ending battle of being really consistent about reading my Bible and praying followed by a drought-ish time of not doing either and not being able to break out of the pattern.  I've always considered it a lack of discipline to not be able to get myself out of that pattern, which in some ways it definitely is, but lately I've come to realize it's more than that.  It's a lack of belief in His power in my life that's the issue.  Honestly, I wish it were just an issue of self-discpline.  That would be easier to overcome.  But no.  It's my lack of belief in His desire to be apart of my life.  Not a major issue at all...just the foundation of my faith.  Ugh.

It's not like I don't believe the Bible, the Trinity, or the life and works of Christ.  I adamantly believe in the miracles Jesus performed, that He lived sinlessly, that the Bible is inerrant, etc.  But what I struggle with accepting that He, in spite of my very petty very selfish life, wants me to ask Him for anything and everything, that He longs to be near me.  It's hard for me to accept.  I know this has been an issue in my life for a very long time, but it hasn't been until recently, as God continues to open my heart and work on the layers of sin and hurt, I've begun to understand.  The depth of my unbelief and confusion has done such damage in my life, in relationships.  It breaks my heart to know through this I've hurt those I care about.

But I'm choosing to seek Him.  To seek healing, restoration, and hope.  To find peace.  To know the acceptance of the One who wants me more than any other.  I want to know Him as the Strong Tower like David, the Protector like Daniel, the Redeemer like Paul.  I want to know Him for myself.

It is my sincerest desire to serve God and bless others in everything I do. What I often forget is that God wants to bless me. And He has been doing that a lot, especially where school is concerned.

Back when I was working a full time job and making significant more money I wasn't able to really take the nursing pre req classes that I needed either due to schedule conflicts or not having the extra money. Since I've not been working full time and making much less, God has seriously provided for me to take a nursing assistant class.

My lastest God thing was the physical and vaccines that I needed for school. All my vaccines are up to date, but I needed someone to sign off on them and thankfully I was able to get a friend, who's a physician's assistant (PA), to sign off on everything.

Everything except my Varicella, chickenpox, immunity.

I was going to have to either get the vaccine, which was too late to do because it's a 2 shot vaccine and I'm required to have both parts done before I start clinicals. Or get a titer, blood test, drawn to prove my immunity. The vaccine runs about $110-$160 and the titer is roughly $200. I didn't have the money for either, but I knew God would show me what to do.

It unexpectedly came through a co-worker and my job. Because I work at a hospital I have to have certain vaccines and immunity to certain diseases. Although I should've turned my vaccination records in to the hospital in January I never did, but talking to a co-worker she said I could get the titer done at the hospital in the name of work.

And I did!

I knew having had chickenpox as a kid I was immune, but the hospital did the bloodwork and got the paperwork back in time for me to submit it to the school without having to pay for a thing!!! I'm so excited! It's been 2 weeks since all this went down, but I'm still uber pumped about it. I love when things happen in a way that can only point to God:)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I love how much Jesus loves me. So much so that He convicts me of the sin in my life in order to make me more like Him. Let's be honest, if anyone else came to me with that being the reason they addressed me, we'd have serious issues. But it's okay when it's Jesus:)

But boy, did He ever convict me yesterday. He brought my false humility, the self depreciation that goes along with that, the constant comparison with others, and the unhealthy level of interest in what others think about me to the fore. Oh yeah, He seriously busted me.

Although I want His thoughts of me to be the only ones I really desire, they aren't. As if this isn't bad enough, I often get down on myself because my perception of myself usually doesn't measure up to my perception of others. This quite frequently leaves me feeling like a failure and worthless. So He took me to task yesterday about how my perceptions are, first of all, not always accurate or even close to the truth. Second, they shouldn't be more important to me than His thoughts about me. And third, He loves me just the way I am and where I am so I need to relax.

My most constant feelings of failure and lack lie in my being single when I want to be married and not having a "real" career. And it was this line of thinking in which Jesus crashed through. Honestly though, this isn't the first time I've been convicted about this. It's just the first time I've slowed down enough to actually pay attention and allow the conviction and chastisement to sink in.

Acknowledging and accepting correction is never a fun thing. Good maybe, but never fun. And though I fully realize this constant assault on myself isn't healthy or Christ-like I'm not sure how to move away from it. I've used the self-depreciation as a shield around my heart and my desires for so long now, I'm not even sure what it would be like to not use it. Where's the line between guarding my heart and hiding myself from others?

Man, I'm so bad about having lots of thoughts in my head and just as many drafts started, but not finished or posted. It's sad really. I so hoped to be better with this blog than I was with the other. Here's to new beginnings, being more consistent, and blogging my thoughts straight.

Tomorrow.

There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I don't think I can get them out in any kind of orderly fashion. I almost want to give up before actually trying.

After much prayer, soul searching, and a hard drive crashing computer virus, I figured out what and how I feel about everything I've been blogging about most recently. Actually, it was a couple I saw at church that God used to usher in His clarity, but the lack of a computer freed up lots of time to make sure it stuck!

This couple, he looked to be of Asian decent and she was white. I was struck by their lack of physical similarities yet their mutual worship of God individually and as a couple. The worship of a God that I also worship. Although I don't know anything about them and their relationship specifically, I was struck by the thought of what God must think about their relationship. I'm fairly certain He doesn't see an Asian man and a white woman, but rather He saw two children worshipping Him and encouraging each other to grow in their knowledge of Him.

It was if I was seeing a glimpse of God's original design for the first time and it was such a beautiful and exotic picture. He created each and every person on this Earth. He doesn't care about skin color, background, finances, degrees, demographics. He only sees the beloved children He created, the children He wants to turn from their sin and seek His presence above all else.

I quite often succumb to caring more about what others think than what God thinks. I'm plagued by and overcome with false societal thoughts and opinions. I fear the struggle with prejudiced thoughts and attitudes is one that will constantly nip at my heels.

But I can say, only by the grace of God, that it's a struggle that won't dominate my life. I better understand what was meant when the adoptive dad said the only history his adopted son needs know is his [the father's]...as the son, a fully loved, completely accepted, and newly grafted branch in the family tree, his history becomes that of his father. The past is of no importance. The only thing that matters is what the father thinks and believes of his child; thus changing everything anyone, even the child, may think of himself. Nothing but my Father defines me. How I rejoice at that thought!

It's all about Him. Glorifying Him. Praising Him. Honoring Him. Representing Him. Sharing Him. Knowing Him.

Oh, that I might live a life that lives up to that...

This examination of my heart isn't fun or comfortable. It has kept my sin and failure ever before me. Which is a good thing, but it's so ugly and all I want to do it turn from it, to deny it's existence in my heart.

But I can't.

However, I have come to recognize, with a blazing new clarity, the miracle and amazing gift of the Cross. Jesus was fully aware of all this ugliness, this sin, this darkness in me yet He went to the Cross for me. I'm completely flabbergasted by His willingness to save such an ugly hearted sinner.

But I also need to figure out where these prejudices stem from and what I need to do to get deal with them, to push through my erroneous thinking. I don't like that part of me is less than Christ-like towards others. Have I allowed society to cloud my thinking? What in me struggles to accept those that aren't like me?

I was reading an article today written by a black woman about how a lot of women, but especially black women, have certain ideals of what they want their boyfriends and husbands to be and look like.

As a side note, I think this some of this stems from the proven fact that college educated black women outnumber college educated black men 3 to 1. As most people do, these women want to be with someone like themselves. Whether that means someone with a similar ethnicity/history, goals, salary, hobbies, or experiences their desire for comfortableness and similarity often causes them to look for what they think this "rightness" looks like, but their perceptions don't always lend to being a true representation. People are unexpected. There is no "typicalness" to bestow on every person, just our own stereotypes and prejudices. What is right about one isn't about another.

But I digress. The author goes on to say that this having standards is not necessarily a good or bad thing unless these women are dismissing great men, as many often do, because they don't look like the picture of the ideal man they hold in their heads. Something, she says, she knows from experience. She reflected on how she almost missed out on an amazing opportunity to get to know and date the sweetest and funniest man because of his looks. She said his dreadlocks were an immediate deterrent because she first wondered if he had a job, any education, goals, etc.

How often do I do this? How often have I not been intentional about meeting others because they don't appear to be people I would connect with? What fears and/or insecurities do I hold that cause me to stay away? From where is the root of pride that makes me think my college education, car, house, clothes, accomplishments, goals, etc. gives me the power to treat others as less than myself because they may not be as "educated" or "well off" as I am? And when it comes down to it, how educated or well off am I really?

And where in all the self focus is the love of Christ?