Category Archives: Grace

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Lighten Up!

Letting go of the burdens that weigh you down

It’s a new year. A fresh, clean slate to write our new story. A beginning. You should feel happy and excited. And part of you is just that. There’s another part, though, that is still bogged down in last year. Weighted down by the past – past issues, past relationships, past stuff. Unforgiveness, hurts, jealousies, lousy breaks.

What happens when you want to start fresh but it seems impossible because of the weight? That heaviness that settles around you until you can’t breathe. You try to ignore it. You try to move on into that brand new sparkling new year but it’s holding you back. It’s like swimming in molasses, pulling you down, keeping you in the mire.

Why are you stuck in all that goo? Because you think you have to solve all the problems, because you have to have all the answers, because you must fix everything before you can move forward?

What would happen if you let go? Just let go of all that heavy stuff that holds your heart and mind captive. Would the world fall apart? Are you Atlas holding up the world on your shoulders?

You want to be your own god and have all the power. Do you have a god complex?

Read this excerpt from Beth Moore in “Portraits of Devotion:”

“Our first reaction upon hearing this bit of truth might be to deny it—that we’ve never had a desire to be God. But how often do we take immediate responsibility for handling most of the problems in our midst? How often do we try changing the people we know and feeding our control addiction with the drug of manipulation? Simply put, we try to play God, and frankly, it’s exhausting.”

When you are trying to fix everything in your life, that’s when it gets heavy and tiring.

It is impossible to move into the new year when you are still carrying the old year on your back.

Let go. If it’s too heavy, put it all down. Give it to God and let Him be the creator and sovereign God that He is. Your God is huge! He is able and ready to take on that weight.

“Approach the throne of grace with confidence, with eyes on Him, not on yourself.”

Then, you can enter the new year with joy and gladness!

Lighten Up!

 

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Record Snowfall Brings Cleansing

It was a day like any other day.

Bowling Green, Kentucky is a small town with a big city feel, but on January 22, 2016, the skies parted and we received 12.2 inches of snow in one 24-hour period! In case you are not familiar with geography, Bowling Green is close to Nashville, TN and is considered to be part of The South. This amount of snowfall just does not occur. The city was practically at a standstill for days. Schools and businesses closed and travel was discouraged. The streets, buildings and cars were covered with the cold, wet, white stuff! Southern towns are not prepared for this kind of weather. The last time Bowling Green, KY saw a double digit snow total from one system was back on March 23, 1968, when 11” of the white stuff fell. In fact, prior to February 16, 2015, Bowling Green went nearly 20 years without experiencing a storm producing more than 6” of snow.

Record Snowfall - January 22 - Bowlling Green, KY

Back Porch Record Snow

Often, our lives are like this. We have droughts of the soul. We need  cleansing and purifying but the skies are clear. Sometimes, days, weeks, even years can pass without that much needed fall of cleansing white. Thankfully, God has made a provision for such a condition. Isaiah 1:18 – “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.”
   In Psalm 51, verse 7, David prays a prayer of repentance over his guilt involving a woman (adultery) and her husband (murder). He saids,
“Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” He was confident that God would hear his plea and bring cleansing. David was longing to feel that wet, cold, clean that comes from being covered by a snowfall of God’s grace.
Front Yard Record Snowiced limbicicles
   We can have that cleansing, too! God makes it available to all of us through His Son, Jesus Christ, by His sacrifice on the cross. God’s wonderful grace can then reach me. “…So that, having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:7b HCSB)
   So, today turn your face to the heavens, close your eyes, and allow the snowflakes of God’s grace to fall upon your eyelids, your nose, and your tongue – let it totally cover you – so that you may feel His cleansing power.
 Purify Me