Everyone has a story. We all have many stories and chapters in our lives that make up one beautiful mosaic. Mosaics are fragmented, broken pieces of glass or tile which by itself doesn’t seem like anything much. Even during the process of laying piece by piece you still may be confused as to what this incomplete picture is supposed to look like. But the creator of the artwork already knows. That person has sketched drawings or captured in his imagination what he wants the end result to be.

God is like a Master Artist shaping our lives, knowing the final outcome as each story is laid into the puzzle. The magnificent part is that every single mosaic is different, uniquely created. You can’t replicate the exact same piece of broken glass. Thats why everyone has an interesting story, formed with purpose. My life is broken, just like all the shiny pieces of glass. But put it together and it is glorious. God is writing your story even now. The more you trust in Him, the more precious those individual pieces become, to make something that will take your breath away.

We can’t see past the end of our noses. I have no idea what will happen in 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 years! But the Father knows our messy past, our broken present, and our hope-filled future. That gives me great comfort. The Lord knows me from beginning to end, and if I really believe His promises, that He loves me, does things for my good, and delights in this being He created, how can I not trust in an Awesome God like that?! If I am His, then He is for me and not against me. Oh, I am so thankful for His truth that I can hold on to.

I plan to share part of my stories with you on here, showing just how faithful God has been in the hard times and the good ones. He has been present through medical concerns with my son during pregnancy, his birth, safety in storms (literally), my son’s special needs, and secondary infertility. The past 5 years especially have been markers of God’s overflowing grace. But really, He’s always been there, I just have to remind myself to see Him in everything. He is so Good, and Sovereign, and Faithful even when we are faithless for He cannot disown Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). I hope you also see God’s grace in your life. Whether its through the gift of a newborn, protecting you from going down a destructive path, or healing from a serious illness. It can even be as simple as God reminding you of His love through a worship song that comes on in the car, a random gift or card from a friend, or the dove cooing in the backyard.

Those fragmented pieces of your life have God’s grace written all over them. You just have to see it. It is also creating one beautiful story that you will look back on one day with the Lord and say, “Oh, so thats what You were doing. I see it now.”

This is part of a song called ‘Sovereign’ by Chris Tomlin and always directs my thoughts back to who I place my trust in, because God truly is Sovereign:

“Sovereign in the mountain air; Sovereign on the ocean floor; With me in the calm; With me in the storm;

Sovereign in my greatest joy; Sovereign in my deepest cry; With me in the dark; With me in the dawn;

In Your everlasting arms; All the pieces of my life; From beginning to the end; I can trust You;

In Your never failing love; You work everything for good; God whatever comes my way; I will trust You.”

Grace upon grace,

April

We live in a graceless world. That’s why I chose to start this blog. Hopefully here you can find some grace. We need more of it every. single. day. Grace is a beautiful thing; its multi-faceted. I chose ‘grace’ as my word for 2015 to think about and meditate upon. As I’ve been mulling it over in my brain, I see at least 3 aspects of grace.

The first is God’s precious grace to us. It truly is amazing, because I definitely don’t deserve it. His salvation to us is the most incredible grace given. It is sacred. Faith and grace are intermingled in God’s redeeming work toward us. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). His grace also keeps me going each day because you know what? I’m going to mess up! Sin is a part of the human condition, even for a believer. We are still bound to the flesh, but not for forever, praise God! Paul lamented over the strife of the two natures when he said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15 NIV). We do have now the presence of the Holy Spirit, who helps us in our weakness, which is a part of God’s grace to us.

Another form of grace would be showing ourselves grace. I don’t know about you, but I am quick to beat myself up with harsh words and critical thoughts. That is not how God wants His children to live! If I am walking in truth, I won’t be so likely to condemn myself. I can use Scripture to defeat my inner critic. The Bible says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NIV). I am definitely flawed and sinful. I may get impatient with my son (and yell), easily irritated with my husband, or just drop the ball somewhere in the course of a day. But I am covered in Christ’s righteousness, so even when I do fail I can come before His throne of grace, asking for forgiveness. Sweet grace.

The last aspect that I think is very important, is showing grace to others. Have you ever said or done something you wish you could take back? I say something stupid or thoughtless about once a day (okay maybe more than that). In that moment, I am needing grace. I am hoping the other person will forgive what was said or done, and extend grace to this poor sinner. I think when we show grace to others (because remember, it is something that we don’t deserve), it’s a powerful demonstration of Christ at work in us. It is a beautiful picture of how the Church is to act and be like Jesus. And isn’t that our goal anyway? To be more like Him?

The Valley of Vision has a prayer in it that is completely perfect for what I want grace in my life to look like. Here’s a part of it:

“Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in Thee, the divine Treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To Thee I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all Thy fullness”.

Grace upon grace,

April