Laced With Grace

Click on the image above to find out all the details. What an exciting event!!!! Angie and the team have come up with a wonderful way to meet each other…So, go, check it out!

Have a super blessed weekend in the Lord…

Peace is something I think we all long for. One of my favorite comedy movies is Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock. She plays an FBI agent who goes undercover in a beauty pagent. During the interview portion of the competition, all of the contestants answer a question.   “What is the one thing our society needs most?”  and it seems that the answer given by all contestants is …world peace.

I too long for peace.  Unless you’re living with your head in the sand, you can’t help but see the news headlines and TV reporters blaring bad news about the economy, job market, Iran, the Mideast, crime rates and more.  So, in the midst of this, how can you have peace?

When you’re troubled and burdened about things, where is the first place you go?  Do you run to your husband or call a friend?  The best place to go is to God in prayer.  See what the Bible says about this in Philippians 4:6-7. 

• When I’m burdened …I need to pray. 
• When I’m concerned about the financial crisis …I need to pray. 
• When I hear about children who are sick and suffering …I need to pray. 

This verse also says to pray with thanksgiving.  Since I know that the Lord hears my prayer,  I can thank Him in advance.  Do I know how or when He will answer?  NO!  But I do know He hears me.  I take this by faith.  I may not be able to see, hear, taste and feel …but I know and believe this in my heart.

After I share my requests with the Lord and leave them there, He will give me His peace.  The reason I don’t always feel His peace is because I’ve not really given it over to Him.  I have a bad habit of taking it back.  

Hannah wasn’t like me.  In 1 Samuel 1:16 she was praying out of great anguish and grief for a son.  In verse 17, Eli the priest says to Hannah “go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him”.  At the end of the next verse, it says that Hannah ”went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast”. 

Hannah believed that God heard her request and she left it there.  She had faith to believe and so …she had peace. 

We cannot base our peace on circumstances or centered on another person. 

The Lord is peace; Jehovah Shalom.

In Jesus, we can have peace.  No matter what trials you are going through, you can have peace.  But you need to keep your focus on  Jesus.  Trust Him to hear and answer your prayers in His time and in His way.

How about you?  Where do you run to first when you are troubled?  Have you found peace when you finally turned the situation over to the Lord and left it there?

I am a sucker for a good love story. The book I have been reading recently is about a young boy who falls deeply in love with a girl. Young love is so consuming and captures every emotion. This girl is in a lower social class then the young boy, but he does not care. Unfortunately, the boy had to leave for awhile and he left the girl with the promise of returning. With a longing heart the young girl anxiously awaits the return of her love. He is absent for a long time and she is left wondering if he even remembers her, let alone still loves her. She begins to move on with her life. Then one day word comes that the King was coming to visit their village. This girl, a little older and heart much sadder, did not take notice. It was not until word came that the King was specifically looking for her! She wondered what she had done to earn a visit in front of the King. It was not until this girl of lowly status was brought before the King, did she notice he was her shepherd lover. He whisks her away to his palace so they could be together forever.

Don’t you wish love stories like this happened to you? Wait, it is. The story above is the story written in the book of Song of Solomon. We normally think of Song of Solomon being a love story between two people, but it is also the love story between Christ and his bride. Christ came as a carpenter (much like the young shepherd boy) and the girl from a lower social class (meaning us). But he returns as a King (when Christ returns) and he will rapture his bride up to his palace. As the girl of lower statues, we can not arise to that high of status without the King drawing us, it not a position we can obtain on our own (we can not gain salvation—it is only through Christ). Christ’s love for us draws us to him and brings us to the high place.

I ask you today, are you anxiously awaiting your love? Have you accepted His salvation? Salvation is a love affair between you and Christ. For when he returns his words will be:

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Song of Solomon 1:16 (ESV)

Heavenly Father, may I never forget your love for me. You loved me so much you sent your son to die on the cross for my sins. May I anxiously await the return of my beloved. Amen

God’s Girl,

Lori