Laced With Grace

“Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
~ Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

If we are honest we all have fears. Fear of loneliness, fear that we don’t matter to the world, fear of loosing everything we have (family, friends, jobs…), fear of getting old — you name it. Fear in itself is not a sin (my personal opinion), BUT how we handle fear might very well lead to sin…

Let me tell you about a couple of personal fears and how I handled them (and still do). Several years ago my marriage was very rocky — to the point that it might have broken up. In order to save my marriage, I looked at myself and not my beloved. Was there anything I could change to save my marriage? No, but with God’s help I was able to change things that mattered, to make my marriage better.

One other fear I battle every single day is driving. I don’t like it — not so much my own ability of driving, but the ability of other drivers (people do do silly things while driving, you know). How do I get over my fear so I can get in the car and drive where I need to go? I walk around my car and pray for protection.

You see battling fear is not so much within us, but we can ask for His help to see us through. In 2010, Isaiah 41:10 is the verse I ‘claimed’ for myself. I have to admit that I am not much of an Old Testament gal, but when this verse popped up three times in a 48-hour period, I knew the passage was meant for me…

Tonight, before writing our 1,000th devotional (YEAH!!!!), I read Isaiah 41:1-20 (ESV). It has so much promise, so much comfort. Read it yourself (just hover over the passage reference to read it). In the passage, God uses “Fear Not” three times in 20 verses. In 2010 let us comfort each other; strengthen each other as God speaks of in Isaiah 41.

Lord of Heaven and Earth. Thank You for Your incredible promise to always be with us, to strengthen us in our walk this side of Heaven. Lord, I pray that You continue to use this blog and its writers to reach out, to comfort, and to pray for others. Lord, may our lips praise Your holy name throughout the next year. May we always be faithful to You; stand firm until Your return. In the precious name of Jesus ~ Amen

I pray that some of you will join me on the journey of living fearlessly in 2010. The series is based on Max Lucado’s book “Fearless”, which one of you can win the first week of January. Check out my personal blog “Grace Alone” on January 1st to find out more…

Live fearless because of His promise to strengthen you…Happy New Year…

Iris

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. ~ Luke 2:6-7 (ESV)

As I was cleaning up our living room the other day to make a place for our little nativity scene, I was thinking about all the other areas in my life that need to be cleaned up. I needed to make more room in my personal life.

Some of you know what I have been digital scrap-booking for a while. Not only did I scrap for my own personal relaxation, but also promoted some designs from digital scrapbook designers. I just resigned from the last two I still ‘worked’ for in exchange for digital materials. Today I even went through all my bookmarked scrap-booking website to delete 80% of them. The time I spent on those sites were taking away from things I needed more – time with the Lord…

Although I do not make ‘New Years Resolutions’ (I never keep them anyway), I do seek that God may use me in different ways to make Him known around the globe. I want to make room in my daily life to be available to His calling – whatever or wherever that might be. I do not want to be like the innkeeper in Bethlehem to crowd God out of my life because I am too busy with other things…

Will I still be scrapping? Of course, just not to the extend I have been. I want to be inspired by His Word and a photo to create a digital page. Like John the Baptized said (recorded in the Gospel of John 3:30) “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Sweet sisters, we are all busy. Either by raising a family full-time or have a full-time job outside the home. We are busy with good things in our lives. May I ask you one thing for the new year (don’t make a resolution – we know where they go in the first month )? Look at your daily schedule. See if you can find some time to spend with the Lord daily. Start in small portions; I know that He will increase your desire to be in His presence more and more. Maybe He will guide you to give up things that you enjoyed doing like He did with me…

Lord of Heaven and Earth. Thank You for helping me to clean out the ‘clutter’ in my personal life. Not only has it given me more time to spend with You, but it also has helped me to balance the rest of my daily life. Lord, show me ways that I may share Your love, compassion, and patience with the ones around me. Lord, here I am, send me; may I also be available…In the precious name of Jesus ~ Amen.

PS: In January 2010 I will start on a journey living ‘Fear-less’ on my personal blog “Grace Alone“…I hope you can join me bi-weekly on Mondays, beginning January 11th.

…Karen from “Mommy of Three“. Congratulations Karen!!!! I will contact you via email to get your snail-mail address.

Thank you all for entering the giveaway. We pray that God may use this blog to encourage you where ever you are at in your life.

Be blessed today and always…