Grace Living in Grace

Hello friends! Lately, I have been going through a bit of a "writer's block". It is a lot easier for me to scroll on my phone and be inspired by the myriads of Christian articles, posts and pins that get my wheels turning in my head as I think, "Oh, that is such a good topic to write about!", and yet, I continue to scroll. I also have become newly acquainted with podcasts (yeah, I am not current or trendy in the slightest...) and have been listening to a few as I walk my dog, tidy the house, or even just sitting on the couch, trying to be inspired. Despite the many great biblical studies I have listened to, I could not get myself to write! The number one key to writer's block is to ignore the hesitation, and just write- which is so hard to do! I had to peel myself away from my phone, ignore the sporadic buzzes from notifications and just... type. However, forcing myself to write is a blessing, in that I can finally surrender to a few thoughts on my mind, re...

  Yes, it is a weird title. I honestly could not come up with a better one because my train of thought is not pretty and consistent enough in this post to deserve a better title. Oh well! Read on. Sometimes, the things I do by second-nature are some nasty habits and I do not even realize it!  For example, the first thing I do in the morning- scratch that- The SECOND thing I do in the morning, as I make a cup of coffee first: I check all my phone notifications, scroll through Instagram and Facebook and sneak in a few random videos on my feed. Am I the only one who does this? I seriously doubt it. I also imagine you have heard about this habit before, how this might actually be a bad habit. Perhaps you have heard that this starts the day unproductively, or it causes you to stress out immediately (work notifications, tension over a text conversation, etc.). I think those points can be true. However, in my case, I find myself getting jealous of what I see on my feed! Why does ever...

   (Enjoy my quick blurb of thought/appreciation post.) ;-)         Inconsistent.       This is the random word I was thinking of this morning in how it relates to life. Life is indeed pretty darn inconsistent! There are plenty of rather sucky inconsistencies that have occurred recently. I go from working at one place and loving it to finding it not-so-great anymore and taking up a different side gig instead. My first two courses in college made me feel optimistic and achieved to the next two courses frying my brain and making me question my life decisions each morning. There are fun plans for the weekend that get soiled by SOMEONE having to do a last-minute dive Saturday morning... just to find out that the dive might be canceled, to find out there is another dive Sunday, to then find out THAT dive is canceled. Yeah, I am especially annoyed with Alex's inconsistent work schedule. But that is the transcending theme, isn't it? INCONS...

Dear gym rats, If someone were to ask you,  "Why do you like working out so much?",   how would you respond? Think about it. Respond in your head.  To those who do not enjoy working out in any way, shape, or form, why do you think some others work out so much? Go on, answer in your head. Or out loud. That might be a little weird, but whatever floats your boat. I am just going to guess that in your train of thought, the word, "confidence", came up, or perhaps a branched-out version of it such as "self-confidence", "self-esteem", something like that. Was I right? I know, for me, that word, confidence, came to my mind! Now, what if I were to tell you that, as a child of God, confidence is really not all it is cracked up to be.  What if I said that confidence really should not be part of that "why" statement at all? When I am talking about confidence right now, I am referring to SELF-confidence. Keep that in mind. Perhaps you are scoffing...

"I didn't have time to get that done today!" Have you ever said this before? This is my go-to excuse when important things on my "To-Do List" get ignored and pushed off to the next day... to the next day... and to the day after that. In a sense, it is true, I ran out of time to get that one thing done today, but it is not because I was busy doing other important tasks. It was not because other things I was doing were of higher priority- unless you consider Netflix and Instagram scrolling a high priority. I wince even just typing that. I am 100% guilty of procrastination, and that  is why I never get things done.  I have come up with every excuse and rationalization in the book to justify my laziness too, such as, "I deserve to treat myself to a break", "I do not have much going on today, so another episode won't hurt", "I am not even motivated to do my schoolwork; if I start now, my work will be bad quality".  Yeah, I ...

My reflection on this morning... Plopped in my small, cushy living room chair, with a hot cup of coffee that I over-creamed and a Bible on my lap, I am studying the passage of 1 John 4:10-21; my eyes brush across the words of verse 16, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." At this time, my train of thought is brought to halt when I hear the obnoxious squeaking of Blue's ball. I glance over to see Alex laying on the couch, squeaking away while Blue is going nuts trying to attain the ball from Alex... "Alex! Would you be quiet ?!" I snap, my eyes glowering, "I am trying to read my Bible !" Without a word, Alex takes my attitude, quite accustomed to it. He resumes playing with Blue just a little quieter.  However, I am struck- dumbfounded at what I just did. I read the verse once again, but this time it felt as if Scripture was thrown...