All about that GRACE... (to be grounded)

Hey there, it's me again!  By the time you read this, it will be March- this year is going by! 

I want to begin by saying thank you to the overwhelmingly positive response to my super transparent post on Monday.  That was not an easy thing for me to do, but, I am, and have always been a firm believer that the things we go through are to bless others with our testimonies and I felt led to share it (uh, not when I first started writing, but well, yeah, you get the idea!). 

My class is progressing; we skipped a week because our instructor was unable to make it, so instead of Week 6 we just finished Week 5.  And let me tell you this - it is a lot of work to truly study the Bible!  It's a lot of reading, re-reading, homework and outside books.  A lot of reading!!!  This first leg of the class (10 weeks) will end this month, then we have two weeks off, pick back up in April and go through June.  Y'all just pray my strength in the Lawd - 34 weeks total!!!

Anyway, my attempts at humor aside, today's post, in keeping with the theme of the previous two, is still about being grounded - we will take a look at Bishop TD Jakes' watch night sermon from 2015, "Grace to be Grounded."  Now, of course, he started his series with this sermon (and there are two other "grounded" sermons that I won't discuss here but they can be found on you tube or on his website), but I wanted to talk about being grounded first and work my way backwards.  Hopefully it will make sense to you as you read on...

Like my play on words?  I have young people in the house, so I have heard the Meghan Trainor song, "All about that Bass," and so I thought it would be pretty cool.  I assure you that both the Tween and Teen think it's kinda lame... Anyway, I digress - GRACE.  

It is defined in the bible dictionary as follows (found here):

Biblically, grace is unmerited favor. It is God's free action for the benefit of His people. It is different from justice and mercy. Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. In grace we get eternal life, something that, quite obviously, we do not deserve, but because of God's love and kindness manifested inJesus on the Cross, we receive the great blessing of redemption.

Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Grace rules out all human merit (Rom. 11:6). It is the product of God that is given by God because of who He is and not because of who we are. It is the means of our salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). We are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). (See 1 Cor. 15:11, Rom. 5:2, 15-20, 2 Cor. 12:9, and 2 Cor. 9:8).

Got it?  So let's move on to the sermon - Grace to be Grounded.  You can watch the sermon here.  The sermon text was Psalm 1:1-3 (sidenote- I have such a problem remembering when Psalms should be plural or singular, so if I'm wrong, roll with it...).  It's short, so I will actually include it this time.  

Psalm 1:1-3 (NASB):  

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, 

   Nor stand in the path of sinners,

   Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

   And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

   Which yields its fruit in its season

   And its leaf does not wither;

   And in whatever he does, he prospers.

I love this passage of scripture, by the way.  It is not something I was overly familiar with prior to hearing this sermon, but afterwards?  It has joined the ranks of my faves and hopefully you will see why in short order!

Sermon Notes (beginning with scripture overview):

• Meditate day and night = consistency
• He who does this shall be like a tree; God will put you in a spot to have an unlimited supply of what you need to finish what He set before you to accomplish
• Deeper roots = more and more raw resources 
• Like a tree with roots: position to connect with the resources needed to sustain everything He will bring out of you
• Stabilize yourself - it's closer than you think it is
• Live in position, not condition
• His fruit, His season
• You need to hear you say:  "Blessed is the Man"
• Blessed= position
• We sometimes don't recognize grace because of our problems
• The presence of trouble does not destroy the potential for triumph! (you'd better say that again, Bishop!)
• Your leaves shall not wither, He will stop the loss!
• We have to be a guard over grace; it tells a blessed man what not to do:  
• Grace must be guarded - be quiet sometimes!
• Stay out of the counsel of the ungodly; anything that doesn't line up with God's purpose and people who don't understand your destiny
• Be careful who you let influence you
• friends mean well, trying to protect you, but God can bless you in the storm (though he slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15))
• Be more disciplined
• Don't be bitter
• For what God is getting ready to do, you need to be GROUNDED
• Moving around is cancelling your blessing
• You need to be grounded in faith, behavior and in the Word
• Put on the whole armor of God to stand still!
• Just stand there, no matter what comes
• If your feet are planted in the house of the Lord, you will flourish in his gardens (See Psalm 92:13)
• The enemy is trying to fight you for your ground
• God has given you things that don't look like they're yours, but stand your ground!
• The more you stand, the more fruit you will have (gifts):  
• finances, relationships, opportunities
• God's going to put and position you around something too big for you (and it might scare you)
• Specific instructions for being grounded:
• Faith
• Prayer life
• Commitment
• Settle down!
• You can't get to His will your way
• You need to be grounded for the harvest; it's coming!

And he closed with having the congregation say this:  "My fruit, My season!"

As usual, I'm sure I didn't do the sermon justice, these are just my notes that I'm sharing with you.  But do you see why I felt that this was such a powerful sermon??? And I have to stop here and thank my birthday twin, Charlotte, again, for sharing this with me.  This was such a powerful series that literally changed my outlook on 2016.  I really do encourage you to go check out the sermon itself using the link above.

So what did I take away from the sermon?  I'm glad you asked (my favorite Rev. Meeks' statement from my days at Salem)!  So here's what Darvi got out of it (besides the notes above):

1) Pray.  Always.  Without Ceasing.  Always.  Pray.  This is how we develop relationship with God; prayer is a conversation.  I promise when I was younger and used to hear the old folks say that, I had no idea what they were talking about!  But, I'm older now, and I get it, I truly do.  As your prayer life grows, it will indeed be a conversation - He will speak to you.  You just have to learn to listen and be open to the many ways in which He speaks.

2) Read the Word.  Not just a cursory, random glance, but really read/study.  I've found some really nice devotionals and bible studies on Pinterest; you can do a search by subject matter and that is one way to get going with it.  

3) Believe.  There's a song that goes "what God has for me, it is for me."  You can hear it here.  You have to truly and deeply within your heart of hearts believe that.  No matter what it looks like now.  If He told you it was yours, it's yours.  But you have to activate your faith and not falter in your belief in His word.  This is hard and I stumble here all the time.  Just being honest... I always want to believe, but then something will happen that causes me to doubt and I have to start all over again.  I'm sure I have missed out on some things just because I faltered at the last minute.  

4) Be committed.  To prayer, to reading/studying, to your faith, in your church attendance, in your tithing - whatever it is, be committed to doing it.  Your commitment should be evident; no one should question it.

5) Stand!!!  Every time I hear this, I think of my good friend's mother, Auntie Barbara, singing this at church when I was younger.  "After you've done all you can, you just stand."  Here's the Donnie McClurkin song, because it is such an awesome song, here.  What does that mean?  It means, get out of the way, sit yourself down somewhere, get rooted and stay there.  Stand does not mean do nothing; it means to do whatever God has told you to do while you wait on Him to bring his promises to you to fruition.  Also a thing I struggle with, because I'm impatient.  But I've learned, just as I'm sure many of you have, that He has a way of making you sit still. I'm just saying... Remember, His Fruit, His Season...

So my friends, if being grounded requires us to activate faith, prayer, commitment and to stand in order to receive things that we don't deserve, how does it happen?  Because surely we all know that we don't deserve anything, right?  The answer is simply this:  Grace.  It is by his Grace that we can even get in the position to be grounded to receive His blessings of our faith and finances.  If you missed those, you can read them here (Grounded in Faith and Grounded in Finances).  

So, my question for you is this:  Who is ready to be like a tree, firmly planted and bearing fruit????  I know I am!  If that's you too, Holla @ Darvi and let's talk about it!  As always, Be Blessed!!!

xoxo 

Randomness...

Happy Monday!  I hope that everyone is well.  Things are topsy-turvy in my corner of the world. 

Packing is in full swing; the first wave of moving begins tomorrow.  There was a major, major setback last week, but hopefully it's been handled (not resolved, just handled) for the time being.  The kids are handling it like troopers, even though their little worlds are about to be turned upside down, and yet I know we'll manage in the end.  I think I'm going to do a room-by-room organization post for the new place; I've been researching some new storage and organization stuff because some methods I currently use won't work (did I mention that EVERY room is smaller and I'll have three less spaces in the new place?), so it has been a bit challenging to figure out - had to research room sizes and all that good stuff- stay tuned.
I am looking forward to being creative in that area; it is one of my favorite things to do.

The weekend was mellow (it was so cold here!); ran errands Saturday morning in the 50 degree freezing rain; including making my first drop at Goodwill.  That felt great, donating things that I know others can use.  Did some packing when I returned, then attended a charity event at Balmoral Park (south suburbs horse racetrack); it was fun as always.  Sunday morning I went to church and I was unaware that it was a special membership Sunday for all "new" members; we took a group photo and got an "answered prayer" rock.  It was awesome!  Breakfast after with Urban Dude and Pam (who I hope won't be relocating after all...) and then a bit more packing.  Dug out my one Bears t-shirt and made my way to one of my high school friend's house for an opening day gathering (Bears lost...).  It was good to spend some downtime during this crazy time, ya know?

And so now it's today - been up since 6:45 doing what?  You guessed it; packing.  I am further behind than I planned to be, but it's ok I suppose.  We will get it done.  I'm getting to the point that I'm getting antsy and just want it all to be finished.  So I am hoping to be able to work late into the night (have two meetings at church though, so there will be a break). 

So onto the "inspiring" part of today's post:  yesterday's sermon was about grace.  God's grace, to be more exact.  The part that resonated with me though was the reinforcement of the messages I received last week, which is trusting and depending on Him.  Specifically, Pastor Singleton noted 2nd Corinthians 1:8-9 that Paul spoke to the ability of the vessel to withstand great pressure so that we learn not to depend on self.  Additionally, in 2nd Corinthians 4:8-9, it says:

8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;

we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

All of which at the end of the day means that we are stepped on but not crushed by the devil and his trials and tribulations.  I don't know about you, but for me and where I am today, that's good news, because I sometimes feel as if I'm at the breaking point.  Yet, I continue to press through to another day.  When I look back on where I've come from in the past 2 years or so, I can truly and honestly tell you I didn't think I was going to make it on many days.  There but for the grace of God go I...

Hopefully that snippet from yesterday's sermon will inspire someone who might also be going through some tough times. 

As always, thank you for reading my random musings!  Something you wanna share?  You know the drill - Holla @ Darvi!  Be Blessed and see ya Wednesday!!!

Some thoughts on the notion of "Perfection..."

Happy Tuesday (yeah, I know.  I'm getting really, really bad about not pre-writing, but sometimes what I PLAN to write about isn't what I'm LED to write about.  So just bear with me sometimes, I am learning to be obedient... [that is another post entirely!]).  

I hope that everyone is doing well.  I'm in a hectic time right now, lots of things happening at once and not enough time to get everything done!  Which means that emails don't get sent, calls don't get returned, texts are forgotten and blog posts aren't written...

What does all that mean?  It means that try as I may, no matter how hard I try, I'm not perfect.  I don't always have it all together.  Some days (ok, this is me, EVERY day) I start with a grand to-do list and all these ideas on what I'm going to accomplish that day.  Yeah. Then the Tween has an epic slow down and my morning plans are shot (happened today). Or I run into an old friend and we end up chatting for an hour when I (finally) dropped the Tween off at camp (also happened today).  So my morning start got pushed back almost 2 hours, and I have a full afternoon already (not to mention another last minute thing thrown into the mix this morning but I had to add it, class tonight and yesterday's undone tasks!)... you get the idea.

So I'm not perfect.  It's one of my major faults.  I'm actually just, wait for it... HUMAN.  And I accept that.  In fact, I accepted it a long time ago.  It just seems that other people I come into contact with can't, don't and won't accept it.  They are unwilling to extend the benefit of the doubt.  They appear to be unable to accept shortcomings and humanness.  Newsflash: the last time I checked, we were all human (unless I'm in contact with some alien life forms that I was unaware of...).  Meaning that we are all imperfect beings.

What does this mean?  It means, folks need to adjust their unrealistic expectations.  You know, those that are quick to demand perfection but in return expect grace for their missteps, mistakes and imperfectness.  The idea that real life doesn't happen to other people, just themselves.  Those that are quick to point out someone's shortcomings and criticize, but are unwilling to lend a hand or become a part of the solution.  You know those people...we all do.

So today, August 11, 2015, I make this grand announcement to the world:  I AM NOT PERFECT!  There, I said it!  Nor will I pretend to be... I can only be what I am, human, and with that comes mistakes and shortcomings.  If you are to be in my world on any level, then you must accept and expect that.  And either you will extend grace, mercy and forgiveness in those instances, or not.  There's always a choice.  

You know I love a good list, so here's a good place for one.  Reasons why you should accept humanness in others:

1) The Lord's Prayer says:  "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..."   How do you expect grace and forgiveness if you won't give it????

2) Which leads to number two, you never know when you will need grace for your humanness... Let that marinate for a minute.

3)  The bible also says this:  "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Matthew 7:5 (NIV)

(Image from here).

Which means that you should examine yourself before you examine others.

4) My grandmother used to say this:  "every time you point one finger at someone else, there are three point back at you."  

5) Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.  Enough said.

6) Last but not least, no one is perfect.  It's as plain and simple as that!  I just saw this on Pinterest last night and it actually inspired this post (along with some real-life drama going on):

(Image from Pinterest, but originally from here).

So what am I saying?  Cut folks some slack sometimes!!!  You never know what a person is going through, just by looking at them.  Everyone doesn't wear their issues on their sleeves and smiles hide a lot of pain and stress sometimes.  

Take me for instance.  I know there are people who think/feel that I have disappeared or just fell off the face of the earth right now.  No, not so much.  But I am dealing with some life things at the moment that are terribly important and take everything within me to manage. Like this:  today marks 741 days of unemployment for me.  That is pretty major.  But I thank God that we are still standing (bent at this point, but standing, nonetheless).  That being said, when you say your prayers (if you are a prayer-type of person), say one for me and my family that our finances continue to hold during this season (and I thank you in advance).

Ok, got that off my chest, and maybe it will help someone who is going through this also from the perspective of being judged or maybe you are the judger.  Either way, I hope it inspires you to examine yourself.

On a side note, this past weekend I had the opportunity to spend some time with a group of talented ladies that I just "met" via Meetup, The Creative Southsiders.  It was a pleasure to meet them and see the things they were working on (forgot to take pictures - next time) and it gave me some much needed downtime as well.  I worked on the wall piece for the new baby (unfinished because her name hasn't been finalized yet), and some scrapbook pages. I really needed the  break, so many thanks to The Creative Southsiders for having me!!! Here's what I worked on:

Here's the wall art for the new baby; I saved space for her name and more embellishments.  I used paper from American Crafts Play line (from 2007...), some bling trim from Michael's, the "princess" sticker from an old Pebbles kit, the 3-D princess sticker is also from Pebbles, cardstock from Bazzill and Die Cuts with a View, flowers from Prima and Bazzill and butterfly stickers from Jolee's.

This page is adorbs!  It features my nephew and great nephew!  I used primarily papers from Heidi Swapp's September Skies line, cardstock from Close to My Heart (outdoor denim, my all-time favorite navy cardstock), stickers and flag pennant from Basic Grey, foam letters and ribbon from American Crafts, some small star stickers from Studio Calico, and a random star that I had in my stash (I think it's from Creative Imaginations).  It's my favorite page of the day!

I'm not quite finished with this page; but I only had limited supplies with me.  This features the Tween's very first eye appointment in 2009!  I used papers by Carta Bella (So Noted Collection), cardstock from Close to My Heart (bamboo, my all-time favorite neutral cardstock), a flair button from Basic Grey, and a really old flower embellishment.  Still needs a little more embellishing though...

Welp, you know that to-do list I was talking about???  I have to get to back to it now.  Thank you so much for reading my blog and for your encouraging comments, emails, texts and Facebook messages!  I am humbled that my little posts inspire folks sometimes.  So thank you.  I am on bloglovin' now, so you can follow me there.  It's actually very neat, you can follow all of the blogs you read in one place.  Check it out here.  

But back to the subject of this post just for a second.  Just remember to give folks the benefit of the doubt sometimes, you never know what they are dealing with.  That's all I'm saying. Do you agree?  Holla @ Darvi!  Be Blessed!!!