Multitude Monday - 1000 Gifts: A paradox? Really?

A lie that locks up and leads to so much loss... such clever confusion... this idea that God's amazing love...

...that His gentle grace once accepted and then by His grace, shared abundantly with others...

...cannot include, does not insist upon, a radical and relentless race after holiness...

...a joyful, willing separation from anything that displeases Him or diminishes His honor and glory in the eyes of this watching world.

God's holiness and grace complete each other. His holiness - His absolute apartness and differentness from all that complies with human logic and sense - makes His bewildering grace  almost seem a foregone conclusion. His grace then compels me to joyfully grow in personal holiness, to pray for and gently encourage a worthy walk in others while never losing sight of the One Who is Holiness and Grace.

There it is... that word gentle... yet once again...

This week's gratitude list ~

#715 seeing that the passionate pursuit of and hope for holiness must mesh inextricably with gratitude for grace... they can be neither exluded nor ignored, otherwise we lose ourselves in the extremes of license and legalism

#716 seeing for the very first time how the books of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians all dovetail so beautifully together

#717 Paul's prayer becoming my heart's cry, for myself and for those I love ~ "that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

#718 hiding the book of Colossians in my heart

#719 seeing in #716 a very human side to Paul, a side with which I can identify: when God was teaching or impressing something on his heart, it spilled over into many aspects of his life... and bubbled out into his letters and communications with the people he loved

#720 Friday night praise and worship with some really fun folks

#721 seeing humor where we could choose to find none

#722 that moment of realization where I saw God had responded to my fear, provoked a change and opened our eyes thus answering a cry of my heart with a tiny glimpse of His hand... He didn't have to, by His grace I was already choosing to trust and wait... nothing changed except the flooding within of peace like a river

#723 omelettes, capuccino, hot chocolate, thé au lait conversation and laughter Saturday morning with my sweet, funny girl and my lovely friend

#724 softball at the Rec

#725 puppies with corresponding pink and blue collar & leash sets

#726 teens teaching those toddler pups to behave

#727 cheering children as I declared a dusting ban until the harmattan "Sahara blizzards" let off a little bit... no point in maintaining that exercise in futility!

#728 hilarious stories about mail coming to the States from majority world countries ~ even when the consequences make life a little inconvenient

#729 coffee with vanilla caramel creamer and corn flakes for breakfast

#730 toddler voice singing "Baby Mine" to her baby doll

#731 ground broken... anticipation...

#732 friends from our church coming to help in not too many weeks

#733 Grandpa's coming, too!!!!!

#734 my friend Amina who almost always makes me laugh, wants to fight me for my brand-new-just-given-to-me-from-another-friend-clothes, who (though I'm not sure she realizes it) is discipling my two oldest, who loves my tribe and loves to tease and play with them

#735 that the ladies' Bible study group is growing hungrier to study God's Word together

#736 testimonies like this one... sometimes they are the knot at the end of the rope those days and weeks when we are just hanging on

#737 reconnecting with old friends, finding that Jesus is their first love, too

#738 fingernails, for the first time ever... since my wedding (even tho' it is making typing a bit more of a challenge, m&m loves the back scratches and begs for them!)

#739 seeing his hunger to learn... to read... and to snuggle during the English Evening service