Alright Ladies...Let us begin the posts!
Instead of me picking a question to answer on, I'd like to point out what stuck with me the most during this whole lesson. In day 5 it says: God's grace is undeserved, but it is not unconditional. God makes grace available, and He is eager to give it, but there is one condition that must be met.

But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

I had to read this more than once to let it truly sink in. Again, I need to be humble! Humble, humble, humble. I know that God's Love is unconditional which is comforting. But having to remind myself that He opposes the proud make me nervous. I have to continually stop, put myself in check, pray, confess, repent, and humble myself. It's hard work, but when I'm truly trying to humble myself, I feel sooo close to God. And when I feel close to God, it's easier to be humble.
So, I've decided to print out James 4:6 and frame it (I'll have Paul make it look pretty first). I want to see this verse as much as possible. Sometimes it can be hard to except His grace, but let's not forget He paid the price for our sin on the cross. If you haven't seen the movie The Passion of the Christ, see it!

I love you girls

Love you, too, Kimmie.

I hope this doesn’t come out all depressing, tho’ it will surely be a bit redundant to y’all. Sometimes it is so hard to be transparent for me, but I want to keep on going thru the ugly stuff…you are all along for the ugly ride!

One of the things that has hit home with me is 1 Peter 5:10: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” In some ways I feel like I gave up on Jesus when we were so close to the restoration part. In a way, there has been a good deal of restoration that has taken place, but I know it would be ohhh so much better if I’d remained as steadfast in my walk. When life went upside-down for me I came across “be strong and courageous” so many times that I really think Someone was trying to tell me something. I honestly, during the process, just gave up.

When I sat down to catch up on Lesson 5, I had to reread it to know where I left off! The first thing to come right back to the surface was my feelings toward God in regards to my experiences with him a year ago… I’m still stuck there apparently. There is a sense of being fearful of drawing near to God out of fear of suffering. The equation in my mind goes something like this…serving God=suffering. It is hard for me to read things that say serving God makes everything okay, because sometimes things are not okay, but instead I learn to live by hanging on to God—which does make things okay. Does that sound like “who’s on first”? I know that was my lesson, but it was so difficult that I don’t want to be back there. It seems like so long ago, another lifetime, yet I am reminded of how easily it affects me when I begin the process of moving closer to God. However, if I know anything about God it is that He doesn’t let things go, so I’ll be forced to keep moving forward until Jesus is my Homeboy, again. LOL. There has been healing already in this study, but for some reason Lesson 5 and accepting God’s grace has really helped.

So here’s to 2009! My goal is to climb back up that hill (Kate Bush, anyone)…to be just as determined as I was when I sat at Mickey D’s with Doreen and told her I’d do this study and had the intention of throwing myself into it…where I’ve only done a half-way fling…kwim? Plus, there is the reassurance that it isn’t about what I can do anyway, but what God can do thru me. Yeah, so like, He has his work cut out!

Love you all.

Lesson 5, Seeking Him Together question #1 page 100...
How would you define the concept of grace to a 6-year-old?
I thought I sort of understood the concept, but when asked to define it, I couldn't. I had to look it up - Googled it, I did.



It's basically an undeserved favor. It's kindness and compassion that we did nothing to earn.
Truly understanding that concept now, well, it brings a whole new level of meaning to "God's grace is sufficient." No matter what hard times we are going through, God's kindness and compassion - His GRACE - will see us through.



I'm starting on Lesson 6 now....

And, Jenn, God's got his work cut out on ALL of us! Hey, that's where his GRACE comes in!

As I sat in church on Sunday, in the middle of a good lesson, the band sang "What a friend we have in Jesus" and I guess that sums up how I feel about God's grace. I know and forget that I can take my sadness, and anger to God humbly and honestly and he will shine the light on me. The song made my tear up and put me in my place because I know my actions are not worthy of the Grace I am given.
Proverbs 3:34 says "Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble". I pray not to be the scornful and I surely pray to be humble. Thanks ladies! Love you all!

Loving the new picture, Doe!