Make Your Life Count Forever

You know you're in Africa when color is everywhere  and small children are carried in a sling on Mom's  back.  This cloth, used all over Africa,  is the original "hands free" device .    You know you're in Africa when the mother and baby goat are part of the checked luggage that rides on top of the bus.  Gary says he has never seen them held in with ropes , it may be a new traffic regulation.      You know you're in Africa when the local Record store is called Beautiful Jesus Music.  You know you're in Africa when the oncoming traffic has horns and knows how to use them.   You know you're in Africa when the goats eat the park bench. You know you're in Africa when  the ants make a hill taller than your car. And finally, you know you're in Africa when the clouds look like they've been created in Photo Shop. But they weren't...

Hello again. I've been away blogging on my Wordpress blog. I'm very excited about a new Series I'm writing over there and I wanted to share it with those of you that have followed this blog. Here's a link to today's post.  Feel free to share it on Facebook or Pinterest. http://kellyjgrace.com/2013/10/02/the-heart-of-the-matter/ This series is part of a Group Blogging event called '31 Days 2013'. The challenge is to blog about the same topic for 31 consecutive days. At first I though I might run out of material, but I can see just 3 days into it that the problem will be fitting it all in to JUST 31 posts! What does the Proverbs 31 Woman have to say to modern women? She's asking us if we're 100% married.    She's sharing her fabulous organization tips. She's urging us to step up our Productivity.   She's helping us to gain clarity about priorities and motivations.   She's leading by exam...

Last week we sang an updated version of the old hymn , It Is Well With My Soul . As I sang the familiar words I recalled the story behind them. The song was penned by a Chicago businessman named Horatio G. Spafford. He suffered great financial losses due to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and while still grieving over the loss, the previous year, of their son he decided a vacation might be desirable. He booked passage for his wife and four daughters and planned to follow them to England to hear D. L. Moody preach.  But, before his departure date the ship carrying his wife and daughters was struck by another vessel and sank. Spafford received a cable from his wife saying, "Saved alone". He sailed on the next ship for England and after seeing the supposed place of the tragedy Spafford began writing the hymn. God's grace always abounds toward us, but often in times of great trial and loss it literally envelops us and somehow hope floods our aching hearts.   Someho...

High School Memories He has  made everything beautiful in its time.     Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot  find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.    Ecclesiastes 3:11 I happened to see this photo this morning on a friend's Facebook timeline.   That's me on the far right cheering on the JV football team. I made a mess of my life early on. Looking back at that photo and others from a yearbook I see so many missed opportunities. But, looking at my life now I see what God has done with the mess I made. I see how He was present in guiding and directing my path to Him. His light shining down into my darkness illuminating the way. The girl next to me once invited me to a youth camp.   Two days before the camp my cousins arrived for a visit and my Mom said I couldn't go. Would I have met God then and changed the course of my life? Well, we don't know the answers to questions...

Old Faithful Yellowstone National Park Italian Coast at Monterosso Niagara Falls Cathedral Mountain Canada Bison Yellowstone National Park While cleaning bookshelves I came across an old devotional and read this excerpt from  James Hudson Taylor.  He was a British Missionary who spent 51 years in China.  He founded The China Inland Mission and knew a little about God's power. God Himself is our source of power. . .       Further, God's power is available power.  We are a supernatural people, born again by a supernatural birth, kept by a supernatural power, sustained on supernatural food, taught by a supernatural Teacher from a supernatural Book.  We are led by a supernatural Captain on right paths to assured victories.  The risen Savior, before he ascended on high, said, "All power is given to Me.  Go therefore. . ."  Matthew 28:20 KJV We have given too much to method and machinery and to resources...

The Greatest Thing by Henry Drummond Photo © 2013 Kelly Grace Have you read this little Classic of the Faith? I first found the little red copy in a Used Bookstore in York, England.   Even then it was fragile, but after I brought it home to California and my home's central heating and AC, it came apart into three sections. But, God is gracious and knew I needed to be able to read this book over and over.   When my mother-in-law passed away I received her copy.  It's in mint condition and able to withstand frequent perusal. The title comes from the subject matter, 1 Corinthians 13, the famous passage on love.     In his discourse Drummond points out that all sin falls into two categories:  sins of the body and sins of disposition.   Ouch! Verse 4 says, Love suffers long and is kind . Of this kindness Drummond observes, It includes perhaps more strictly, the self-restraint which refuses to make capital out of...

There are said to be thirty thousand promises made  to the child of God, but they are of no more value  to  us than statements in the newspaper if we  do  not  personally appropriate them. J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Maturity PROMISE #1 I came across this sentence about two weeks ago and it has resurfaced in my thoughts again and again.  Yesterday I calculated that if I found 4.5 promises every single day I could find all 30,000 if I lived to be 80 years old.   How many promises support our lives every single day?  I don't know the number, but wouldn't be surprised if it were in the hundreds. Promises that reveal God's: PERSON PLAN PRESENCE POWER PROVISION PURPOSES PROTECTION PATIENCE There are literally thousands of promises that reveal His NATURE, LOVE, GRACE, MERCY, and FORGIVENESS. We, His children by faith, are supported and graced by the promises God has given us. Every day I want to fin...

An Everyday Cross 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is  folly to  those who are perishing, but to us  who are being saved it is  the power of God. The cross.   What comes to mind when you think of the cross? Jesus. How about ourselves? Do we ever think of ourselves in connection with the cross? This verse in 1 Corinthians made me think about this today: In what way is the cross the power of God in my life? “It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.” ― Hans Urs von Balthasar , Unless You Become Like This Child The cross is the beginning of salvation and new life in Christ. But God intends that the cross be His power in our lives. What does that look like on a daily basis? As I thought about that I remembered something I'd read once in a Tozer book. You know how a thought just kind of hangs out on the edge of memo...

A DIVIDED HEART What's going on in your heart today? One of the many benefits of a Quiet Time, or a Morning Devotion, is the opportunity it gives us to hear from God about our heart condition.   According to Paul, all of us suffer from Chronic Heart Disease (Romans 7:23).  As Christians we are each a new creation in Christ, but we still live in an earthly body and are subject to the influences of our fallen nature---which Paul calls, the OLD MAN. This morning I was slogging through Hosea 9-11 in my daily reading.   It's a little depressing reading about the spiritual failures, the  whorings,  of Israel that resulted in their captivity and ruin. BUT---it is also instructive. Proverbs 4:23 has some excellent advice for each of us:   Keep your heart with all vigilance,   for  from it flow  the springs of life. When the Bible talks about our hearts it doesn't mean the organ that pumps blood throughout our bodie...