Make Your Life Count Forever

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...

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...

Yesterday I noticed a young man working to clear the ground near this ant hill.  This evening I saw him again and asked if he was planning on growing vegetables.  When he said yes I asked why he choose to do it so near the ant hill.  He said he thinks this might be very fertile ground because of the ant hill. The whole episode reminded me of the exhortation in Hosea 10:12 to "break up your fallow ground".  I wondered just how much real estate in my life is currently fallow. I'm usually inept at accurate self evaluation, but I know the Lord can see the landscape of my life with clarity and He is an expert in cultivation and fruitfulness. So here in Pepease, where I am removed from my 'normal' life, I'm taking the opportunity to ask God for a frank evaluation and  recommendation.   As I write this I can hear the students singing what has become my favorite new worship song.  The chorus is "do something new in my life, something new in ...

Calvary Chapel Training Center Ghana, West Africa In December of 2000 my husband Gary began teaching a small group of men how to study the Bible using the Inductive Bible Study method.  Most were from Ghana's northern region which is harsh and inhospi table.  Famine and hunger are common there, but these men had come to a village in the Volta with a different kind of hunger.  They were seeking a feast and the only thing that could satisfy th eir hunger was the word of God. Thirteen years later more than one thousand students have graduated .  Some pastor one or more churches and many others serve in their local churches .  They disciple new believers , teach children, and support the body of Christ in prayer. Even as this present class nears the end of their final term they sit and eagerly listen to the story of how God worked to make it all happen. When asked how to be effective for God, Chuck Smith would say, "Try to find where the Spirit is m...

Don't you love this little guy's eagerness? I could almost hear him, "Look Mom, look at me , look I can walk on water". I shot this photo on a lake in Yellowstone National Park. It was early morning and this mother Merganser was patiently teaching her young to fish. All but one that is.    He reminds me of Isaiah who willingly answered God's call. Isaiah 6 tells us his story of 'Stepping Up'.   In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted,   seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.   2  Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.   3  And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the  Lord  Almighty;      the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4  At the sound of their voices the doorpos...