Grace Awakening-Week One Chapter One

Grace Awakening-Week One Chapter One

 

Free in Christ. Free indeed. Free at last.

 

Happy New Year and welcome to our study of Charles Swindoll’s Grace Awakening! I am so glad to have you joining us! The plan is to post a chapter each week for the next fourteen weeks, God willing, and you are invited to join along with both the book and workbook. Feel free to share your insights and input below in the comments each week-I’d love to hear from you!

 

I came upon Grace Awakening because I have been longing for something more. I have a regular morning time routine well established over the past eight or nine years now-reading the Bible every morning, prayer journaling, and also participating in online studies with a group of friends who have graciously shared their morning time with me as well over the past few years. But lately, I just felt like I needed something more, something deeper. And then I came across this book and it completely resonated with my heart. I am so excited to start this new journey!

 

And so we begin-Grace: It’s Really Amazing!

 

Grace received but unexpressed is dead grace. Rather than spend our time debating on how we receive it or what it means to live by grace, we need to just claim it and allow it to set us free-then grace will become what it was meant to be-really amazing!

 

Grace Embraced

 

The One we could call “Grace Embodied” never tires of extending it to us. When we fully embrace His gift of grace, we will:

 

      have a greater appreciation of God’s gifts

      spend less time and energy concerned about other people’s choices

      become more tolerant and joyful (yes, please!), less prejudiced and judgmental

      take a giant step toward maturity.

 

Oh yes—sign me up!

 

Grace will bring the freedom to want the highest good for and expect the highest good from one another. It will make us want to obey and prompt us to love each other. However, when we don’t embrace grace for ourselves, we have no grace to offer others.

 

If we refuse to live by grace, our attitudes sour. We’re certain that people can’t be trusted. We waver over whether or not God fully accepts us, so we run from intimacy with Him. On our own, we drive ourselves to obsessive intensity. Our spirits harden. Our rigidity repels. Our faces shout, “No!”

 

When we choose to live by grace, our attitudes shift from negative to positive. Our relationships with people are characterized by confident acceptance rather than suspicious intolerance. With His grace, our focus expands. Our intensity is relieved. Our spirits soften. We become more winsome, affirming, contagious, and understanding. Our faces say, “Yes.”

 

As an added bonus, I found that there is also a podcast by Mr. Swindoll for each chapter you can listen to. For this week’s podcast click here. You can also download the Insights for Living app free which includes the archive of the entire series’ podcasts!

 

Thank you for joining me this week-I hope you’ll share your thoughts in the comments below and come back again next week for Chapter Two-The Free Gift.

 

 

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore,

and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

~Galatians 5:1

Random Journal Day #46

Hi and welcome back to another Random Journal Day where the first Friday of every month journal friends share over at Enthusiastically, Dawn! I am still working in the same prayer journal, a simple Daler Rowney I had picked up at Walmart:

 

Maybe two-thirds of the way through? With my Nantucket Moby Dick coffee mug

I'm already contemplating the next prayer journal and have decided I need one that will withstand water media so I can play with some color. I've signed up for the 2015 Documented Faith Project and have a mixed media journal already set aside for that-really excited to begin that for the New Year!

 

I also received this in the mail yesterday:

 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE! I've been wanting a Lutheran Study Bible for quite a while but some are fairly expensive--and HUGE! This is a personal size, was reasonably priced, and I am head over heels in LOVE already!!

I'm about to finish up my fourth Bible, Max Lucado's Inspirational Study Bible, a gift from a friend--oh how I love Max's Bibles! But I'm definitely looking forward to this new journey through the Lutheran Study Bible--so many notes and study applications--I am a Bible nerd!!

 

So, all right--some Scripture doodles from the prayer journal this past month:

 

  

 

 

And beginning Advent inspiration:

 

 

Just a couple more quickies--I've made some bookmarks to share with participants of my New Year's journey through Charles Swindoll's Grace Awakening. So far the plan is to start January 3, working weekly through the book and accompanying workbook (oh my gosh, how I love a workbook! LOL!) If you wish to join me for the study, just shoot me an email and let me know. I will add you to my mailing list for the study and send out reminders as we get closer to starting in January! Oh! The bookmarks:

Front and back
 

And finally, a quick tile coaster I'd made for my friend, Jenny of Jenny's Sketchbook (so super talented, give the link a click to enjoy her artwork!):

Scripture coaster tiles available for purchase-email me!

And that's all I have to share this time! Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I would be so excited to have you join me for the Grace Awakening study, so give a holler and we will share!! Do pop on over to Dawn's journal party for more journal love!

Until next time,

xoxo

A Thought from the Cross

Sometimes I can be super slow on the uptake, especially when it comes to symbolism. I have a friend, Noel, who is a voracious reader and is incredibly keen with finding and getting the symbolism in what she reads. Myself? Yeah, not so much. I let myself get lost in the beauty of the story, happy to gloss over anything deeper--but I often think how much might I really be missing if I don't press myself to dig for greater understanding? Wouldn't it bring the stories to a fuller life?

So this morning, it hit me like a ton of bricks--and don't even ask me how it came to me other than the Spirit gave me this shining tidbit of light. How many times have we heard and read the story of Christ's crucifixion? About a gazillion times since we began Sunday school and especially as Easter and Good Friday rolled around, right? It occurred to me just this morning, these two criminals hung on either side of our Lord, truly represent humanity--are we not as guilty and deserving of their death as they are? Do we not all sincerely fall short of the glory of God?

The guy on the left is insulting Christ, taunting Him to prove Himself before the crowd. He represents the world of unbelievers--doubting, accusing, hostile and angry. The guy on the right represents Christ's followers--he knows his guilt, he is full up certain he is deserving of his sentence. He is also completely sure of who Christ is: righteous, innocent, his only hope of salvation. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." -Luke 23:42

Which side of the cross are you on?

"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

~Luke 23:43

 

Thanks be to God.

Random Journal Day #45

Well, hi there! It's hard to believe two months have passed since my last post (which was September's RJD link up!) And I have a TON of pics to share since I haven't been posting, so I really hope you'll bear with me and forgive me for not keeping up with my weekly Wednesday postings....Life has just taken off on a new turn, I've been limiting my time on the computer in an effort to accomplish more...more. Some days it works. Some days, well, not so much. I have been sharing pics on Instagram and Twitter--which flows over to Facebook....but I am certainly overdue for a blog update! And! If you read on 'til the end, I will catch ya'll up to speed on what is happening next here in Dawn's world! But first--happy Random Journal Day #45! Here's what I've been doing since September:

So, back in February, I began prayer journaling in a simple Daler Rowney sketchbook that I picked up super cheap at the local Walmart (my home away from home...) and here I am in November still at it. I've maybe gotten about two thirds of the way through the journal, so I shall carry on with this praying/doodling adventure! Here are the Scripture doodles I've done these past two months (yeah, there's a LOT!):

Some of the pics aren't so great, but lighting at four in the morning is far from optimal...So! The big exciting news! My sweet friend, Alex, has been encouraging me to take all of this to the next level. I have just bought a couple coffee mugs and a small stack of ceramic of tiles to doodle Scripture and quotes on for coaster sets. I've also bought some ceramic ornaments to doodle Christmasy sayings on as well, and I'm hoping to get some lettering opportunities addressing Christmas card lists or wedding/special occasion invitations--and I've started a new blog (oh yes, here I go again....) over at The Blueberry Loft. You can click on the link to see some of what I'm doing there and I have a couple quick pics to share here (yes, more pics!)

Some addressing samples (not real addresses!) for Christmas cards--please drop me a line if you're interested in having me do your envelopes this year!

I'm still happily mail arting and this little envie was from a Halloween swap for the Postal Society

 

And finally a zentangled postcard for another mail swap...

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit! I hope you enjoyed all the pics and I look forward to seeing you over at the Loft! And do pop on over to Enthusiastically, Dawn for more happy journal love!

RJD #44

The first week of back to school has come and gone in a flash. I was so excited to have the house and days back to myself again, I celebrated with window shopping on Wednesday, painted and mail arted most of the day Thursday, then totally just chilled for Friday and caught up on my week's shows on the DVR, Tucker and Pea curled lazily by my side...A good first week...

But...the realization that I simply cannot fritter away my days lay lingering at the back of my mind and there is just so much that I want to do! I have started a new painting which I'm super excited about. I'm thoroughly ensconced in mail arting and loving it! But I also would like to begin drawing and sketching again, so that idea sits patiently at the side while I'm settling into a new routine and schedule once more...So here I am again playing with priorities and determining to be more disciplined. I've been giving Michael speeches about setting goals and deciding just what he'd like to do with his future with a mere two years to find his way into the high school program he wants. I, too, need to crack down and do something more productive with my time and energy. My One Word: Focus looms...

Meanwhile, Random Journal Day #44 has its link up this weekend (with a sweet giveaway if you'd like to follow the link and check it out!) I am still managing to keep up in my prayer and scripture journal, seven months in! Just a couple doodles to share this week:

 

And we have a super full weekend ahead. This morning is bowling league for Michael then we're off to the Apple Peach Festival in Acushnet. Food, arts and crafts, and music by this guy, Neal Mc--he's AMAZING (and a personal friend...) Check him out:

 

 

Tomorrow morning I'm running in another 5k at beautiful Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven. I went and ran the course yesterday, so I'm ready! And training continues for our Working Waterfront Festival Whaleboat races coming up at the end of the month. Our team made the paper as we headed out for practice one early Sunday morning:

How cool is this??



And that's all I have to share this week. Head on over to Enthusiatically, Dawn for more journal inspiration and link up love! Have a great weekend and I hope to see you back here again soon!

Working On It Wednesday #14

I know I've missed a few weeks here, so thanks for not giving up on me! It's been a bit hectic having the hubs home for three weeks after his back surgery--which went wonderfully well and he started back to work in record time! And Bug 'n I are wrapping up summer with final back to school preparations: clothes and supplies shopping, hair cuts, just fun excursions...Add on top of that running, training for my first 10k this fall, and rowing training for a race at the end of September...there's not been time at all for playing on the computer much. I'm hoping to get back into my regular arting routine once kiddo starts school again next week--I'm anxious to paint and have several projects lined up already!

I have managed to draw up some Scripture doodles here--my most recent batch:

Continuing in my Love series

I just started reading John...

Needs something doodled in the space on the left...

more Love

A bookmark I made for my bloggy friend, Dawn :)

So it's not been a total wash these past few weeks of recuperating and running around like mad! Still playing with mail art and want to do more explorations of mixed media envies...But, there's still a few days left of summer to play, so maybe, just maybe we'll be heading to the beach...yes!

 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you back again soon!

Workin' On It Wednesday #13

Where is this year flying off to?? We have almost a week post-surgery under our belt and Mr. Patient is recovering nicely. I have him up and walking as much as possible during the day and am so thankful for our neighborhood plan. The streets all loop and interlock creating myriad possibilities of walking/running adventures for as long and as far as you could want to go without ever coming close to the main road that runs below us. Our own little street is in the heart of the plan and forms a quiet, squarish loop. Monday we walked up the shorter length. Yesterday morning we walked the opposite direction for the longer length--okay, maybe it's more of a rectangular loop...Then yesterday afternoon Mr. Patient felt well enough to walk the full loop and today we will venture out to the next street that loops around our inner sanctum. He's even managed some brave steps indoors without his cane--which scares the devil out of me with both dogs running around, anxious to love on Daddy after he'd been gone in the hospital for four terribly long days...I am surprised and thrilled that he's doing so well. Now if we could get his appetite back up to where it should be to help him regain more strength, then I'll be even more pleased. The pain meds he's on have zapped his desire to eat, and whatever he does try to nibble on seems to taste too salty (it's not the cook, salt never touches our food anymore!) But, we'll take just one day at a time and be thankful for how well he is recuperating after such an extreme procedure!

So, after being gone for all that time at the hospital, I didn't think I'd have too much to share for this week's post-but I did manage to get a few doodles done:

Another lyric doodle--I just wish the previous page hadn't bled through so much...

Reading in Luke right now

Inspired from my perpetual calendar

And Sunday our baby girl turns 27! I made a little card for her gifties-this is just the sketch up...forgot to take a pic before I tucked the actual card in the envie...my brain is so scattered this week...

 



So that's the week's offerings. I'm beginning to contemplate just what I might want to do once kiddo and Mr. Patient head back to school and work--there's a couple online classes I'd like to try along with my stash of books here that I need to get back to...We'll have to wait and see what fancy hits me, I suppose...For today I'm off to go rowing this morning--it's been almost two weeks since I've been out on the water and I miss it!! My lovely rowing friends volunteered me for another racing team in September--are they great, or what? Can't wait--need to get some practice in and we just might take a win this time!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by--have a great week, go do something summery! Hope to see you back here next Wednesday!

Until then,

xoxox