The balance of Grace

Ok…

So I am listening to Lysa TerKurst and Ann Voskamp talk about their lives.

And Lysa says I get asked this question allot “How do you do your life? with many children, writing, speaking engagements and everything else too, how do you do it? How do you balance it?”

and the interviewer lady said :  Balance isn't real! right?

I listened a little further and I stopped the video and just sat with that thought …..(repeating it to myself  - BALANCE ISN’T REAL …

and at first I am thinking WHAT!!?? wait a minute!!

I need balance….if I don’t balance I will be off over here to long and miss this and that and what about….and all this stuff going off in my head.

and then I hear the Lord say “that is what my grace is for.”

My heart kind of sank …and I started to write this, because I feel that I understand myself and what I am learning better when I write it out.

If God’s grace is for our balance then all my striving to balance home, church, friends, family, laundry and dinner is for nothing!!

But If I am relying on my own strength then NO WONDER I am constantly straining myself to do better, organize, get it right, get it on the calendar. Perfect my inconsistencies and fix my “look” of laziness and craziness.

(Now there is nothing wrong with improving…what I am talking about a need for “balance” called PERFECTIONISM that causes you to think down if your stuff isn't done or will cause you to miss a God Appointment because you need to do that stuff. )

I know I am not the only one here!

The Key is Grace -like the gyroscope…I found this little diagram:

 

(source)

What is the ultimate GRACE --Christ who gave His life for us!

Romans 11:36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

If we keep our eyes on CHRIST in the center of it all….

( in the midst of all our mess, and issues, and timetables, and running errands  )

IF we keep our eyes on HIM…WE ARE BALANCED! (can you believe??)

When we Pray to the Father ( Output axis) and love others ( input axis) all while our eyes are fixed on Christ ( Spin Axis)

we walk in HIS WILL!!

How much more balanced could we be than in HIS WILL!!!

If Christ …If Grace is your Axis, MY AXIS - then I can allow myself to be IMPERFECT in His PERFECTNESS…I can allow myself to let go of the need to BALANCE LIFE….and instead LIVE IN GRACE!

I can do His will, as He asks and allow myself grace for the dishes not done because I am walking His way…and not mine.

BTW--  …Lysa said “ I DON’T!!” Balance is a slippery term :0) and Ann said “ Christ is our Axis, he is our balance point! :0)

Amen Girlfriends!

I get it! How do you feel about balance and are you trying to find it?

 

Friendship of Love,

Starla

BACK-BACK-BACK

"I want you to promise the Lord that, from tonight, you will not think back, look back, or act back!" ~Smith Wigglesworth

THINK BACK -- the Word teaches us to THINK RIGHTLY, STRAIGHT-FORWARDLY, UNCOMPROMISINGLY and BALANCED.

Do not go backward in what you have been taught. Learn from everything.

In the words of Dori from Finding Nemo --JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!

LOOK BACK -- Our past is just that -- PAST. What we do TODAY is the point. BE in Christ NOW!!

Not who you were ten years ago, or as you were, when you were a kid.

Be who you want to be NOW. All those things brought us up and made us who we are TODAY.

BUT THEY ARE NOT WHO WE ARE!! BE HERE NOW!!

ACT BACK -- Watch those reactions...where are they coming from?

Do they have there roots in old mental tape recordings in the past?

Do you hear in " past echo's " when people speak, assuming what they mean.

Don't react, ASK QUESTIONS and BE INTENTIONAL instead.

F and L'er

Starla

Its all in the Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

It is a way of regarding situations or facts. It is also the appearance from a certain angle or view. I would say it is safe to say that perspective is HOW we see through our LENSES in life. (Our Viewpoint)

In relationships the perspective can be particularly muddy. Each of us has our own set of  " Glasses" that have been colored by our experiences, learning, and family life. This difference in --seeing-- makes it difficult to relate at times especially if we insist on our own viewpoint as being RIGHT!

I was reading (in one of the many books that I am in right now) and it brought up this scenario of 5 people on the top of a mountain top. Each holding a camera and taking pictures. Can any one of them say for a certainty that they are capturing the view truthfully. Imagine what would happen...

One longing to be free from the pain of her past has always thought of flying away and so she captures the sky in great detail, the sun on the horizon, the clouds, and eagle flying by. To her it is breath taking and amazing....and yet it is only her perspective of TRUTH.

To another it has been a climb to rise to the top of the business world and the climb up the mountain felt like a representation of his life and so he captures the mountains and how they jut into the sky in towering magnificence....and yet it is only his perspective of TRUTH.

To another life is a battle where the person running this race of life is battered and bruised and so they capture the mountain goats as they beat their horns together for dominance...and yet it is only their perspective of TRUTH.

and so on...

See we all use our experiences to bring FOCUS to what we see. We become alert to certain things that relate to our situations and that are reminders of our experiences. So certain tones of voice alert our ears to be afraid when no one is intending harm. So they way some one reacts to us may queue us in that we are about to be rejected and before we know it we are the rejecter.

The KEY is to remember that not everyone THINKS like me ...and ask questions instead of assuming!!

I very well could be possible that we would remove a TON of misunderstandings, mishaps, and hurt if we did.

After all -- ITS ALL IN THE PERSPECTIVE!!

Have a wonderful night

F and L'er

Starla