YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME...COUNTING MY BLESSINGS...

TRANSFORMING THURSDAY
.

Have you ever worked around or lived with a person who always sees "the glass half empty" instead of "the glass half full". Negativism and ungratefulness just wear on a person. The interesting thing is that the last few weeks I've been surrounded by just that. Many of my students have been poster children of stressed out complainers and negative reactionaries. For a while, I tried to be a light in a dark world. What happened? Recently, especially this last week, I have come home and dumped the garbage at home. I am exhausted, but that is no excuse! There are many mothers who work only at home or work at home and outside the home that have it far more intense than I do. It's time for the negative self-talk and talk to others to cease! It's time for the caterpillar mentality to stop!
.

Yesterday, being in the WORD via our scripture memory gave me a glimpse in the mirror. Thank You, Jesus:

.
"From the fullness of His GRACE

we have all received one BLESSING after another.

For the law was given through Moses;

GRACE and TRUTH came through JESUS CHRIST."

.

Whether a christian or not, I've noticed that people who count their blessings and live their lives with "gratitude attitudes" are making transforming choices. The wonderful thing about being a christian is that I can look in the mirror of THE WORD and see my reflection pretty clearly. The TRUTH may hurt, but His GRACE says, "You can stop right now... ask for forgiveness... quit the negative thinking /talking... begin making positive and encouraging choices ...

.

.

AND START COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS!!!!

.

• SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

• PHYSICAL BLESSINGS

• INTELLECTUAL BLESSINGS

• RELATIONAL BLESSINGS

• EMOTIONAL BLESSINGS

.
Maybe it's time for me to get out the old movie POLLYANNA and get a glimpse of what that looks like.
.

Maybe it's time to get a prism and see some rainbows (a.k.a. Pollyanna and Noah). I grew up listening to a stack of record albums of my parents. My favorite was Tennessee Ernie Ford every Sunday morning. On that album, he sang some pretty powerful words about a righteous man who found GRACE: "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." I think about those words, when I see a rainbow and count my blessings and not my troubles.
.

THE TRUTH IS THAT:
.

"From the fulness of His GRACE,

.

we have all received one BLESSING after another"

.

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME... ONE BLESSING AFTER ANOTHER...

I invite you to join me today in practicing the first 3 parts of this months scripture memory. I'll follow it afterwards with a few brief comments.

,

John 1:14-18

.

14
The WORD became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
We have seen His glory, the glory of the ONE AND ONLY,
who came from the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH.
15

John testifies concerning Him.
He cries out, saying, "This was He of whom I said,
'He who comes after me has surpassed me
because He was before me.'"
.

16 From the fullness of His GRACE

we have all received one BLESSING after another.

17 For the law was given through Moses;

GRACE and TRUTH came through JESUS CHRIST.

.

.

.

Now, practice saying this week's scripture as you slowly scroll down:

From the fullness

of His GRACE

we have all

received

one

BLESSING

after

another.

For the law

was given

through Moses;

GRACE

and

TRUTH

came

through

JESUS

CHRIST.
.

Practice saying this week's scripture with every other word diminished:

.

John 1:14-18

.

The WORD became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the ONE AND ONLY, who came from the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH. John testifies concerning Him. He cries out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.'" From the fullness of His GRACE we have all received one BLESSING after another. For the law was given through Moses; GRACE and TRUTH came through JESUS CHRIST.

.
.
.

Practice saying this week's scripture with every other word missing:

.

John 1:14-18

.

________WORD ________flesh _____ made _____ dwelling ________us. ___ have _________ His _______, the _______ of ______ONE ______ ONLY, _____ came ______ the ______, full ___ GRACE _____TRUTH. ______ testifies _____________ Him. ______ cries ________, saying, "This ______ He _____ whom _____said, '_____ who ________after _____has ____________ me ___________He _______before ______.'" From ______fullness ____ His ________ we ______ all ___________ one ____________after _________. For ______law ______given ________Moses; ________and ________ came ___________JESUS ___________.

.

.

.

SCRIPTURE PHRASE:

"From the fulness of His GRACE, we have all received one BLESSING after another"

COMMENT:

.

It is God's rich GRACE that overflows from Jesus Christ into our lives. Join me tomorrow as we look at this phrase a little deeper!

.

SCRIPTURE PHRASE:

"For the law was given through Moses; GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ."

.

COMMENT:

I spent some time last night back in the Old Testament. I reminded myself that since Jesus was there at creation, Grace and Truth must have been in Genesis.

.

Evidence? Blessing!

.

The word "grace" is not used in the book of Genesis, but the words bless, blessing, blessed, and blesses do appear 404 times in Genesis. (New American Standard Version - NASB). The WORD shows, that since the beginning of time, God-THE ONE AND ONLY, has poured out one blessing after another on creation.

.

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME... I AM SOOOOO GRATEFUL....

God, life had lost it's flavor and You sent Your "salt of the earth" family...

.

God, things seemed so hopeless and they couldn't find their way. So, You sent Your "light of the world" family...

.

The TRUTH is that You extended Your MERCY AND GRACE through Your people... Your family... and I am so very grateful.

.

Thank You, God, that at just the right time You sent...

.

...Rob and Carol!

.

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME... AS YOU DISCIPLE ME...

MEDITATION MONDAY

"I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW!"

.

.

At some point, Steve's sermon from yesterday will be posted and you can click over on the right sidebar and listen. It will be worth it! The video clips he showed will probably not be available though. There is no way that I can even touch on the enormity of the topic. Steve spoke from the book of Mark, specifically chapters 8-10 which he referred to as - "strong teaching on discipleshp."

.

On the way out of the auditorium yesterday, I had more people than usual say to me how "challenged" or "impacted" they were by his words. Others called or texted during the day. Then, there were Facebook comments like this one:

.

Thank you Steve for a wonderful lesson on discipling! Thank you for challenging us and reminding me again how my pride gets in the way! Please Lord keep breaking me down! GIGATT...

.

You know, the word GRACE is not found in the book of Mark, but the teaching hit me smack dab in the heart! Who are you allowing to help disciple you? Who is it in your life who can work like an S.O.S. pad to help scrub down the rough places? Who is it in your life who you will listen to when they say:

.

.
Steve took us from Mark 8:22 to Mark 10:52. He called these the INCLUSIO passages between the two stories of the blind men. Jesus was with His disciples:

1. HE SPENT TIME WITH THEM.
2. HE ASKED THEM QUESTIONS.
3. HE WARNED!
4. HE TAUGHT THEM... STATING THINGS PLAINLY...
5. HE REBUKED!

One of the disciples:

1. PULLED JESUS ASIDE!
2. REBUKED JESUS!

Wow! All that and we weren't even out of Mark 8. What I noticed the most, as Jesus discipled, was that He spoke of spiritual things and His disciples got stuck on the physical. He would say something profound and eventually it would get back to the physical and the disciples' pride. They could not see clearly that Jesus was talking about a spiritual Kingdom. They had trouble seeing JESUS clearly for who He was!

Steve reminded us that JESUS was calling all disciples to be SUFFERING, SERVANT SLAVES. Now that is a deeply spiritual concept that I refer to as the:

I thought, "Yep! Patti, Jesus is calling you to be a JOYFUL suffering, servant slave!

As I sat and pondered Jesus' patient love for His disciples, I was convicted that that is how He wants us to disciple each other - with GRACE and TRUTH. I also thought of what we had read in our Bible class, just an hour earlier with elementary kids, from the book of Genesis. God was patiently working with Cain. He extended Him GRACE:
.

.
Genesis 4:6-8
"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry?

Why is your face downcast?

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

But if you do not do what is right,

sin is crouching at your door;

it desires to have you, but you must master it."
Now Cain said to his brother Abel,

"Let's go out to the field."

And while they were in the field,

Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
.

Cain wouldn't allow himself to be discipled by God. Judas wouldn't allow himself to be discipled by Jesus. GOD STILL EXTENDED HIS GRACE!!! AMAZING!

.

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME

SUNDAY IN THE SON

My faithful Father, enduring Friend
Your tender mercy’s like a river with no end
It overwhelms me, covers my sin
Each time I come into Your presence
I stand in wonder once again
.
CHORUS:
Your GRACE still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your GRACE still amazes me
‘Cause Your GRACE still amazes me
.
Oh, patient Saviour, You make me whole
You are the Author and the Healer of my soul
What can I give You, Lord, what can I say
I know there’s no way to repay You
Only to offer You my praise

.

CHORUS:
Your GRACE still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your GRACE still amazes me
‘Cause Your GRACE still amazes me
.
It’s deeper, it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher
It’s deeper it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher
than anything my eyes can see
.

CHORUS:
Your GRACE still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your GRACE still amazes me
‘Cause Your GRACE still amazes me.

.

AMAZING GRACE...G.R.A.C.E.

KETCHUP AND MUSTARD SATURDAY

Catch up and Must Do

.

G ift.

.

R eceived

.

A ccepted.

.

C hanged.

.

E verlasting Life.

.

G od's

.

R iches

.

A t

.

C hrist's

.

E xpense

.

This week, I'm thinking of a few friends and family who would have a few things to say about God's Amazing Grace: Steve/Patti, Caleb/Krista, Jordan/Jacqueline, Chip/Lisa, Rich/Cindy... How about you?

.

Be sure and pause the playlist above before watching this video:


Amazing Grace Incredible 7yr Singer Rhema Marvanne @ Yahoo! Video

Everything you can ever know about Jesus screams “GRACE!”

Everything you can ever know about GRACE screams out “Jesus!”

He was, is and forever shall be the personification of GRACE.

AMAZING GRACE... SHINING THROUGH HIS PEOPLE... HIS FAMILY...

.
Our third grandchild was born a week from yesterday. Her daddy and mommy arrived early at the hospital.

.

Kaleah Faith arrived at 1:21 p.m. as her mommy briefly pushed and her daddy delivered.

.

They left the hospital the next day, posing for a pic with the attending physician.

.

.

The Kansas Keesees were waiting at J & J's home to share the joy.

.

Pappy and Grams with sister Chloe:

.

.

Auntie Pam:

.

Uncle J and Auntie A:

.

.

Lots of sister time for Chloe and Kaleah:

.

.

Three Keesee sisters... two Sikes' sisters... and two of the three brothers-in-love enjoy each others fellowship...

.

.

Mention the name Keesee and people smile and tell you of a "salt of the earth" extended family.

.

The Keesee family comes to mind? Yes! Reflections of their Savior... "light of the world people"...

.

Keesee's? A plugged in family! People full of GRACE and TRUTH!

.

Our daughter-in love is a Keesee Sikes! Our two granddaughters are so blessed to have Pappy and Grams Keesee and the extended Keesee family as their family, friends, and life models.

.

GIGATTAATTGIG!

.