GRACE PLAN

This week my words come slowly. Fingers to the keyboard has felt harder this week because my own heart and mind have to have time and space and more time and space to process…life…and faith.

As a mama to three boys, September beckons me to begin the striving dance. There are so many details to remember for school. The boys need good meals. They need good sleep. They need clean clothes. And so September becomes a different kind of busy, and if I’m not careful, I go into a try-hard mode and it can carry over into my faith.

My “quiet time” with God was starting to grow forced. I was trying so hard to get up early before the house wakes up, before lunches need to be made, breakfast needs to be served, and errands need to be run. So I tried…hard. Really hard. And meeting my Savior in the early morning hours is sweet to my soul, but keeping up with early mornings day after day brought me suddenly to a one-fatigued-mama state. I thought that I should be able to handle getting up early, particularly because my babies all sleep all night now. I saw this week that my own heart can be hard on my own heart.

So exhausted, weary, I told God, “I’m so sorry I can’t do it all well all the time.” And He seemed to tuck me in extra early as if to say, “Rest, daughter. You don’t have to do it well by yourself. You’ve got Me. And I’ve got You.”

Grace…I let myself sleep from then till as late as I could before the morning routine before school began. And when I woke up, so refreshed…I thought to myself….”What grace…maybe I have barely tasted such grace.” And I breathed deeply and moved slowly to the coffee maker. And one of my boys greeted me with the biggest smile ever, as if to say, “It doesn’t matter how perfect of a mom you are, all that matters is that you are my mom.” Those sweet smiles that bless my mama heart.

We did our get to school jig, and I came back home, and God seemed to slip in a few notes of grace right to my heart, as if to say…”Daughter, keep things simple…”

Get the Word in….first thing to do today, above all else, most importantly…it’s where the strength for the day comes from. It’s my food. It’s my fuel. Word in. It may look different day to day, it may be later in the day, or when I get a quiet moment. But the Word in is a heart fueled up.

Praise me for the gifts right in front of you…sometimes I get so caught up in my current prayer requests, in the waiting for God’s plan to unfold, that I pass by all the goodness right in front of me. Praise is a perspective changer. Praise is a joy lifter. Praise is living out the joy of God. And sometimes I don’t believe it, until I start thanking God for the things right in front of me, right in my day. And writing them down and truly seeing them seems to calm my heart for the prayer requests I wait on.

Cease striving…this one is hard for me. But living in grace, grace to grace, a rhythm of be still, pray, breathe in God’s presence, notice His gifts…this dance…is one that doesn’t strive. It’s easy on the heart. And I remember, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28 And I remember…

I don’t have to try so hard.

Rest in grace.

Plan for a plan of grace. Let your day be one of grace.

And as the week winds down, my soul still waits on prayer requests, on dreams to unfold, on this writing thing…wondering what God’s plan is and where it is all going. I try to act like it doesn’t cause my heart to lose heart as I wait…I try really hard to wait well! But suddenly, graciously, I see anew that instead of trying hard to wait well, I can rest in my Savior’s grace, from one grace moment to another. My focus can be to get the Word in. To praise Him. And to cease striving.

And I remember that the best I can do is to live in His grace. That’s where the peace is. That’s where I feel His love. That’s when I feel closest to Him.

How is your heart doing? Are you striving? Are you weary from trying so hard? Is the pressure to have it all together or to do it all making you feel spread thin? Can I offer you a grace plan?

Word in.

Praise Him.

Cease Striving.

What if you just focused on that right now? Let go of the striving. Let go of the planning. Let go of the strategizing. Let go of the pressure you put on yourself. And live in His grace.

He’s waiting for you. His way is easy and light…a grace we may not have yet truly tasted. He wants to shower you with more of His grace, more of His love, more of His tenderness. You don’t have to try so hard to be better. You don’t have to work so hard to be different.

Just come to Him. Just let Him set your heart in a plan of grace…a dance of grace.