everything is grace

  
And so I give today to You: all of its beauty, all of its wonder, all of its opportunity for me to love and serve and learn and listen and slow down and breathe deeply of Your grace.

You are awakening something in me. You are faithfully, patiently teaching me. 

I give You today’s mistakes. I give You today’s disappointments. I give You my focus, my heart. I give you my stumbling and my struggling.

I will lift my arms wide, hands outstretched to all You delight in showering upon me.

I choose joy.

I choose YOU. I choose love. Bold, brave, extravagant love.

Make me a fighter. You have given me battles to fight. Keep me strong. Faithful. Persistent.

Help me to stand.

Clothed in the armor You have given me: defensive and offensive. 

I will stand. I will believe. I will dream. I will run. I will follow. I will delight. I will hope.

I will walk in thanksgiving.

Breathing grace. Exhaling gratefulness.

eucharisteo.

Choosing to look, and see. Choosing to trust. Regardless.

You love me through and through. Not only parts of me but ALL of me. You rescue me. You seek me out and set me free from every bind I find myself in. You minister to my heart in tenderness, in just the way You know I need most. 

You relentlessly pursue my heart. You bring every good and perfect and beautiful thing my way to capture my attention and to remind me of Your incredible love for me. Every sunset, every glorious display of clouds in the sky, every splash of warm color in the fall, every breath and every gust of wind, every whisper of leaves in the trees and those tumbling along the ground, every rustle of grass, every sacred moment of stillness and silence.

You never stop pursuing my heart. You never take Your gaze from me. You love me with everything You are: and that is so much more than I will ever comprehend this side of eternity.

I am a citizen of heaven, and You are tenderly leading me as I try to navigate my way through this half-life on earth. Yet in You, it is a FULL life – because You always make everything good and right and true and perfect and beautiful. Even when I cannot see what You are doing: with eyes of faith I gain a glimpse of Your work towards my best, my healing, my restoration to complete wholeness and oneness with You.

I believe, help my unbelief. Help me to choose love. To walk after Your heart. Let my heart be an overflow of Yours – fixed on You and grounded in You and one with Yours.

Living out of love is what I’m here for.