Scovia and Grace

Thankful Day 18--I am thankful that on Saturday, Bo & I got to be with Scovia when she put her very first ornament on an American Christmas tree.  She was so excited and so were we.  Her life has changed so much in just a couple of months. She has handled these changes with grace and a smile.  I know it cannot be easy getting used to a new country, way colder weather and our loud family.  I am so very proud of her and thankful to have her as a part of our family.

Our Scovia putting up her 1st ornament

Thankful Day 19-- In church Sunday morning during Praise & Worship as the Presence of the LORD was filling up the sanctuary, this thought came to me, "No one and nothing can keep me from being God.  I am God when things are good and I am still God when things are bad.  You can leave me but I will never leave you.  When you return, I will still be God, sitting on the throne welcoming you back with love and grace."  Today I am so thankful for God's grace.  His grace that brings us through.  

Dad preached a message a couple of services ago and he said, "Grace empowers us to know Gods will and then to do it".  Grace is not a license to do wrong and then ask for forgiveness, it helps us to do right.  Sunday morning service was by the grace of God…because of His Grace, He anointed that service for a wake up call.  Stanley Williams said that it was time to stop playing church and start being The Church, no longer are we black churches and white churches but we are The Church.  He said that we were there because that is where God has placed us.  We are responsible for our relationship with God, not Bishop Estep or Pastor Estep or the Leadership of CTK or our parents, grand parents, friends or enemies…it is up to us.  Take responsibility and stop pointing fingers at others as to why we are not doing what God has called us to do…OWN IT!!!  It was a powerful word.  

I believe that it is God's grace that sends men and women into our lives to tell us the truth.  To help lead us down the right path and give us the tools necessary to complete our journey.  

We have to remember to be like the one leper out of the ten that came back and said Thank You.  I never want to receive from God without saying Thank You.  In Luke 17, all ten lepers were healed because of Grace and obedience.  They asked Jesus for mercy and he gave them instruction, "Go show yourselves to the priests".  As they went to do as commanded they were healed, but only one came back to say Thank You.  

We ask the LORD for peace, grace, things…etc. but when we receive we forget to say Thank You. Instead we look at what we did to receive the blessing(s).  We forget WHO is our provision, our source…we forget that all good things come from God.    

This week is all about Thanksgiving, a time set aside in our country for giving Thanks to God for all the blessings that He has given to America.  Let's not forget to say Thank You for Grace.  It's by His Grace that we live in this free country.  Not everyone has been given this measure of Grace.  

Thankful Tree