When the spaces that surround your soul fracture, it threatens to weaken the faith you have come to rely upon both in the good and in the hard moments life has brought you.   And sometimes,  you find yourself on the other side of your faith journey wondering exactly what brought you to this space. If you don’t give yourself permission to pause and look closely at what you believe, the trial has the potential to break you so completely that you may not recover.

But for His grace, we would not.

I have been wading through familiar words as I have been resting from my own these past two weeks, letting the quieting of my own voice make room to hear more of His. I’ve been busy adjusting to new schedules and some hard truths, as well. I’ve been breaking a little around the edges.

And we need to look for #gracemoments in the turbulent and the difficult moments, friends. We need the hush of the thoughts that swirl in our heads so that we can focus on the still small whisper that has been directing and leading us all along. And we may just find that some of the most significant grace we experience is the space where our souls break completely and His love emerges.

Because Hope springs to life when faith begins to bloom anew in our soul and we can say, even in our broken spaces,  it is well with my soul.

Have you been broken by life lately?  Are you  wounded and scarred from the battles which erode the armor protecting you from the flaming missiles sent to destroy hope?

I get it. I’m kinda there.

But grace says we don’t have to stay there.

Because grace is a lot like a flashlight we shine in the dark when we are unable to see the way ahead of us. We know the direction we need to go but we are unsure of our footing.  It pulls us along, revealing just enough of what we need to see to stand firm and to keep walking. His grace is the comfort in the difficult, the peace in the unknown, the ballast in the shaking, and the mercy in the start-again.

It makes us bold enough to trust enough that He is enough and we can be too.

Grace reminds us to sing and to enlarge and to spread out and to fear not even when our soul is broken and we’re a little afraid to believe it will all really work out for our good and His glory.

Sing, O barren one, you who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child! For  the spiritual children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married wife, says the Lord. 

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

For you will spread abroad to the right hand and to the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be confounded and depressed, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall  forget the shame of your youth, and you shall not [seriously] remember your widowhood anymore. – Isaiah 54:1-4

Isaiah 54 holds some precious truths for those who have been tending wounds and nursing a break in their soul.  I’ve found myself drawn to the familiar words of my favorite prophet repeatedly.  And there is comfort here in the hope-filling promises bound by covenant. Faith rises as we let the Lord build us upon the foundation of His love.

Because there is always grace making a way for us to lean a little less on our understanding  in order to trust what our natural eyes and even our fragile imperfect heart can’t see…always.

Are you breaking a little friends?

Let’s choose to do four simple things in our faith journey today: Sing, Enlarge, Spread Out, and Fear Not.

Sing…When we sing into our barren spaces we are trusting His promises more than what we see. His love does the good breaking, shattering the defenses we have put up against letting more of God inside. Sing out praises for the love that shatters the less than dynamic of our sheltered living. He is always good.

Enlarge… Our breaking makes room for God, if we let Him in.  We learn to expect God to meet us in the trial because we can’t get out on our own.  As we enlarge our hearts we open them for God to rise up where we feel shattered and hedged in by our circumstances. He is never unfaithful.

Spread Out… It is an act of worship to open our arms and let go of the world so we can grab on to God.  If our hands and hearts are opened in a posture of abandon to the One who brings renewal by His very entrance, we learn how to possess the grace that always breathes hope and fans faith to grow.  He will never fail to fill you.

Fear Not…When the shame, reproach, confusion and depression become the garments we wear, we realize that they are no protection from the elements of the storms we journey through.  But Grace covers us with His love and hedges us into the safety of belonging solely to God alone.  He will never leave you without hope.

And maybe brokenness in Christ is ultimately the safest place to be for each of us.

Maybe the breaking is the way to the wholeness that our safe secure journey  was keeping us from.

Maybe the barren space needs to be journeyed through in order for us to strip off the weights and the world that are still clinging to us.

Maybe the emptying of our goals and our dreams will make a way for His to become our reality.

Because the place we finally choose to start our Journey of Grace, is always going to be place we decided to be sold out and broken for God alone. A place where  every barren and broken space has the potential for redemption  where hope takes root, for deliverance where faith blooms strong, and for blessing where grace lights the way.

Changes to the #GRACEMOMENTS LINK UP:

The grace many of you sent my way when I mentioned I needed to pause buoyed my heart like a lifesaver thrown overboard.  Even now,  I have to ask again for a little more grace because I have to change the flow of the link up to accommodate for the changes that are taking place in my live.  It will still be on Thursday, but the link up will be active after 9:00 am central time.  I hope to still see many of  you join me here at Journeys In Grace, looking for #gracemoments and collecting grace together. 

IT’S YOUR TURN TO BE A GRACE COUNTER!  SHARE YOUR GRACE MOMENT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW AND THEN COUNT GRACE WITH A FRIEND WITH COMMENT ON A BLOG OR TWO.

If you are a blogger, link up here with  a post about finding grace moments in your life or one of your favorite inspiring and encouraging posts from this week. Share your thoughts in the comment section telling me about the #Grace Moments you experienced this week. *(only 1 post per link please)*

Take time to visit your neighbor next to you, and if you want visit a few more friends on the journey. We all need a little encouragement and affirmation as we travel together.

If you don’t have a blog, you can connect with me via my Journeys in Grace FB page by sharing a photo or a comment.  Or you can join the party by sharing your images on Instagram with #Gracemoments hashtag.

Each week I will  try visit as many of your amazing  posts as I can.This is a safe place to sit and dwell in grace together, friends. I can’t wait to pour a cup of friendship with you and take in the grace moments you have to share. Don’t forget to leave a comment below, I love to hear from you.

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