I  ran across a note from a friend the other day.  It was  shoved into a book I had been reading at the time, I suppose, layered  and filed in a space that was occupying my thoughts when I read it.  I do that often, file things for later in places I’ll forget. Yet, when I find them again, in the hidden holders spilling encouragement and prayer it is a #gracemoment.

Her words were a reminder of His mercy, a gentle whisper echoing the art of wearing grace as we do life together. Both times, when it arrived and each subsequent discovery of the message her heart scripted, speaks again to the tender spaces.  Maybe Providence helped me plant the grace-seed that my heart needed to remember for later. Or maybe… finding grace motivated by mercy is like listening to the voice of the One we seek, a familiar hello and a resounding welcome every single time.

My heart overflows with a goodly theme: I address my psalm to a King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. – Psalm 45:1

We need those sacred pieces held lightly, gently,  intently.  We need to find the treasure that was a blessing and a reminder of how love is wrapped in the art of grace motivated by mercy and enabled by the gift of redemption.  Because we all have moments or days or seasons where we feel dry and parched and sifted by life.  And we just need someone to be the arms and feet of Jesus to us…even if it was a note penned long before and put away for a moment such as this.

Motivated by mercy, we choose to sow righteousness. Gifting His grace, we unintentionally reap more of it.  Waiting in hope, we sit faithfully with the broken.

The ‘moments such as this’ are always mercy missions straight from the heart of the Father.  They are the sigh that spills when we’ve been seen in our sorrow. They are the smile that stretches when we have been heard in our anthems. They are the bent head of prayer that we lower in our breaking. They are the words of wisdom that lace our conversations. They are His people loving His people. 

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.- Hosea 10:12

When we seek the ONE Thing, the glorious hidden things of God,  we become those who are dwellers of grace, inquirers of His Presence, and beholders of His beauty…and we become the hidden secret sheltered ones set upon the rocks  we sometimes trip over.

I have been camping in Psalms again this summer. David’s prose always moves my ever human soul because  he felt so fully no matter where he was, expressing both sorrow and joy together.  He knew his humanity got in the way often, yet, he was a man after the heart of God.

He was a man who beheld glory, postured himself in praise and in prayer and in humility and in sorrow before the throne withholding nothing.  His repentance is recorded as real and true, His joy logged as vivacious and full, His devotion unwavering.

He was one who not only had a heart for God, for the things of God, but was a seeker who looked into the hidden spaces for the sacred treasures that are meant to be found over and over and over again.

And I think we are meant to do that to. I think we are called to see Him and seek Him and know Him and be known by Him in all that we set ourselves to do.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His Presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze up on the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me, He will set me high upon a rock. -Psalm 27:4-6

Thinking back on the note from my friend, I was reminded of the way we don’t have to earn grace to be receivers of it. We don’t have to achieve perfection to know His favor and His love.  We just have to be right there, seeking and looking into the glorious hidden wonder that is openly visible wherever His image is beheld and given away. And I think that is a superpower…the giving what we have been given away to those who are needing a reminder that they are loved and seen and known and heard and held.

The treasure of His heart is not withheld from us who are seeking mercy, nor those who are giving it away. He tells us that nothing can separate us from His love for us. No height is too high, no depth is too deep, no width is too wide to keep Him from spilling grace upon grace over us. So it should be with us.

And if we believe that… then we believe He is for us and not against us. And when our hearts are loaded down and our souls are feeling broken, this pure love that is God with us, in  us and surrounding us… we must become those who dwell, inquire, and behold His beauty in wonder.

We give praise and thanks to You O God, we praise and give thanks; Your wondrous works declare that Your Name is near and they who invoke Your Name rehearse Your wonders. – Psalm 75:1

When we rehearse the wonder of God…we are motivated by mercy.  As we review each display of His love in the world we live in, including notes stuffed in hidden spaces for the remembering and retelling, we recognize grace.

Choose the posture of praise as you seek His presence in your present.

Choose to petition and pray His Word as you seek His deliverance in your difficulty.

Choose to rehearse His wonder as you behold His glory in what He has promised.

Every single day we can count on the turning of the earth, and the motion of the tides, and the promise of new life because of the cycles we’ve already witnessed. It’s like that with grace. Even in the hard and the dark moments we can trust they are just a season. We can know that all His actions toward us, even in the notes of a friend, are motivated by mercy and always hedged in by grace.

Mercy is His calling card, the evidence of His faithfulness writing the message of grace to us and through us for moments such as this in each of our lives. 

 

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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