Tag Archives: gigi

What if….

What if your team won every game, but the championship title was given to another team?

What if you took notes in every class, studied hard, but a student who forgot to study was given your A?

What if you reached the finish line before anyone else, but the gold medal was given to a slower runner?

What if you busted your butt to keep the highest GPA, but the title of Valedictorian was given to a student with barely a 2.0?

What if it was your idea, your project, your dream, your work, but the recognition, raise, and promotion went to a worker who just sat in his cube?

Unfair? Unjust? Illegal? Impossible? Would you stand for it? Would you allow it to happen?

What if you were the one who benefited? The one who got something undeserving?

Take a look at these lyrics:

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

We sang that last Sunday and the idea has humbled and haunted me. God looked at Jesus on the cross, and forgave me. So unfair to Jesus. His work, his pain, his love, his life- to benefit a sinner; me. Powerful mercy, messy grace.

ATTIC,

gigi

Selah is performing Before The Throne of God Above in the video before. Also check out Shane and Shane singing the same song.

Thanks

The little one and I crashed the youth ice skating outing. Six-year-old Lilli felt like a big kid hanging with her sissy and the other youth at dinner. At the rink, she and I stayed close to the wall as we figured out how to best balance on the ice. After a bit, we got the hang of it (sorta), and we skated and chatted.

Chats with Lilli are always fun.

“What’s under the ice?” “What makes these marks in the ice?” “What are the colored lines for? Oh- hockey!” “Why do they have these walls?” “There must be a cold heater to keep the ice frozen.”

Then she looked up at me and said “I am glad Steve invited us.” “You should tell him.” I smiled.

When we made it around to the opening in the wall where some youth were chatting, Lilli stopped and said to Steve, “Thank you for inviting me.” She smiled her big toothless grin. He looked at me and asked “Did you tell her to say that?” “Nope. She said it on her own.” He hugged her big, scooping her up off the floor. She squealed.

Steve asked if I told her to say thanks. He wanted to know if this was manners practice. It wasn’t. Lilli was genuinely thankful to be at the skating rink. I just encouraged her to let Steve know. And when she did, he was touched by her sweetness.

The apostle Paul did the same thing when he wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus. He said ” I couldn’t stop thanking God for you- every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks.” (Ephesians 1:16 MSG) Paul let the people in the church know he was truly thankful for them and went on to tell of the other things he had been praying for them as well.

How easy is it to tell someone an authentic thank you? It has a wonderful impact- on the one hearing the thanks and the one saying thanks. What or who are you thankful for today? Let somebody know.

ATTIC,

gigi

Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words. 2 Corinthians 9:15 NCV

Give thanks to the Lord because he is good. His love continues forever. Psalm 136:1 NCV

People Watching

Beside collecting shells, people watching is my favorite beach activity. You just never know.

Three guys caught my eye, and not in the beachy eye-candy way. I guess they were in their late-40′s/mid-50′s, making their way to the water, and each were what I call “home grown” (think Paula Deen’s cooking). What made me keep looking at this good ol’ boy trio? They were standing oddly close to each other. Touching close. Three sweaty, half naked, middle-aged men, hugged up with each other, working their way through the sand to the ocean. Strange.

When they made it to the place where the waves broke on the shore, the one in the middle sat down. He had only one leg.

It seems he wanted to cool off in the waves, but could not make it down there on his own. I scanned higher on the beach and spotted an electric scooter- with wheels able to ride on the sand. Cool!

Waves crashed into the sitting man, spinning him around, knocking him over. The two friends stood behind him to bolster him, they sat him back up, and got knocked over themselves. All the while the three laughed like young boys!

After only a few minutes, the friends helped the man to stand. Apparently, it was just too much to be so vulnerably tossed about by the breaking waves. But instead of making their way back to the scooter, they went farther into the ocean! There the three friends stood, supported by each other, enjoying the crisp coolness of the rising and falling water while the summer beach sun browned their backs.

I hope I am a friend like that. To faithfully stand beside and support when life beats down. I am truly thankful for my precious friends that pick me up and laugh with me when I feel tossed about.

Since reading Bob Goff’s book Love Does, I have been more aware of people doing love. Have you seen someone in action who believes that love DOES?

ATTIC,

gigi

Those three guys- I took their pic with my phone (Judge if you must…. I take lots of pics of random people. I may have one of you.). Or look below for true friendship in action.

There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Inside

20120704-080902.jpg

Collecting shells at the beach has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. I marvel at the shapes, colors, textures and patterns. God certainly put a lot of detail in something that stays buried in the sand and surf.

I love showing off the perfect ones….and I love to study the broken ones. Often the broken ones are more beautiful to me. The inside of the shells are simply amazing.

Do you know people like that? The outside may be nice, the outside may even be beautiful, but it’s their INSIDE that captures you.

What it is about them that you like? What do others see when they are looking at the inside of you? Most importantly, what does God see?

ATTIC,
gigi

20120704-080902.jpg

God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the LORD sees into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 CEB)

Related articles

Find what you’re looking for?

photo

In the “back office” portion of the website, Gigi and I are able to not only see how many views we receive daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly (and where in the World those views come from), but we also are able to see how people get to us.  The above picture shows a few of the search terms that have brought people to GraceIsMessy.com but here are the top-five most popular search terms of all time for our site:

  • 960 people arrived here, looking for “respect”
  • 723 people were looking for “storms”
  • Another 723 people were looking for “patriotism”
  • 372 people searched “bullying”
  • And 278 people looked up “fragile”

People have also found us when searching for random (and sometimes strange) topics like: 8 teen xxx, shh, aaron shust wife, it humor, retarded donkey face, and boy dies at shocco.  I bet most of these folks were surprised to arrive at GraceIsMessy.com!

So what’s my point?

In a nutshell:

  1. Do people find what they are looking for when they come to you?
  2. What do people find when they come to you?

Those are two VERY different questions.

If someone is looking for Jesus, will they find Him in you?  If someone is looking for unconditional love, no judgement, and a healthy heaping of Grace, will they find it in you?

If you said “yes”, GREAT!

If not…then the second question is for you…

What do they find?

I pray it isn’t judgement, or religion minus love, or prejudice, or bitterness.

Or even better…what if they came to you, the “Christian”, the “church goer”…expecting judgement, but were instead surprised to find liberating love and patience and kindness?  What a shock that would be!

I pray that when people come to me, looking for answers…or looking for a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen, that they find more than they were originally looking for.

What if everyone that came to us, looking, searching, longing, didn’t even find us, but found Grace every time?

ATTIC,

Steve

 

Deuteronomy 4:29-31, “…if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won’t bring you to ruin, he won’t forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.“