More grace...and more grace...and more grace.

But God's not finished. 

He's waiting around to be gracious to you. 

He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.

God takes the time to do everything right—everything. 

Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. 

Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. 

The moment he hears, he'll answer.

Isaiah 30:18-19 (The Message)

It's rather amazing how much grace God gives.

 

A short story...

I had run out of grace; my reserves severely limited and lacking, due to what my own humanity could never supply.
However, in my weakness, He was strong.
He not only whispered to me I was to go and give, "more grace...and more grace...and more grace," He also poured it over me in the process -- so that I could give, so that I would understand why I must give.
And so there I sat. Stunned, blessed, surrounded and filled by what I felt so "undeserving of," and had withheld, for that very same reason. 

Grace is divine. 

We don't deserve it and we "cannot," of ourselves, produce it; but we can cry out to a God, who by nature, is "grace divine."
And when we do...we just might find grace comes like the rain, too bountiful to catch or contain, pouring down on us more...and more...and more.

"Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me,

Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away."

Todd Agnew, "Grace Like Rain"

He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:7 (Amplified Bible)

Gina Higgins

Lifted Out of Broken-heartedness

The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent.

Psalm 34:18

Heavenly Father,

Great is the strength to be found in You. Though we go through the fire and the waters rise...they will not burn nor overtake us. 

We will praise You in affliction and in storm; with honor we will seek You and claim the promises of Your Word... and You will hear and deliver us. 

Though our hearts may be heavy and our dreams feel shattered within us.... we will set our faces like flint; we will put our trust in You and we will plant our feet upon the rock of Your salvation and we will STAND.  

We will open the eyes of our heart to taste and see the good You have intended.... and we will, as so much as it depends on us, do good unto others and seek out what makes for our peace.

We will cling to and know, without a doubt, that we are not alone.  And with enlightened hearts, we will see You in all the ways You are our Savior. 

As the parent who tenderly cradles, rocks and holds us... 

As the brother who took upon himself the punishment we deserved....

As the one we know "all to well" and the one "we hardly know"...the friend and the stranger...the one we pass by on the road or see in the mirror....the one who is kind and merciful, who bandages our wounds and heals our hurts.

You are the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate...who lives within us, that never leaves us nor forsakes us, that pleads our case before the courts of heaven and with the balm of Gilead, redeems all that was broken.

With grateful, renewed, and ever-stronger hearts,

We thank you for Salvation.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

Gina Higgins

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Created in the womb... 

Formed in utter seclusion.

Our first breath,God's ruach.

We are not bound to the dreams of another, 

Nor are we simply a "portion" of the light.

We are born into freedom.

We carry our own complete measure... 

The full intention of who we are to become, 

Present in us from the very beginning.

God's seed births the full miracle...

Just waiting to be "lived into." 

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

Ephesians 3:18-20 (The Message)


Heavenly Father,
You are glorious! Your entire living being - in us - is glorious!
Glory, Glory, Glory...the whole world is filled with Your glory.
The angels sing "Glory!" and "Halleluia!" and You smile as You see Your
own glory reflected back to You...the world aglow...the world
consumed by the fire of Your love, a love that fuels and ignites a
passion; a fire and flame that rises and ascends in a holy offering...

My chains are gone I've been set free 

My God, my Savior has ransomed me 

And like a flood His mercy reigns 

Unending love, amazing grace.
Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

In Jesus' Most Glorious Name,
Amen

Gina Higgins

Turtledoves

      My beloved spoke, and said to me:

      “ Rise up, my love, my fair one,
      And come away.
      For lo, the winter is past,
      The rain is over  and gone.
      The flowers appear on the earth;
      The time of singing has come,
      And the voice of the turtledove
      Is heard in our land.
   

Song of Solomon 2:10-12

Did you hear Him? Did you feel Him? 

He has visited and left us a love note:

Spring is coming early this year.

No longer will you remain in winter. 

No longer will you remain bound in the cold of the ground.

The Word has gone out and returned with it's hope.

Promise has arrived.

Heavenly Father,

You break us through from the winter of our purification into the spring of Your anointing and purpose.

You surround us with heavenly encouragement that tells us it is safe to emerge and go forth.

With our own tears, outward signs of growth through pain, You tenderly soften the ground so the bud can push through.

Once the light has touched our face and warmed us, we are strengthened and yearn for more...so we sink our roots deep down into the soil of Your righteous planting and we push and stretch... and all the things we've held close to our breast begin to unfurl, unfold, open up and "become."

Thank you for your Word that goes forth in power, never to return void. Thank for it's light that melts the snow and allows the rivers of Living Water to flow...reaching it's destiny...prospering all in it's path.

May we abide in the Vine of Your love forever...our voices of praise and songs of deliverance, a sweet melody to Your ears.

In Your Son's beauty and rebirth, we find hope for today...and love for all eternity.

In His Precious Name We Pray,

Amen

     “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
      And do not return there,
      But water the earth,
      And make it bring forth and bud,
      That it may give seed to the sower
      And bread to the eater,
      So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
      It shall not return to Me void,
      But it shall accomplish what I please,
      And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
       “ For you shall go out with joy,
      And be led out with peace;
      The mountains and the hills
      Shall break forth into singing before you,
      And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
       Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
      And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
      And it shall be to the LORD for a name,
      For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Isaiah 55:10-13

Dedicated to Pastor Linda Marceau.

 A vessel of gold, filled with His words of life.

Gina Higgins

Love Rushes In...

 God's love is meteoric, 

      his loyalty astronomic, 

   His purpose titanic, 

      his verdicts oceanic. 

   Yet in his largeness 

      nothing gets lost; 

   Not a man, not a mouse, 

      slips through the cracks. 

 How exquisite your love, O God! 

      How eager we are to run under your wings, 

   To eat our fill at the banquet you spread 

      as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water. 

   You're a fountain of cascading light, 

      and you open our eyes to light. 

Psalm 36:5-9

During Monday's community prayer time, LOVE was a big theme. One woman shared the word, "a flood" of love and another shared, "a tidal wave" of love.

Heavenly Father,

We delight that Your love is immense; that it knocks us off our feet and satiates our souls with the Living Water of "plenty."

We invite this love "beyond measure."  

We are undone and overwhelmed in the most awesome of ways as it crashes over us in power and strength -- invigorating us with renewed vitality.

And yet we also find ourselves cradled by the gentle lull of it's swells as it rocks us into a place of Your peace.

And so we drink deeply. 

We stand under Your waterfalls and immerse ourselves fully. 

We soak in Your love as it floods our hearts. 

And LORD, we thank You for a continued outpouring of Your love that is so great, we cannot help but be changed.

Fill us with Your kind of love...the overflowing, never-ending kind. 

May we both "carry it with us" and "leave it behind."

Changing the surface of the world, one heart at a time.

In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name,

Amen

Gina Higgins