Happy

 

I arrive at a new level of freedom: to not take life so seriously whilst still being wholeheartedly in awe of God, desiring to ever know and see His Son more accurately, and continually wanting more baptisms of His powerful Spirit which is, by grace alone, working this beautiful arrival...

I grow out of a cloudy misunderstanding that if I become too "loose", I will forget and/or dishonor God.

I begin to live, in new and profound ways, the spiritual truth that it is God who keeps me.
I don't keep Him.

For by grace I have been saved through faith. 

And this is not my own doing; it is the gift of God ...

(Ephesians 2:8, tense change mine)

I'm currently 35 weeks pregnant with our well, technically, 10th child. Ha, I chuckle when strangers  ask me what number baby this is for us ... I just don't know how to answer but truthfully. Usually they run the other way after I give them the honest answer (insert crying smiley face here)!

Phew. This has been quite the journey. What a ride. One I could never have  imagined, or written, or to be honest, chosen. We've made plenty of mistakes along the way ... ones that have haunted me. But now they don't. Now, these mistakes make me love Jesus all the more. 

Thank GOD my righteousness is found in Jesus. 

The gospel tells me that my weaknesses make me strong, because through them, the strength of Christ is manifested. The gospel tells me that I am free to forget myself - the good and the bad - because life is about God and not about me. The gospel tells me that I have peace with God because Jesus' death on the cross has propitiated His wrath once and for all. But the gospel doesn't stop there.  The gospel gives POWER. The gospel...the gospel gives me all the power (ability, strength, potential, endurance, direction...) I need to run this hard life in the way I am supposed to run it. 

The gospel is that all of it - the will, the way, the goal, the desire - is from Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ, and to Jesus Christ. 

The ransom has been paid.
The quarrel is over.

I probably have just a couple of weeks left with this babe in my belly. It has been AWESOME having it there. I could write a whole book about these past 8 months. It's been a sweet, sweet time. I can't wait to meet this kid. I can't wait for Steve, Hannah, and Hope to meet him/her even more. We've been having a lot of fun around here these days. It's amazing how the sorrows of this world coupled with the grace of the Lord will make you live well...suffer well...die well.
The combo has made me less serious, more loving, and well, just...happier. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John 1:14, 16