Seeing Grace Lived Out

In my last post I referred to a couple that was living together 5 weeks before their marriage.
A Christian couple.
Although they had some off views of Grace, we confronted them again, my husband and I about their sin and gave them another option that would allow them to still solve their problems, but also allow them to be a witness to their families, to fellow believers, to the World. We asked the girl to move in with us.

We prayed and prayed for them preceding this conversation.

We spoke freely of our own sins before marriage and the guilt you carry into marriage because of it. God has redeemed us now, but I still think of those times often and wish I had done it, wholly, the way God intended. Also, we spoke of grace and gave them verses to encourage them to follow Christ. So we left the conversation by asking them to pray together about their sin and let us know asap if she would like to live with us, also reminding them that we knew full well that they may say no.

(Whew, confrontation is so hard)

So, the coolest thing happened:

We spoke with them Saturday and hoped to receive and answer by Sunday. Nothing. I encouraged my husband to keep praying...there is always room for redemption! Always. God's timing is perfect and we needed to surrender the situation to Him.

Wednesday we received a text...They were getting married. Despite the family issues, the expenses saved on rent, all the justifications,...
They chose Christ!

It is truly amazing to see God's Grace working in our lives. Both me and Marcus were blown away and ecstatic for them and for this choice they had made.

I feel like celebrating. God is so good.

Alive Minds

It is so easy to become passive to the ways of the world. To just start accepting that the way the culture is headed is the way it is always gonna be, or claiming that a life lived by biblical teachings is "old times"or "traditional." 
We, ourselves, have become complacent to the world around us. 

What am I talking about? you ask

My heart has been stirred the past few weeks for Christians that have become so complacent to the culture of the World, of America, that they have forsaken their biblical reasoning for absurd reasoning from Satan. Recently we've encountered a couple that are friends of ours and have moved in together 5 weeks before their wedding. Now, they have all the excuses down. They justify that they are saving money this way and needed to be away from their other family life. Then, when probed enough on what God thinks of the situation they say that there is "Grace" for situations such as these. 

Wow! Let me tell you I was blown away by that comment.

I myself struggled to remain pure throughout my engagement to my now husband. We constantly had to start over and set boundaries. No matter how many books or how much advice I had been given when I was not in the heat of being in love, I was blinded by the fact that we were going to be married. You see there was no doubt in either of our minds and so we justified our "slip ups" with "I am already married in my mind and in my heart." That was Satan speaking lies into our ears. We were not married. It didn't matter how we felt, we WE'REN'T MARRIED!

Our pastor stated on Sunday: "Grace demands Justice""The two cannot be separated."

Boom...Grace demands justice. Gives you something to think about. We are taught that God forgives our actions even before we enter into them. He knows our thoughts before we think them (Ps 139:1-4). Unfortunately, we have skewed this...thinking that God's grace can be lived under without repentance, without confession. 
I believe that God expects our hearts to have an attitude that is genuinely seeking forgiveness and grace, not a heart that is expecting grace to mean "looking the other way."

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It seems as though we have, instead, taken verses like: 

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace, 

and decided that Jesus already forgave our sins, so I am good to go ahead and sin here. I am covered by His grace. 

We have forgotten our heart's attitude.

So now that I have picked apart grace, what does it mean "grace demands justice"

After looking through numerous definitions of Justice I found one that I believe to be the one my pastor was referring to Sunday morning.

• the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the assignment of merited rewards or punishments

In my words this means the upholding, repairing, defending or the tending to and managing of what is Just especially by assigning the deserving rewards or punishments, the consequences. 

Big definition, I know, but there is not only a heart attitude involved in Grace. We must accept our consequences for the sin committed! Yes, God makes us white as snow when we ask for forgiveness, but there is still a consequence, a punishment, for the sin we have committed. This is how we grow. How we become more Christ-like. 

God doesn't look the other way, he expects us to turn to Him, see His Truth, come to an attitude of repentance, accept forgiveness, and accept the discipline, the punishment, the consequences. 

This is Grace. It is beautiful. It is hard. It is uncomfortable.

But it is a love that we have never experienced here on earth.

A perfect love.

First Upholstery Project: Turning a Coffee Table into an Ottoman

Now that Alyenna is getting more and more mobile every day I knew that we needed to tackle our coffee table.It has sharp point corners and two of them have been gnawed into shank-like spikes by our sweet, sweet puppies.
I have cut my leg on these spikes a few times and with a cruiser at perfect spike level...They had to go!

It was in rough shape, but it's a well-made, sturdy table, so I didn't want to just get rid of it.

Marcus was up for the idea, I just needed to get it started. I went on a sale day to Joanns and bought fabric, foam, and batting, all at half off price! $20 for outdoor fabric...good for all the uses that I forsaw for this ottoman (foot rest, grimy fingers, constant touching by little hands), $6 for batting and $16 for foam (took 2.5 yards). Roughly $42 for a brand new ottoman!

Here's how pretty it was to begin with:

Check out those heat marks, some nails and on the right you can kinda see the chewed corners

And the Transformation:

      Added extra support for the foam & cut off those points

Glued on Foam (we used gorilla glue, wished we had used the spray adhesive that was recommended-would have been better coverage)

We were short a few inches of foam for the corners so I rolled batting tight for similar firmness

Oops....I forgot to get a picture of the quilt batting. Stapled it nice and tight and now for Fabric:

Wah lah...

Not perfect by any stretch, but was a fun project to do together and I am really happy with how it turned out!!

And a video of the 9 month old cutie from a couple weeks ago:

Starting up again...

Now that my younger sister has a blog, I guess I need to get it together and update more often! haha. 

Alyenna is 7 months old. 8 months in only a few weeks. Time is flying by. I am loving this month especially. Every month has something new and different to love, but this month has been extra fun for me. She is babbling and cooing, going down to sleep with amazing ease, trying to stand next to everything she can hold, sitting and reaching, reaching for us when she wants up, saying "ma ma ma ma ma" when she wants something to happen...haha, and so much more. It is amazing to watch her grow and learn each day. 

Marcus got a job with Toyota, assembling cars in October. It has been incredible evidence of God's provision for us. After a year of searching and putting out applications and going to interviews, God provided the perfect job for him. He works the night shift, so it is a different lifestyle than most live, but we are enjoying the time during the day that we get with him! 

I have been busy with Alyenna and figuring out her schedule and feedings and all the things that come with children. I recently, well, December...I started sewing. My mom showed me a few things out in Colorado when I went to visit and I have been trying to practice from there. I have recently completed half of my first quilt...still need to put the backing on. I have also learned how to make a variety of baby shoes and bows and flowers. I hope to learn how to make some baby clothes next, especially some sweet little dresses!
I have also finally been able to get involved in our church. I go to a women's bible study on Friday mornings and I joined the choir. Choir has been especially fun, I got to sing my first solo two Sunday's ago. I was so nervous, but I hope that God was able to use me to reach the people of the congregation!


That's a quick update on life. I am going to strive to be better at this blog thing!

Hope you all are doing well!

L