I'm Back!!

 Hello blogging world! I took so much time off, and I really missed posting on here. 👋

So much has happened since the last time I updated. We've gone through Covid in 2020, my grandma that lived with us for almost 10 years passed in October of 2020 (not of Covid.. she was 92), my sister had her 4th baby, my parents started our natural health business that God has continued to grow! Friends have come and gone.. though the Lord brought new ones that will last forever!
I can't possibly catch you up on everything, but the Lord is good and faithful through it all! 💕

I felt prompted to start posting again a few days ago, and just now got the courage today. I want this blog to be just like it was before.. a sort of diary that I can give account of things that I'm learning and struggling with. I want to be an encourager and friend to those who might need it. This world isn't getting any better, so I truly believe that we need the Body of Christ to get us through these times. Anyway, I just wanted to hop on here and say that I'm back with inspiration to share again, and I'll post in the next couple of days. 😃

That He may be praised,
Grace Upon Grace ❤️

The Choice is Yours!

Hello everyone!! I'm so sorry that I've been AWALL for the last couple weeks. Life has been super busy and crazy, but God is good!

 This was something that the Lord brought to my attention a few months back, and it encouraged me so much, I wanted to share it with you!

We all have insecurities and fears, right? But I think the question is, how are we going to react to those moments of self doubt and are we going to succumb to those thoughts and fears?

I never understood until recently that all of the negative thoughts we have, either about others or ourselves, is Satan trying to distract us from the things of the Lord. A lightbulb came on and I realized that those things were not of God, I then started taking inventory of how many negative thoughts I had throughout the day, or how many times I was anxious about something that I already knew that God was in control of. When I started mentally realizing that it literally was the devil whispering lies in my ear, it became easier to rebuke him.

And then the Lord gave me this verse,

“For I know the thoughts

 that I think toward you,

 saith the LORD, thoughts

 of peace, and not of evil,

 to give you an expected end.”
 Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

God gives us thoughts of peace; not these negative, self - doubting thoughts. So, I would encourage you that whenever your mind is overwhelmed with those kinds of thoughts that don't come from the Lord, rebuke Satan! Girls, he wants to distract us from having an intimate relationship with our Lord and we have the power to stop him! I'm not saying that I have perfectly mastered this concept, but it's freeing when you realize that you have a daily choice.

We can either choose to let Satan have his say, or we can choose to rebuke him and think on the things of God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” Philippians 4:8 KJV

I hope this has given you as much encouragement as it has gaven me. 

That He may be praised,

Grace Upon Grace ❤️

What Does it Mean to Truly Delight in the Lord?

Hello everyone! This week's post, I wanted to share something that I've learned, and am still working on. I pray that you will be encouraged by this post!!  😃❤

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Psalm 37:4 says,

'Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall 

give thee the desires of thine heart.'

To delight in the Lord means that our hearts truly find peace and fulfillment in Him. If we truly put our satisfaction and worth in Christ, Scripture says He will give us the longings of our hearts. Does that mean that if we do all of the right things and "try to live a righteous life" that He will automatically give us everything we've ever desired?  No. The idea behind this verse and many others is that, when we truly rejoice or "delight" in the eternal things of God, our desires will start to line up with His and we will never go unfulfilled. 

Matthew 6:33 says,

 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 

and all these things shall be added unto you." 

Many people delight in wealth, material possessions, and other worldly temporary things, and that is why they are never satisfied with what they have; they're always wanting more.
We will never be deeply fulfilled or “happy” with the things that this world has to offer. If we place our joy and hope in God first, He will meet all of our needs. He will even grant our wants, as our hearts’ desires begin to match up with His will. If we truly place our priority on the Lord, chances are our heart’s greatest desire will not be the treasures of this world, but eternal treasures in Christ! 

'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'

Matthew 6:19-21

  

Are you delighting yourself in the Lord?  Can you truly say that you are satisfied with what God has given you or in the place He has you? If not, I'd encourage you to seek Him out in all things. Maybe you don't have a willing spirit towards Him, and need to ask forgiveness. He has given us so many blessings, but it's easy to take them for granted.  

In our human flesh, we tend to 'delight' in Him only when things are going our way, and then grumble and complain when they don't line up with our will. Truly delighting is never easy, but it says it in God's Word and it's stated as a commandment. It doesn't say, 'Delight thyself also in Lord, when He gives you everything you want, or 'Delight thyself also in the Lord, when it's convenient for you.' It doesn't even sound hard. One word, one command; delight. 

"Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him; 

and he shall bring it to pass."

Psalm 37:5

That He may be praised,

Grace Upon Grace ❤

New Year, New Blog!

Hello everyone! I wanted to start a new blog with a clean slate. I hadn't posted on my old blog in over two years, and I've missed writing so much!

 The Lord has really put it on my heart to start sharing with you about what He has been showing me and the way He's been growing me in my faith. A lot of things have changed in the past two years. Ways that God has shown His faithfulness and mercy time and time again; through every heartache and failure, and every joy that has come my way. I think it's important that we as believers, especially in these days, lift each other up in encouragement and love. I'm not claiming to have all of the answers for the Christian life; no one will until we get to heaven, but God has been stretching my faith and growing me in ways that I never thought possible.

This past year, God really grew my ability to share my salvation testimony. I never was very willing to share my testimony even though I knew that the Lord was telling me that I needed to. In thinking that my story was too small, I only shared it with a few close friends and family members. (I'll make a separate post about my testimony soon.)  But God gave me the push that I needed, and the more that I trusted Him to give me the words to say, the easier it got. I'm still not the greatest public speaker, but that push was the way the He showed me that my story still mattered to Him and that it had the potential to change someone's life in Christ! When young girls would come to me and thank me because my testimony encouraged them, it was such a great confirmation that I was obeying what God had told me to do. I've had many opportunities to share the Word of God with younger girls in Christ, and what He's put on my heart; it has reaped so many blessings, that I am amazed! 
But there have also been times when I had to search hard to find the Lord in a valley of life. Times that I asked the question, 'why God?'; pleading Him for an answer, but not getting one right away. Fighting not being angry at Him for what I had deemed unfair and wrong, and crying tears of sorrow and pain. Though, through it all, He has shown me so many times that it's ok to ask why, it's ok to question and wonder how He could possibly be working in that certain situation that you don't understand. We are humans; sometimes it's hard to trust Him with blind faith, but we're commanded to. We're to stand still and know that He is God; He knows everything that we face in life, and He knows how it will end. We can sit around and worry ourselves to death and try to do it all in our strength, but at the end of it all, He is still a loving God waiting for us to turn everything over to Him! 
The goal for this blog is to share my life's journey, and the things that the Lord has brought or is bringing me through; so that maybe it would be an encouragement to someone out there, who might be struggling with the same things.

I hope that this blog would be an encouragement to you, and most importantly, honor the Lord in everything.

That He may be praised,

Grace Upon Grace ❤