She belongs

She is chosen.

She is adopted.

She is redeemed.

She is forgiven.

She is marked with a seal.

She has a guaranteed inheritance.

She was previously dead in her transgressions and sins because she followed the desires of the flesh.

She was lost but now is found.

She is saved.

All because she believed.

The old is gone the new creation is here.

She has been made new by His blood poured out for her on the cross.

It had nothing to do with anything she had done.

What could she possibly do to earn such love and mercy?

"Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." ~ Eph. 2:4-5

She will not forget where she once was: without hope and without God.

She now has hope. She always has hope.

Where does her hope come from? 

Her hope comes from the Lord who she now has access to through his Holy Spirit.

For she now belongs.

(Eph. 1-2)

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. Lisa has created a wonderful community where many others come together and write for five minutes on a prompt she provides. It's a beautiful thing. Today's prompt is: She.

Mercy

Before heading to bed last night I signed in to Twitter for my usual #FMFParty lingering and I arrived just in time for Lisa-Jo Baker's tweet announcing the prompt word. Her tweet... "This week's five minute writing exercise with special guest @AliaJoyH is on MERCY bit.ly/14QaiTC #inmercy." One of these days I will stop lingering and actually join in for the #FMFParty.

I crawled in to bed feeling overly exhausted—mentally exhausted. The week seemed twice as long with my husband being gone.

As I laid there thinking about the word mercy I was convinced writing on this word would be too hard. I didn't know where I would begin. Maybe I would skip Five Minute Friday this week. I was too tired to even think about it. Before long I was sound asleep.

GO

It's a new morning and another morning with HelloMornings as we study Ephesians together. Friday is an application day. This week we've studied from Ephesians 2:1-10. For this particular book I've become quite attached to The Voice translation. I review my notes from the week and on one of the pages I wrote the word MERCY. It's underlined and underneath is the definition.

     Mercy: a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion

I don't remember where I pulled this quote from, I believe from Matthew Henry's Commentary, but after the definition I wrote, "God's eternal love or goodness towards His creatures is the fountain whence all mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that mercy is rich mercy."

This past week the verses that stood out to me in my study time were,

"But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life—even though we were buried under mountains of sin--and saved us by His grace." ~ Eph. 2:4-5 (The Voice)

It is the verse shortly after that spoke most to me. In Ephesians 2:7 Paul tells us why God focused His love and mercy on us.

"He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed." ~ Eph. 2:7 (The Voice)

The Glorious Grace study guide we are using for HelloMornings asks, "What is one thing you want to remember from this part of the letter?"

For me, it's never forgetting what God did for me. He took this "lifeless soul" of mine and gave me life. It's a life I never dreamed of having; a better life. He saved me by sending His son to the cross for me. The love and mercy He has shown me has me on my knees saying, "Thank you, God. I'm not worthy but thank you."

I want to be a testimony to His amazing grace and kindness. "Please God; help me to stand as your living testimony."

I pray those words and know the only way I will ever come close to showing this same grace and kindness to others is when I make the choice to follow His son. Jesus is my example. Jesus is our example. I will follow Him all the days of my life.

STOP

Three Word Wednesday: Be Made New

Three Word Wednesday

BE MADE NEW

I was ready to throw myself a pity party. Negative thoughts began to fill my head and I almost questioned what God had actually done to make me new.

Before heading down a path that leads to no good, God led me to open up a book I read two years ago by Chip Ingram titled, The Miracle of Life Change: How God Transforms His Children.

"The moment you came to Christ, you were saved and forgiven, and the Spirit of God entered your heart. God's game plan from that point on uses every circumstance, every person, every disappointment, every bit of suffering; and every touch of joy to conform (morph) you into the very likeness of His son. (see Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:10)." ~ Chip Ingram, The Miracle of Life Change

It only took a few pages for my mind to flash back to the day, just a little over a month ago, when I was baptized. Shortly after the baptism I shared my story of transformation.

The devil tried to take control over my thinking and I almost fell for his lies. But when we are steadfast in God's Word (thank you HelloMornings!) we are more prepared to fight off those lies. So today I'm going to share a few of my favorite passages to remind you of God's promises to make us new.

My hope is that they leave you encouraged by how deep His love is for you.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." ~ Isaiah 43:18-19

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" ~ Ephesians 4:22-24

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." ~ 1 Peter 1:3 

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." ~ Romans 12:2

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." ~ John 10:10

God transformed my life and continues to be at work in me. He will transform yours too. Be Made New.

Good Morning, God!

Before coming here to write this post I said a quick prayer, "God, I've been without words these days but I would love to share with others how our morning time together this week has blessed me. Can you give me the words, even if only a few? If the words don't come that's okay. You showed me this week how three words can still bring glory to You. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name I pray."

What would happen to this place I've created here if I had no words to share with you? At times the lack of words makes me sad. It leads me to question if He called me to write in the first place.

I've learned enough to know the answer is found when we seek Him.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. ~ Deuteronomy 4:29

I decided to accept a challenge—The HelloMornings Challenge.

My day now begins at 4:30 a.m. After showering and grabbing a much needed cup of coffee, I check-in on Twitter to tell my #HelloMorning and #HMCShine friends that I'm up and I then go meet God for at least 30-45 minutes.

For this HelloMornings series we are studying from the Book of Ephesians utilizing the Quench Bible Study, Glorious Grace, by Lara Williams and Katie Orr.

I've always been drawn to Paul, this follower of Jesus Christ. I remember when I first discovered Paul was previously known as Saul. As a relatively new Christian I'm always grateful for these new discoveries. Maybe I was drawn to Paul because the first book in the Bible I opened up as an adult and began to study was Philippians.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:19

I could try to share with you all I've learned about Paul through the first week of this study but the thoughts twirling around in my head are not translating to the written form. One thing God made overly clear to me this week was to trust Him and the plans He has for me.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

He also reminded me how deep His love is for me. So instead of fighting a battle to find words, I will continue to seek Him.

"Life is all about the Lord God. His gift. His calling. His pursuit. His healing. His salvation. His redemption. His plan. His will. His grace. And in God's grace He blesses His children abundantly." ~ Glorious Grace

I'm choosing to drown myself in God's glorious grace and trust that He does have plans for me. I completely surrender to Him and with the few words He does give me; I will proclaim how He gives life.

And I will pray as Paul prayed,

"...that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." ~ Ephesians 3:16-19