Be Still...Know God

"Be still and know that I Am God."

-Psalm 46:10

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Jesus gently calls us to stillness in His presence; it is in this stillness that misconceptions of our Maker are dispelled. 

When we stop fearfully fumbling with our fig leaves and stand, sin and all, in His light, we find forgiveness, we find tenderness; He enfolds our exposure in royal robes and offers for our running the harbor of Homecoming.

He holds in His hand not a stone to hurl at our missteps, but a rod and a staff that comfort us.*  We find not a fickle Fuhrer, but a Faithful God whose "coming to us is as consistent as the morning"*

We find, as we are still, and come to know I AM, that I AM is with us, that I AM is for us, that I AM loves us, not based on our goodness, but based on His. 

"Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD."

-Hosea 6:3

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*Psalm 23:4

*Hosea 6:3

Grace II

"Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and bliss have kissed one another."

-Psalm 85:10

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What follows is the most beautiful description of Grace I have ever read in my life...I hope it fills your cup as much as it did mine...

"'Man, my friends,' said General Loewenhielm, 'is frail and foolish.  We have all of us been told that Grace is to be found in the universe.  But in our human foolishness and short-sigetedness we imagine divine Grace to be finite.  For this reason we tremble...We tremble before making our choice in life, and after having made it again tremble in fear of having chosen wrong.  But the moment comes when our eyes are opened, and we see and realize that Grace is infinite.  Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude.  Grace, brothers, makes not conditions and singles out none of us in particular; Grace takes us all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty.  See!  that which we have chosen is given us, and that which we have refused is, also and at the same time, granted us.  Ay, that which we have rejected is poured upon us abundantly.  For mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss have kissed one another!'"

-Isak Dinesen, an excerpt from Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny

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GRACE

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A life riddled with Grace

trademarked by Grace

God's unreasonable, unrelenting Grace...

Behind            

Before

Above                   

Below...

Lavishly, Unreservedly, Overabundantly Given

Behind, a Parted Sea

Before, a Promised Land

Above, the Open Windows of Heaven

Below, the Everlasting Arms...

I journey on,

Held in this Lover's Embrace

of Breathtaking, Utterly, Amazing

GRACE

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"Christ behind you, Christ before you, Christ above you, Christ below you."

-A Celtic Blessing

Hope

The final fragments...

Brown leaves letting go their grip...

Life displacing death

"Life comes back...Life *Always* comes back..."

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