Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts

Friday, December 5, 2014

A Room Called Grace by Debra Courtney



Amelia Grace Photography

I spent a great amount of time in the “Room of Good Intentions”. I described my sin as guilt and others who sinned against me as hurt. I developed at a very early age of what mask(s) to put on according to the circumstances/manipulations in response to surviving self-preservation.  I’d say the “High Cost of a Two-Faced Life” fit me to a T.          

“Room Called Grace”

In the past I supplied myself a lot of self-effort and a lot of jumping through hoops and juggling manipulation for many, many years. Finally I ran out of strength, ability, and breath, and I said, “God, if anything good is to come out of my life, you will have to do it.  I’ve tried. I can’t. I’m so tired. Please God, you will have to give me the life I am dreaming of.  I can’t keep doing this anymore. Help me. You must make it happen or I’m doomed.”  Then I turned the doorknob and walked into a room where I noticed that trusting God pleased him.  Also, my faith pleases Him, not my tears, but my faith. My faith moves mountains not my pity parties.  Knowing this encouraged me and strengthened me, and lets me know that God is pleased with me.

In Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost For His Highest”, on February 16 in his book says, “God does not give us overcoming life - He gives us life as we overcome.”  God paid a very precious and infinite price by sending His son to this earth on my behalf, to give me a new identity in Him.  I have every blessing that Deuteronomy 28 says I have.  I am who God says I am, and we work on my sin together. God knows my DNA, and he knows that I am in Christ and Christ is in me. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

“I Know the Plans I have for You”

Most of my life I had a plan. Plan A, B, C, and D if I needed it.  Now my plan is, I do the trusting and praying and let God do the worrying.  It’s that simple.  Now I call out to God and say “Hey, you got a problem.”  God's realm of grace resolves my sin issues.  I love this freedom so much because it provides me with truth, acceptance, healing, safety, perspective, and power that I did not know before.  Grace keeps me focused to trust God to handle my sin, sin behavior that’s in unbelievers that I live and work with, circumstances and issues that I deal with daily.

When I trust God, I live by this value: The godly are those who trust God with themselves. I can be exactly who I am, with all my issues and problems and unresolved stuff, and still fully experience grace, love, and acceptance.  This is a great feeling!

He designed me to be all that he has called me to be.  He stirs up my spirit and I love the fact that he handed me my ticket of destiny with my name on it, and smiles, and whispered into my ear, “you have no idea how long I’ve waited to hand this to you. Have a blast! I’ve already seen what you get to do.  It’s better than you could have dreamed.  Now hurry up a whole lot of folks’  waiting for you to walk in your destiny and into their lives.”  I still stumble around, but that’s what the Room of Grace is all about. It’s where I am protected by God grace for me.  For God’s grace is perfected in my imperfection. 

Thank You God for your AMAZING GRACE!

***To hear and learn more about "The Room of Grace," "The Room of Good Intentions," and "The ticket of destiny," please visit www.TrueFaced.com 


Debra’s life goal is to inspire and motivate women globally to become all they have been created and designed to be by using the guiding principles of their Creator’s word in gaining wisdom, understanding their designed-given personality identities & create their purpose! 



Monday, November 17, 2014

The Perfect Plan by @emilylaney




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

I’m turning 30 in a couple months. To me this birthday is such a huge milestone. I’ve been living this year intentionally, checking off items on my “30 by 30” bucket list. It’s been fun to focus on things I want to accomplish this year. I like goals, and I like having a plan. It brings me comfort to know I’ve got a handle on things.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last almost 30 years, it’s that God’s plans are so much bigger than mine. I make my plans, but then I have to lay them at the Lord’s feet. And sometimes he has to pry them out of my clenched fist! But in the end, God’s plan prevails, and it’s so much bigger than I could imagine. 

For example, I had a plan in my mind that three years post graduate school, I would pursue teaching part time in the University level. I was going to pay my dues in the ‘real world’, and apply to teach at my Alma Mater. Well, God decided to shake up my plans. Six months after I had my Master’s degree, and a mere month after I passed my social work licensure test, I was approached to teach a class in the department I had spent six years in as a student. That was nearly three years ago. I never would have imagined that would happen. God’s plan was so much bigger than my plan. Teaching hasn’t been easy and there have been times I wondered if God really knew what he was doing, but as I look back on the last three years, that one opportunity has led me to where I am now vocationally. I’ve grown as a person in ways that I wouldn’t have without this experience. And I know that God was in that opportunity. There’s no other way to explain it.

There have been other instances where God’s plan didn’t come in the form of a happy vocational opportunity. I spent many years of my twenties single, and really felt the pangs of loneliness often. I didn’t feel beautiful or desirable. I so desperately wanted a boyfriend, I so desperately wanted to go on dates.  But God knew. God’s plan was for me to meet my husband, and even though I felt like everyone around me was dating and getting married, God knew I wasn’t ready yet. His timing, and his plan was perfect. And the adventures and experiences I had during that season would not have happened if I had gotten married young. 

Friends, God’s plan is so much bigger than our own. Every painful experience, every moment where we feel the uncertainty of the unknown- God is in those moments. Every triumph and victory was orchestrated by God. Sometimes it takes time to see the full picture of God’s plan for our lives, and some areas will remain a mystery this side of eternity, but His purpose is perfect, and His plans are perfect. 

Emily Laney is a social worker, educator, and justice seeker.  She has worked with vulnerable populations in the United States and abroad and loves to help startup nonprofits reach their goals.  She is a Passion City Church door holder and leads a team of abolitionists at Not for Sale Georgia.   She loves her husband Brent and their rescue pup Biscuit. Sunsets and Sushi make her happy.

You can connect with Emily on twitter @emilylaney or on her blog 
www.emilylaney.com