Very early this morning, my husband looked over at my stack of baskets, and then he began laughing.
“Where on earth did you get these baskets?”.
There wasn’t anything wrong with the baskets though, his curiosity was with the number of the baskets. The baskets have been there for about two months and I’m pretty sure he has been meaning to ask.
I went ahead and explained how I bought them and why. This explanation meandered and led to us talking about some adjustments we had to do in our son SonTer’s room before he came home for the holidays. After the lengthy discussion, I sighed and smiled and said, “I just love that boy. He’s such a contented child.”
My husband’s remark to that was one of worry. He worried that SonTer was just like he and I… and maybe the combination makes him too contented. He explained how he always worries that we are too contented… unlike how it’s expected in the world… especially these days.
I pondered on it for a while, and I asked, “…but are we happy?”.
He looked back at me, smiled, and said, “You have a good point, woman.”
I have held on to Isaiah 30:21 for 19 months now. The reason being that I want to be so near to God that I hear his voice behind me, leading me, telling me; “this is the way, walk in it”.
…and even though I didn’t always listen for the voice of God in this period, He never left my side.
He has dealt so well with me. He has been so kind and so good.
On Sunday August 10th, I listened to Pastor Steven Furtick preach in his 9:30am service (worship experience) on the topic ‘Not as Long as My Song’. We dwelt on David’s Lamentations and pleas in Psalm 13…but it was the last verse that mattered. It made everything alright.
I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me…Psalm 13:6. (NKJV)
That’s my song. It’s how I feel on this 43rd birthday.
I put together a few playlists to mark my birthday and in the one titled ‘Praise’, I couldn’t help but include ‘Been So Good’ by Elevation Worship (feat Tiffany Hudson).
I realized a few years ago that I use the word Grace a lot. I have heard myself say it in prayer, when speaking with my egroup ladies on our Wednesday zoon call and several other times when I speak of matters that speak to my heart. I began to wonder if I was using it loosely and unnecessarily. I searched and I found that I’m good.
Grace is unmerited favor, kindness, or help freely given…especially when it’s not earned or deserved. It can be spiritual, emotional, or relational. In our/my Christian theology, grace is the love and mercy God gives to people regardless of their worthiness.
I looked more broadly, and I confirmed that grace can also mean elegance in behavior, forgiveness when wronged, or calmness under pressure.
You might recognize that you have grace when:
You offer forgiveness instead of retaliation.
You feel at peace even when things aren’t perfect.
You treat yourself and others with compassion, not condemnation.
You receive kindness or a second chance that you didn’t “earn,” and your heart softens in response.
Grace often shows itself in how you respond…especially when you’re under pressure or dealing with someone else’s flaws or your own failures.
Here are a few ways I have consciously allowed myself to have and also share grace
1. Slow Down and Breathe: Grace begins with presence. When you slow your pace…physically and emotionally, you create room to respond thoughtfully rather than react harshly. A deep breath can be the space grace needs to enter. This is something I’ve learned in the past 3 or 4 years.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all.” — Philippians 4:5
2. Choose Compassion Over Judgment: I am glad to say that I have gained a lot of trust from a number of people around me, people who look up to me by just simply being gentle and less judgmental. Everyone is carrying something unseen. Grace looks beyond mistakes and sees the humanity in others. Before criticizing, ask: What might this person be going through?
3. Be Gentle with Yourself: I have learned to give myself a lot of grace. Grace is not just for others. It’s also about letting go of perfectionism, forgiving yourself, and treating your inner voice with kindness. Self-grace builds the foundation for extending it to others. I have had the need to extent to others lately.
4. Practice Forgiveness: I am grateful for one of the gifts I received in life, the gift of forgiveness. It took me a while to realize that it was a gift at all.
Forgiveness is grace in action. You don’t excuse hurt, but you release the power it has over you. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting…it means choosing freedom over bitterness.
5. Speak with Kindness: Words have weight. A gracious person uses their voice to uplift, not to wound. Even hard truths can be spoken with kindness and respect.
6. Accept Grace When It’s Given: It’s sometimes hardest to receive grace…whether from God, others, or even life itself. But receiving it opens your heart to pass… I am still learning this particular act. God help me
Sometimes we forget how we got to where we are. I would like to say that at some point, I particularly forgot how I got through the year 2024.
I know it was God’s grace guiding me through it all but not until I had to give a response to a big deal in my 2024 did I realize it was my decision and submission to the Higher power that got me through it all.
At the beginning of the year I wrote in A FEW SUGGESTIONS how I had decided that TRUST would be my word for the year. I chose Isaiah 30:21 to help me remember.
I don’t know how to say this, but God has really whispered to me the entire year and it has turned out to be so beautiful.
My husband’s cousin asked me how I was dealing with my son’s being away at boarding school. She added; “I was telling Terver that you are strong. I wouldn’t let my baby go to boarding house. I don’t have that courage”
I replied her before I even had a moment to think. I told her; “Every move was directed by the Holy Spirit, so God strengthened and is seeing me through. God gives us grace for every thing we need to face”.
It was the very moment I replied that I realized it was all possible because I believed Isaiah 30:21.
What remains beautiful is the part where I kind of forgot about the whole TRUST and Isaiah 30:21 part for a couple of months. I guess my inner mind never forgot.
God stays true even when we don’t.
I have missed my son, but it was a lot easier than I envisioned.
It’s the time of the year again in Elevation Church, to pick our word for the next year. I will do it again…TRUST…Isaiah 30;21…there are so many things God guided me through in 2024 and I want to keep trusting HIM.
What’s a clear sky to you? It depends on the kind of storm you’ve faced or not faced…
I took a bus for my trip back home yesterday.
We passed through some heavy rains on the way.
…then we finally saw a clear sky.
I gladly took a picture and then I relaxed and began to enjoy the trip.
That’s when I started to think of clear skies.
This clear sky was no clear sky, compared to the one I saw days ago…but then, I hadn’t been through any downpour or storms on sunday when I saw that beautiful clear sky.
To me, they were all clear skies, for different reasons.
I remember the first time I wrote an abstract short story on my Facebook page. A lot people hit the like button and then a good number thought it was a story about my husband and I. They even worked my second cousin into the story because they know almost everything about me.
When you live in a small town, it’s pretty hard for your Facebook to not be filled with people who actually know you.
I made a few more attempts. This time, I actually wrote about myself with a few lessons underneath it all but the comments made me realise they were reading it wrong. That’s when I decided that Facebook wasn’t my audience.
I sought refuge in a safe place where people who read actually read because they want to and not because they are friends with me. It has been an amazing feeling so far.
Today, I have strangers following blog and reading and liking my scribbles and that fills my heart with so much joy.
I think this should be the same for everything we do. I think we should always find the right place, the right time, the right moment… Don’t force it in the wrong place, time or moment.
