Rain, rain, go away........

Lately I've been thinking a lot about rain. (Hence the title of this post.) Probably because its been raining practically every day for the last two weeks here, and rain seems to be on the brain of everyone. :)
Sometimes I look out of my window, at all of the trees and flowers and the muddy grass and think,
"Boy, its gotta be cold out there." You can almost see the trees drooping their heads under the weight of the water trapped in their leaves, and all the little daisies shivering. I would be cold, wet, grumpy, and very uncomfortable if I had to spend two weeks out in the rain. But the thing is, rain brings nature life. Rain restores life into plants that are thirsty, dry, tired and even the ones that are so close to being gone. As miserable as it is, nature needs rain.

Now this got me thinking about tears. And God. Eventually I put the two together and realised God was trying to show me something. :) Just like rain brings restoration to nature, tears bring restoration to us. You know people who are hurting so much that they say they can't cry? Well, it makes sense. When you allow tears, you allow healing. So just like rain brings healing to thirsty plants, tears bring healing to thirsty spirits.
I've always wondered why God says in the bible that he collects all of our tears and holds them close. Like he somehow thinks that they're special. Its always seemed  bit insensitive to me - like, "Hey God, I'm crying here! As in I'm hurting! As in this is not good and you need to fix it instead of collecting my tears like they're helping!" But, alas, God was right. Again. Funny that. :)
You see, even though crying is miserable, and it hurts, and when your doing it all you want to do is stop, it brings life and healing to what is broken. Tears bring restoration - thats why God treasures everyone we cry. Tears help heal us from the inside out.
Just like nature needs rain, we need to cry. God knows that in the midst of the wet and cold, the healing begins.
Anyway. They were just a few thoughts of mine.
You know, I havn't put up on this blog something I probably should have put up a long time ago. My song!
I still can hardly believe it actually happened, but here I am with an actual recording under my belt. So here it is - Falling. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9K8_Mmimk4&feature=g-upl&context=G2323546AUAAAAAAAAAA

Love Gracie

God's favourite word

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel as if God's favourite word is "wait." I see or imagine something, get excited about it and say, "Aright God, I'm ready. Lets do this!" only to hear God tell me to wait. Or I have a plan in my head of something that should happen by a certain point, and when I get to that point, instead of making it happen God says wait. Wait, wait, wait - I gues its a nice way of saying "have patience Grace!" But here is something I am slowly learning - Godly patience is very different than the patience we practive here on earth.
Godly patience means waiting for an uncertain amount of time, for an uncertain thing, travelling down an uncertain road. That's a lot of uncertainty. Something that I myself struggle with.
"Just give me a hint God. Just something to keep me going." I'm always asking him, but still I feel like I'm sitting in the dark waiting for something I don't even know is coming. Its frustrating to say the least. So I bring out the "why" card.
"Why can't I have it God? Why can't you move? Why are you saying wait? Are you saying no?" Waiting can be really hard. Waiting with all sorts of why's running through your head can be even harder. But God is a loving God and he doesn't leave you sitting in the dark without something to hold onto. A promise. Actually, plenty of promises.
"I will never leave you or forsake you."
"I will uphold you with my right hand." and a personal favourite:
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever hope, dream, or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.... Ephesians 3:20"
When you have a head full of dreams and plans, when the life that you have carefully designed in your head just isn't living out the way you wanted it to, this verse is the perfect promise. Because what ever you dream, hope, immagine or plan - God can and will do immeasurably more. He is going to take your plans and blow them out of proportion in his plans - which are way more exciting and fullfilling than yours could ever be!
Don't get frustrated when God says "No" or "Wait." Get excited - what he's really saying is , "I have something so much better!"

Just another fellow waiter,

Gracie 

Take it!

Well, its a new year! And I guess I should be posting about resolutions, starting afresh, new hope, blah, blah, blah, but I think I'm a little late for it. So I'm going to write about what I want to write about. Which, to be honest, is what I always do anyway. :)

Don't you hate it when you offer someone something and they don't take it?
"Please take it."
"No, I couldn't."
"No really, I want you to have it."
"No, thanks anyway."
"Just TAKE IT!"
This is how my conversations generally go when I'm trying to give something to somebody and its simply a random gift. You give it to them, they hand it back. And so it continues until someone loses the battle. Its not that they don't want what I'm trying to give them - its just that for some reason, the unspoken rules of peopledom tell them not to take the offer. 
Well, this can sometimes relate to us and God. When Jesus died on the cross for us, he bought as back at a price. So we are now his. Right. But he also gave us something - he gave us life. And for some reason, us christians have this mentality that we should give it back. I'm sure you've heard the speech,
"Give God your life. Lay it down at his feet. Put your life in his hands."
I used to have this little 'game' that god and I played where I'd say,
"Ok God, I'm giving you my life. Take control." And then a week later I'd find out that I was in control again and once again hand it over.
"Sorry about that God, I grabbed the wheel for a bit. But this time I mean it - take it, its yours." And I did mean it. But, so happens that I would once again find myself feeling in control and have to hand my life back over to God all over again. And again.
But heres the thing. God gave us life. And then we try to give it back. You see, God is part of your life. He's in your heart, and your in his. Its like when Jesus died on the cross he didn't just buy you back, but he grabbed you and smashed you into God so that you are now one. Do we really think that God doesn't have control over our lives? That he's not stearing this ship? He gave us life, and guess what? He came with it as a package deal. Its like getting a new car with a GPS already installed.
Don't try to give back what you've been given. Take it, love him for it, and live it. Thats why he gave you life in the first place.
You can't give God anything that he doesn't already have, because news flash - he has everything! You've been given your life, and God's not looking for it back. So hold on tight to it and watch as God takes you for a ride.

Love Gracie