The Grace Path

Grace is a wonder. God is the Author of all grace.....I Peter 5:10. Grace is huge. At the end of nearly every letter written to the churches of the New Testament, the writers wrote of grace to the readers. "Grace be with you all," "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all," and my favorite, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (II Peter 3:18) 

But, how do we grow in grace? How do we access grace in our lives? How can we know we have grace?

There is a path to grace. For the sake of time and space limitations, I've summarized the path of grace into three steps. These are not steps you can take for a result, they are steps that God has already put in place and that He takes in your life. Grace is His. 

The steps of grace:

Learn > Desire > Action

First, we learn of grace.....meaning we learn of Him, our Savior Christ. In Matthew 11:29, Christ says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of (from) me..."  Step one: we learn from Him. Since He is the Author of grace, there is no better teacher of grace! 

Learning from Him and about Him has remarkable results. Just simply learning of Him changes our lives. This change can barely be defined as we go about our lives. We don't really see it happening, but one day, as we are going about our lives, we find old desires slowly being replaced by new ones. 

This is grace at work. 

This is God's work in your life. 

You did not create these changes by your strict obedience or anything else.

It is God. Even the very desire to learn of Him comes from Him. 

One day, you notice that your desires are filtered through God's Word, a system of thinking that you have never experienced before. You begin to change. 

This is grace at work.

It is God.

This change taking place in you has a mysterious focus. Suddenly, you want to tell others about your Jesus. You find yourself motivated to look for opportunities to share His love and grace with others. This leads to teaching, serving, prayer and a host of other actions. 

Service = a sign of grace at work in your life.

God's grace. Grace at work.

Philippians 2:13, "For it is God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

God works IN you. 

My husband once said......"We are totally saved by grace, while totally depraved." I added, "In need of total grace."  

Totally saved while totally depraved in need of total grace.

It is God. 

Learn of Him.

Your desire to serve Him comes from that learning.

You will become driven to action by that desire.

Grace be to you.

~Tricia

Flexibility - the Name of the Game

Flexibility is one of my favorite things about home schooling. Over the years, we've been able to schedule vacations after the crowds have gone back to school, we've been able to attend family events when others have had to be in school, and we've been able to schedule school around life instead of scheduling life around school.

In our home school, "school" is just part of life. It's not something we do separately from life; it's just part of our natural learning in life. It's just naturally flexible and that works well for our family.

As our home school has progressed over the years, I have become more relaxed about my approach and how I set up the expectations and academic goals I have for the kids.  This has paid off. This year, my 16-year-old entered college and his course counselor said he had a real advantage because he was home schooled.  That's what every home school mom wants to hear! Even his college classes fit into the flexible mode I've created because they are all online.

Our flexible home school has been especially helpful given my husband's profession. He's a pastor. People have needs. Sometimes, I need to be with him to help meet some of these people needs. Flexibility in our home school has allowed me to do just that.

Flexibility is more than just a wonderful luxury. It has given my kids a more independent spirit; they simply don't go with the flow. They are not used to being herded with a crowd, so they don't go along with a crowd.  They do not have a crowd mentality. They participate with youth group activities, but never blindly, always with forethought.

This is highly due to flexibility.  We do not have to educate the way the world does. We do not have to fall into the patterns of education we see around us. We are free to learn on our own terms, in our own timing and on our own turf.  Flexibility has given us freedom in learning and while that is against the grain of the world, it's favorable to Godly living.  My kids are less likely to be victims of abuse because they think independently, not as the crowd, and that's key to avoiding abuse.

Flexibility. I like it.
~Tricia