all's grace.

I  see it at the end of Ann's posts. Two little words that stick with me.  I hadn't given much thought to it before Wednesday.  Really thought about it. And then we're talking about grace and peace in church and during the middle of the message, this post from (in)courage from months ago pops in my head and I can't wait to get home and watch the video because I had never watched it.

Since Wednesday night I'm quite sure I have listened to this song at least 50 times. At least. It's convicting.

The past two or three weeks I've felt absolutely drained. Of everything. I felt as if I reached the bottom of the job-hunting barrel and I couldn't go any deeper. As if the babysitting weren't just a season. That I was never going to get a real job. This would be my lot. Forever. It's frustrating when you're not hired for the jobs that you're overqualified for. That you don't hear back from the jobs that you are perfectly qualified for.

Completely worn down.

That was me.

God and I have had some talks and there have been tears and the asking of when is this ever going to end and the waiting for an answer. I've seen Him answer other prayers (we'll get to that when I'm not so close to the situation), and I just wonder, when is this question, the job one, when is it going to be answered? I read something in my Bible study Monday that said "God can deliver anyone from anything at any time." and I hate that the thought in my head was, "When am I going to be delivered from this situation?"

My mind goes back to grace. I search the web and I find this verse -

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." - II Cor. 9:8 

And I stop because I realize that all IS grace. That I'm not working out of a deficiency, but rather an overflowing sufficiency. That I will be able to complete what I need to because He is giving me the grace. It's not coming from me.

So the barrel that I thought I was at the bottom of? I guess God picked me out of it and put me in a different one. And if I get to the bottom of this barrel? He'll put me in another one.

Or maybe it's not a barrel at all but an ocean of grace that I'll never really reach the bottom of.

I think that's more like it.

Now it's just a matter of remembering it.




All's Grace from Shaun Groves on Vimeo.

what i learned from france...

I think we all may know how I absolutely love (in)courage.

It.

Is. 

Awesome. 

Sauce. 

And fortunate little me received the opportunity to be a daily guest blogger over there. 

Today! 

So head on over there and read about what I learned from France.

Or Disney. 

Whatever.

:)

P.S. I've never actually been to France. I bet my mom was really confused for a second.

:)

JRU Cross Review {and a GIVEAWAY}!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I arrived home to find a big brown box from DaySpring on my front porch and suddenly I remembered, EEEEEE, it must be my product to review for (in)courage's April Inspired Deals!!

Well you better believe that I didn't even take my purse off my shoulder before I ripped into that box to see what pretty pretty I had received to review! And lucky for me it was the Everyday Faith Handmade Cross from Studio JRU!!

Me. Likey. 

The beautiful dark wooden cross is just heavy enough to let you know it's made of good stuff but not too heavy that you'd be able to grab it off the wall and defend yourself in some kind of hand-to-hand combat. 

Because, really, why would you grab it anyway? 

Another reason I love it {apart from the sheer beauty, because...duh.} is the blue-ish with some brown-ish color on the background of the cross matches about every single piece of furniture I own perfectly. 

And the words?  

Love the words.

I don't remember these words often enough. 

The only problem I ran into was trying to decide where to put it. And let's face it, that's not a problem with the cross, that's a problem with the dummy typing this. 

My first thought? My cross wall.

And just in case you're wondering, those crosses aren't crooked. I promise. {Promise.} This is just evidently a really weird angle to take this picture from. And you might also be thinking, your cross wall is kinda...ummm...bare isn't it? 

You'd be correct. I bought those two crosses for less than $10 {combined} and I have to really like a cross to spend money on it. I'm young. Give me time. 

So I grabbed my hammer and a nail and went to work. But not before taking a picture. {Nerd.} And this was LATE Monday evening and I'm quite proud of my hair. Looking good for it to be 10:30 p.m.

Well, I think I've lived in this house long enough to forget that those two nails where the crosses are already hanging came courtesy of whoever lived there before. I did not hammer those nails in. And I did not hammer this nail  in because goodness gracious it was super hard. I tried for approximately 10 minutes before giving up and deciding the cross had to go somewhere else. {sad}. 

My next choice was my mantle. And as you can see, the mantle needs some livening up. 

Once I took this picture I realized how 'off' my mantle really was. It's all Tally McTallerson on the left side and Shorty McShorterson on the right. So...

Voila. I like the pretty cross better than the old tin container that I bought for $2.00 at a yard sale that's full of movie ticket and concert stubs and the like. After looking at this picture, I'm thinking I may even switch the cross and the green bird. Move the tallness over a ltitle bit more. 

So there you have it. My home was beautified by this attractive piece of hand-crafted art.

And now you're like, "Oh Rebekah, I want one." aren't you? 

You're in LUCK! 

Dayspring has given me a $20 coupon code for one of YOU to win!! Aren't they the best?  

To enter, visit the DaySpring online store. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite DaySpring item 

{or two, or three, or five. Good luck narrowing it down} :) 

You can get additional entries by:

{1} Visit the Studio JRU store and tell me which gorgie-poo item you'd buy by commenting on this post. (one entry)

{2} Subscribe to The Most Random of Random by clicking right over there --> (one entry)

{3} Tweet or share this giveaway post on Facebook. (one entry) 

4 ways to win! Leave a separate comment for each way you enter. 

Comments will close at 11:59 p.m. (CST) Saturday, April 23rd. 

I'll choose a winner using Random.org and announce it Monday, April 25th. 

If you win, shipping charges will apply to whatever cute loot you decide to buy with your coupon. 

Because I'm all for full disclosure - I received the products mentioned in this post for free from DaySpring solely for the purpose of reviewing and hosting a giveaway. All opinions expressed above are mine and mine alone.  

Best of luck to all of you!! 

grateful

When I started to think about who I was grateful for. Who I was really thankful for, the normal people ran through my head.

There's the sister.
Then there's the mom.
Then there's my awesome friends.
And the list goes on and on.
Seriously, I could probably list the people I'm thankful for and why I'm thankful for them, for a looooonnngg time.

But I knew immediately the person I was most thankful for this year wasn't a single person, but rather a group of women. A community of women. The likes of which I've never seen before. Maybe that's what makes them so special. Because I don't think you can replicate this kind of thing.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about (in)courage. The women that write for it. The women that comment. The love and encouragement I find there. I always. always. come away blessed. Always.

The reason I'm so thankful for them is because some of these posts have literally changed my ENTIRE life. And I'm not saying that for affect. I'm saying that as the truth.

I read Sarah Markley's post (I'm SO sad the entire post isn't up, I think it may have gotten lost in the move to Wordpress :( :( :( ) on January 4th and I was yearning for something different. I had always been that 'good Christian girl' on the outside but struggled and struggled and struggled with having that daily quiet time. With actually being souled out for the cause of Christ. So, I decided that Monday that I was going to do exactly what Sarah did and give God a year. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I basically dared God.

You show up, or bad things are gonna happen.

(Yes, you should be talking to the computer screen saying I am crazy.
Dare? God? That's bad news bears).

I don't want to think it was an ultimatum because deep down in my heart I knew what the problem was.

Me.

Regardless, I dared God and the entire year He's been like,
"Really Rebekah? You thought I wouldn't show up? Look at yourself now."

And so I look, and I'm different.
My heart is different.
My heart is bigger.
My heart is more full of Him and less full of all those lesser things.

Obviously, I know it's because of what God has done. But to me, it's what He has done through these people. Through people that are doing nothing but being the branches. Staying connected to the vine...and bearing fruit. So that God is glorified.

I'm sure they don't realize the impact they've had on me. And they won't. Until Heaven. When they get their crown and there's a jewel because they were faithful to Him. To write. When it hurt. When it cost them pride. When it was the last thing they wanted to do, yet, they did it.

I've learned transparency.
I've learned what it means to step out in faith.
I've learned about obedience.

And God orchestrated it so that when I would read the posts in my reader first thing every morning, He was teaching me whatever it was...other places.
(He's so good like that, and it blows my mind the way He orchestrates things).

This is my comment on that post about stepping out in faith and I think it sums up what (in)courage has taught me.

I’ve learned that confession is good for the soul (God taught me that through you, Sarah). That when you decide to seek Him like you’ve never sought Him before, He. Shows. Up. That it’s okay if you don’t have it all together. That a real relationship with God is not only doable, it’s downright necessary. Mostly, I’ve learned that God can be trusted. Even though I know that sounds silly. It’s taken me a while to learn He always wants the best for us.
My act of bravery is coming up in 10 days as my little sisters leaves for the Philippines to work as a missionary for 3 years. Letting her go is probably the *toughest* thing I’ve ever experienced and as much as I’d like to keep her here so my life would be more comfortable and normal, staying isn’t what God called her to do. Trusting Him through this is taking all that I have but, I’m trusting that His grace is sufficient. And He’s proving me right.


So I'm thankful for
Angie,
Annie,
Bonnie,
Heather,
Lisa-Jo,
Robin,
and Sarah.

Because through their words written in obedience, my life is changed.
And changed lives are what God is all about.

I have some other exciting news that was made possible by (in)courage that I'll share later but basically, I get to go to Deeper Still because of them. And I'm SO FLIPPIN' EXCITED!

Seriously. We'll talk about that later. :)

P.S. I am by no means perfect. Just ask my family.
But I find myself being perfected by the Greatest Perfecter.
And that's enough for me.

encouragement is...

encouragement is...

a hug in the airport when you're sending your daughter to the other side of the world.
sending a card to show someone you care.
that you value them.
that you value their sacrifice of a 'normal' life in the u.s. to bring Hope to filipinos.

encouragement is...

investing in the lives of the next generation.
telling them they are loved.
they are cared for.
they are beautiful.
even in their dress-up shoes.
and when they want to let the forks dance.





encouragement is...

cheering on your 7 yr. old cousin in pee-wee tackle football.
yelling "split the v. dot the i. curl the c. t-o-r-y. t-o-r-y. victory!"
a hug and a high-five after the game for all their hard work.

it's a friendly smile when you're new and you don't know if what you're doing is right.
it's a shared squall-fest when you know all they want is someone to cry with.
it's an "i've been there and you're going to make it through this."
it's letting a little boy know when they hold a door for you, that you appreciate it.
it's telling that boys' parents that
"you're raising him well. keep on doing what you're doing."
it's commenting on a blog and letting them know what they wrote spoke to you.
it's an email from one of your favorite bloggers saying, "what you said meant so much. thanks."
it's anything that makes the person on the receiving end want to keep on keeping on.
___________________________________________

sunday september 12th is the 'national day of encouragement'.
(in)courage and dayspring gave their readers an awesome opportunity to spread hope and encouragement by sending hundreds of readers a 10-pack of their new 'hope and encouragement' cards.
for free.
i received my pack this past tuesday and the cards are absolutely beautiful.
i've already mailed two overseas to two special people.
(those are the pictures above).
there are others that i have in mind to get my free cards.
thanks so much for enabling us to encourage others through these awesome cards.
it made my week. for real.

if you haven't visited (in)courage, please do.
those women have changed my life in the words they've written over the past year since i've discovered it.
being open and honest about their struggles.
their victories.
everything.

i joke with people that my spiritual gift is encouragement/exhortation.
they think i'm crazy, but it's true.
when i encourage someone, i always feel as if i've received a blessing rather than been a blessing.
i'm so thankful that's one of the gifts God has given me.
i'm so thankful that He lets me uses it.
He...encourages me to use it through nudges of His spirit inside me.
(say this. go hug them. just be there for them.)
that's what i hear.

if you're visiting from the link-up at (in)courage, thanks for stopping by.
you've encouraged me.
:)

___________________________________________

how do you encourage others?