The Grace Narrative

Today we are going to delve into setting goals while looking through the lens of our focus word for the new year that addresses the needs of our mind, body and spirit, while pursuing our vision with godly ambition.

It's time to welcome a new year and hope springs anew as we seek to fulfill our purpose. When we determine to have Godly ambition, we have a lens for seeing the path the Lord has for us. Setting small goals along the way with a God-given focus allows us to keep bringing him glory as the vision becomes reality because He is setting the pace on our path.

Going deeper in the themes of Advent has been the shining light I desperately needed this Christmas.  God's faithfulness is a blessing when we reflect on Jesus' first coming and breathes hope into our hearts as we anticipate His second coming.

Hope, gratitude, joy, peace, wonder, and love...may have been in the shadows for a while and it's time for them to take center stage.   Not because they are hiding, but maybe our focus has been elsewhere.  It's been easy to be distracted with everything going on in the world around us. So today we are going to talk about shining the light on these virtues,  preparing our souls to be receptive, and...

Some seasons of life are easier than others.  Each season has something to offer us, but we may need a much bigger measure of grace to embrace the difficult ones.  In this episode, we will talk about the key to being able to live in the tension of even the most challenging of life seasons with faith and confidence rather than resentment and discontent.

Have you ever considered the truth that we are the sum of our habits?  Every season of our lives is an opportunity to set a tempo for the structure of our days as we incorporate healthy habits for our mind, body, and soul.  These routines, or RHYTHMS, as I prefer to call them, are the path to living our best life.  In this episode, we will explore how morning, afternoon, and evening rhythms help u...

If we wait until the end of the year to reflect on how we are doing with our focus, we will miss out on valuable and helpful details that are part of the process in recognizing how God is guiding us and blessing us in living out our vision. We miss out on the chance to eliminate distractions that we might not even realize are in the way if we don't take a pause in the present. So let's reflect on...

Do you need affirmation during this weird time that God's purpose has not changed?  I found some great encouragement to share with you.  Listen in!

When we are obedient, even if we don't feel qualified, we can be confident or assured in what the Lord is calling us to do because the results are up to Him. Where we get tripped up is thinking that the results are up to us. It's up to God to give the increase.  That's where humility comes in.

We know that it is Jesus' desire to reach everyone and He teaches us to pursue those on the fringes, even if conventional wisdom does not validate the investment.  It helps to remember Jesus is not conventional, but rather leaves the 99 to find the lost one and that God is not trying to teach us how to live in OUR kingdom.  He is trying to teach us how to live in HIS.

God's grace and power is always offered to us, but we don't always place ourselves in a position to fully receive it.  Today I want to share what I am learning about receiving grace to persevere and trusting God to change the "walls" or obstacles that are blocking my way into a ramp to the other side, remembering all the while that NOTHING IS WASTED in the economy of God's kingdom.

The idea of wholeness really resonates with me.  Christ's absolute delight is that we connect with Him in mind, body, and spirit. In this episode we explore a frequently misunderstood saying of Jesus in hopes that it helps us more freely receive grace when we understand what Jesus really meant by being perfect like our God our Father.

Comparing ourselves to others out of our fear and insecurity is like carrying a heavy weight of defeat and discontentment.  In this episode we will learn three habits that can release us from the harmful consequences of comparison and help us experience joy, gratitude and security as we embrace God's way in the everyday.

Missing out on the beauty of today is the result of wishing for the past or longing for the future.  A big part of rejoicing in the day that the Lord has made is intentionally observing, being attentive, as well as seizing and savoring the moment.  We esteem each day as the gift that it is. When we choose awareness over distractedness we are able to appreciate the becoming that is happening right...

We all know how valuable closure is when we are ending a chapter in life and beginning a new one.  Sometimes the circumstances surrounding closure are less than ideal.  When we leave it up to others to give us closure, we can become disappointed when our expectations are not met.  What if instead of depending on societal norms to provide us with closure, we leaned into our creative nature and gene...

From time to time we all get distracted from what is most important.  This happened to me a few years ago when I realized I was putting more time into entertaining my kids at Easter than making sure that they understood the spiritual significance of it.  In this episode, we learn how observing the Seder meal helps us keep the main thing the main thing when it comes to celebrating Easter.

Transformation begins with dying to the old life and results in becoming new in Christ.  But oftentimes we fail to acknowledge the importance of the struggle in between- the "messy middle".  This episode reflects on the trial and error and the perseverance that are part of the struggle and how God's grace is in the midst of it all.

At one time or another, we all long for transformation - dramatic change.  Transformation involves different stages and if we want to experience life-altering and long-lasting change, then we have to embrace all stages.  In today's episode we will talk about the crucial first step of letting the old fall away so that the new has a place to live. 

One way to experience less stress, more peace and more freedom in your life is to release others from your expectations and judgments. This is the principle of separate realities and the result is the miracle of grace.  When we extend grace to others, we reap a blessing as well.

Even when clarity alludes us, we can still be creative within our calling and follow arrows over answers.  This means we choose to live in the present and take the very next microstep on our journey, remember that faith means I can do what I am called to do even when fear is whispering in my ear.  This episode describes how we are free to create without needing the clarity of every detail found in...

In this episode, we finish the two part series of "How to Live with Vision" by learning about The Focus Factor.  The secret to understanding how to keep your vision in the forefront of your mind is embracing the truth that your energy follows your focus.  We will share three strategies that, when implemented with intention,  result in vision becoming reality.  

This is an exciting episode!  One of my favorite things to do is to vision cast because it's such a powerful way to focus on what we genuinely want our lives to be about. It's a way to measure if we are staying true to ourselves.  In this episode, we prepare to welcome the new year, but it has nothing to do with limiting and unrealistic resolutions that lead to defeat.  Instead, we are going to fr...

One of the most important ways to conquer overwhelm is to adopt the mindset of progress over perfection.  Learning "not to despise the small beginnings" is incredibly helpful because it is these microsteps that offer grace to us as we persevere in what is ours to do.  In this episode, we learn how to use The Project Map as an application that allows us to embrace God's way in the everyday. 

Margins are a gift of grace in an otherwise overloaded and overwhelmed life.  In this episode, we discuss what margins are, why they are important and what it looks like to implement margins in our daily reality. By living in the restorative power of margins, we increase our capacity to enjoy the best instead of just trying to squeeze in the good.

Sometimes The Grace Narrative is inspired by some really profound thoughts that really me up at the soul level. And, other times, the thoughts are so simple and practical, it seems crazy that I never understood them before.  But, however profound or practical,  it always speaks of restoration.  It always follows the pattern of letting go of what I was never meant to be and embracing who I am creat...