“For we are (I am) God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us (me) to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Again today, I find these words sticking close to me, leading me in all different directions as I wonder just what are those “good works” God prepared ahead of time specifically for me to do? Have I missed them? Was I looking the other way and passed them by? Was I too busy with or distracted by worldly things? Do these good deeds get reassigned to someone else if I mess up? (I mess up a lot) I am grieved to think that I have missed anything that my Heavenly Father has prepared especially for me to do.

I look around at what others are doing and ask myself, “Should I be doing what they are doing?” I feel pulled in so many directions. There are so many good things to be involved in and so many needs to be met – where to start? how to choose? Time to be still and listen – then I hear His words –

“stay in your lane, the lane I have prepared for you – run your race, not someone else’s race – don’t look to the right or to the left at what others are doing – keep your eyes on Me – follow Me – I have them doing other things – do your assignment from Me, not theirs. Don’t compare, don’t imitate, don’t try to fit in – listen to Me, not people (men) – I am the different drummer – don’t try to do someone else’s work that I prepared beforehand just for them – if you do, you’ll miss your calling – be still, listen for My voice – I haven’t given up on you – the Potter doesn’t abandon the clay – you are still a work in progress – I am not finished with you yet – I am preparing you for the good works that are your service to Me – even as I am preparing the people and the places where you will serve Me as I purposed for you so long ago. I know you think you have a good plan, but I have a better plan, trust Me!”

Then I recall His words in Jeremiah 29:11,

” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”

And I think about what Jesus said to Peter when Peter took issue with John’s assignment – that conversation went down like this,

“When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him (John) to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You (Peter) must follow Me.’ ” (John 21:21-22)

That’s what Jesus is asking me to do – He’s asking me to follow Him. Like Abraham, I need not know the destination – it is a place He will show me. My part is to fix my eyes on Jesus and to follow where He leads – trusting He will lead me into those good works He prepared beforehand for me to do.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’ ” (Matthew 16:24)

if I do that, I won’t miss what my Heavenly Father prepared so long ago for me to be doing now –

sincerely, Grace Day

When they gathered in the Upper Room that night, it was for a meal. Did they know it would be their last? – the last meal they would share together with Jesus before the world was changed forever. How could they know? Only Jesus knew what the next hours were to hold in store for Him, for His followers and for all mankind. But for this moment, they had come together to share a meal.

However, it wasn’t just any meal. This was a meal that had become a ritual of remembrance. This was the Passover meal. Passover is an annual observance. When the Israelites ate the Passover meal, they remembered how their forefathers had been delivered from slavery in Egypt into the freedom of God’s Promised Land. Their deliverance from bondage into freedom turned out to be quite the long, hard, winding journey – a journey which served to prepare them for their new role as free citizens of Israel – a nation of God’s chosen people.

This particular Passover meal, which Jesus shared with His disciples that night in the Upper Room, turned out to be the Last Supper, or the Lord’s Supper, which is now Communion – our meal of remembrance today. When we participate in this meal, we remember through the bread and the wine, that we too have been set free, delivered from slavery to sin into freedom in Christ.

Like the Israelites, my journey and probably your journey, too, from bondage to freedom, is a long, hard, winding journey. Just as the Passover meal reminded the Israelites of how God miraculously freed them from the powerful Egyptians, Communion reminds you and I, each time we take it, of how God has miraculously freed us from the bondage of our sin and set us free.

When I take Communion, I am reminded that God accomplished this miracle of freeing me from sin’s bondage by Jesus’s body being broken on the cross and His blood being poured out for my sins on that cross. The bread and the wine of the Communion meal, remind me that through Jesus’s broken body and shed blood, I too have been delivered from slavery into freedom, from certain death into everlasting life.

That night in the Upper Room, the disciples didn’t know it would be their last Passover meal with Jesus or that their long-standing tradition of Passover would be replaced with a new one – Communion. Likewise, I don’t know which Communion will be my Last Supper, because I don’t know when Jesus will return or when I will leave this earth. Until that time, I will take Communion as Jesus instructed, “this do in remembrance of Me until I come again.” I know that “as often as we (I) eat this bread and drink this cup, we (I) proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again.”

The Passover meal celebrates the physical redemption and liberation of God’s people. Communion celebrates the spiritual redemption and liberation of God’s people. Every time I participate in Communion, I remember and I celebrate. I remember that it is Christ’s broken body that heals mine and makes it whole. I remember that I have been bought with a price. The price was Jesus’s life-giving blood. And I celebrate my release from sin’s slavery and my newfound freedom in Christ.

Communion, like Passover, is a most meaningful meal. Communion connects me to my Savior and the sacrifice He made for me and for mankind that day on the cross. I will continue to remember and to celebrate with Communion until I am invited to another meal yet to come – the marriage supper of the Lamb.

“Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” (Revelation 19:9) What a joyous meal that will be!

sincerely, Grace Day

Yes, I know it is no longer February, the month of all things pertaining to the heart. But the heart is so important, so vital to our well-being, that I felt yet another “heart post” was justified. (besides, February is shorter than all the other months, so March can donate a day or two to the heart cause)

We know the heart is vital for keeping us physically alive, we can’t live without a functioning, healthy heart. As our heart becomes weaker or sicker, so does our physical body. But we also talk about the heart as the essence of who we are – as the determiner of what we think and feel, that place where our emotions, soul and spirit reside. We say someone is kindhearted or has a big heart or a hard heart or a heart of gold or we say their heart was in the right place or they spoke from the heart. God’s word tells us just how important our heart is. Consider these words from Proverbs,

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

My heart and your heart, dear readers, are what is important to God. I read in 1 Samuel 16:7,

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

God sees my heart, He knows my heart, and He wants all of my heart. My Heavenly Father desires me to be wholeheartedly devoted to Him and to wholeheartedly trust Him, follow Him and obey His commands wholeheartedly. God’s instructions leave no doubt about how much of my heart He desires be committed to Him.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” (Proverbs 3:5)

“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

David’s advice and admonition to his son, Solomon, are words every parent would be wise to pass on to their children. David said,

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” (1 Chronicles 28:9) Then I read these words in Colossians 3:23-24,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

I want to live this life God has graciously given me with my whole heart, as wholeheartedly as I am able, each and every day. No one wants a halfhearted effort or halfhearted attention or affection – and that includes my Heavenly Father. He wants my wholehearted surrender, belief, trust, obedience, devotion, gratitude, praise, pursuit of Him rather than other gods or other things. God desires my whole heart, that I might serve and worship Him wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly, that is the key to the abundant life Christ came to give to me and to you. Jesus told us as much when He said,

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Therefore,

“I will praise You, O Lord, with all my heart; (Psalm 138:1)

sincerely, Grace Day

I felt the tears before I knew they were mine, I felt them with surprise even as I watched tears pouring from her eyes with every word she spoke. She was pouring her heart out to me as friends do, and I understood her pain, as caring friends do. My sympathies, however, ran deeper than my friend could possibly know. This was something no one could know, lest it become real in the sharing and that is something too dangerous to risk. My friend did not know that I understood her pain so perfectly, so completely, because I shared it personally, it was my own as well.

She was grieving, mourning her loss, something I hadn’t the courage to admit I felt – the daily grief caused by the absence of her child. The power of sorrow over a life mourning a death is greater than we want to acknowledge. My friend’s child was not dead however, but their relationship was. She did not see or hear from her child, so the result was the same. Grief, loss, sadness, pain, – mourning daily for the loss of her child in her life, while clinging desperately to memories of happier times.

Odd that the pain is sharper, deeper, heavier, when mourning the loss of the living than when mourning the loss of the dead – but I find this to be true. Yet even in grief there is hope. And it is hope that sustains the broken heart. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 tells us that we do not need to grieve “as those who have no hope.” Here Paul is speaking of grief for those who have died, reminding believers that we will see our loved ones again in heaven. All is not lost.

Still, loss is painful. I think of so many things I would like to do with or say to or ask my mom, now regretting that I let those opportunities pass by while she was still here. Grieving for the living can contain a different kind of hope, if I choose to focus on the hope of possibility instead of the despair of the present moment. Hope is possible because,

” . . . with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

This is the hope that sustains during the dark days of waiting on God’s perfect timing to bestow His miracles of reconciliation and restoration of dead relationships, bringing them back to life again. I have this hope because my Heavenly Father is,

“the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17)

I have many friends at the moment who are mourning the living every day, and it is a heavy burden to bear. Today my tears mingled with those of my friend as we shared each other’s sorrows, continuing something women have done for centuries – bearing one another’s burdens.

It is interesting that the final words in the Old Testament are these,

“He (God) will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers;” (Malachi 4:6)

Then there were four hundred years of silence until Jesus came. That’s a long time to sustain hope, but God is faithful. He was at work in the years of silence then. He is at work in the years of silence now. May God fill my heart and your hearts, dear readers, with His hope, today and everyday until He comes again.

sincerely, Grace Day

I wrote recently of my reluctance to receive the heart transplant that my Heavenly Father is willing and ready to give me. (a heartfelt confession) He knows I desperately need it. He’s just waiting on me to ask for it and make myself available to accept His gift of a new, improved heart. I find God’s promise to me in Ezekiel 36:26,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

God’s offer has no expiration date – but I think I should take Him up on it soon – before my stony heart becomes too heavy and too hardened, keeping me from truly living. Getting a new heart is like getting a whole new life, which is what my Heavenly Father wants to give me. My new heart of flesh will be like the good soil heart in the parable of the Sower in Luke chapter eight. The good soil heart is soft and broken up and ready to receive the seed, which is the Word of God. A good soil heart is a heart of flesh, soft and penetrable, able to let God and others in, able to love God, able to love other people.

A hardened, stony heart can’t do any of those things – let God in, let His word in, let other people in, care about other people, love them, love God. A hard heart doesn’t feel much pain, but it doesn’t feel much joy either, or much of anything for that matter. That’s no way to go through life, numb and alone. No wonder my Heavenly Father wants to give me and you and everyone a heart transplant. He knows how much each one of us needs the new heart that He wants to give us, a heart that will enable us to experience the abundant life He created us to live and wants to see us live.

King David desired that new heart which he knew only God could give him. In Psalm 51:10 David cried out to God,

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

God doesn’t want to just tidy up my current soiled, rocky heart – no, this is not a clean-up job – nor a renovation. David asks God to create a new heart in him, and that means something brand-new, that means a transplant! God doesn’t just improve upon what we already have, He wants to give us new life with a new heart. This requires creating something from nothing – which just happens to be God’s specialty. Take a look around you at the universe if you have any doubts.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This new heart that God is giving me has some great perks. One is plenty of room for storing up God’s Living Word.

“I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:11)

Another is being soft enough to let God’s laws in – in fact, God says, “I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.” (Hebrews 8:10)

My new, God-given heart will have the ability to obey the command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . .” My old heart is described in Jeremiah 17:9 like this,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”

God does. God knows my heart – which is why He knows I need for Him to create a new one in me, just like David asked Him to do. I am ready – ready for a change of heart that only my Heavenly Father can give me. February, heart month, is almost over, so today is the day I will ask,

Lord, create in me a clean heart, a new heart, a good-soil heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that hides Your word within and has Your laws written on it, a heart so broken it has plenty of room for You to fill it with Your presence, and I – I will trust in You with all my heart – with all of my brand new heart!

sincerely, Grace Day

Today I find myself wondering, why is it that the thing we most desire for ourselves is the very thing we are the least willing to give to others? I am talking about mercy or forgiveness. This commodity, while in great demand, too often seems to be in short supply. Maybe this is because mercy can be quite expensive. Forgiveness is costly. Just ask Jesus.

I am reminded of the story told in Matthew 18 about a king settling accounts with his servants. One of his servants owed him ten thousand talents, an amount that could never be repaid even if he worked his entire life to pay off the debt. This servant begged the king for mercy and “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.” (Matthew 18:27) Amazing! The servant was forgiven the debt he owed. He was free!

This makes what happens next in the story truly surprising. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. (a few dollars) . . . ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.” (Matthew 18:28-30)

The man who had asked for mercy and received it, then turned around and refused mercy to the person who asked it of him. And to make matters worse, the debt the servant had been forgiven was huge, insurmountable actually. The debt his fellow servant owed him was so small as to be insignificant by comparison. And yet he couldn’t even show mercy for such a small debt or offense?

I think of what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 10:8, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Jesus has forgiven me the huge debt of my sin – “If I confess my sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive me my sins and purify me from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Why can’t I then find it in my heart to forgive those who have sinned against, hurt, wronged or offended me?

Giving mercy isn’t optional for those of us who have received mercy. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . . For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

And that’s exactly how the story in Matthew 18 ends. Remember, the forgiven servant refused to forgive his fellow servant, instead having him thrown into jail. We pick up the story there, “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:32-35)

So, there it is. We most desire to be treated mercifully by others, but we are not willing to extend that same mercy to those who have wronged us. Peter asked this question of Jesus, ” ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.’ ” (Matthew 18:21-22)

In other words, there is no limit on mercy. In Colossians 3:13, I am instructed to “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you (I) may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (me).”

My debt has been forgiven. Jesus paid it on the cross by shedding His blood to pay my sin debt. Forgiveness is costly. Jesus paid that cost and set me free. That’s the other thing about forgiveness – it sets us free – both the forgiver and the forgiven are set free when mercy is given. I may not always feel like forgiving those who have hurt me, but simply remembering how God has forgiven me, allows me to do what I otherwise might not be able to do on my own.

I never have to worry about running out of forgiveness. My Heavenly Father’s supply of mercy is limitless. “His mercies never fail. They are new every morning;” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Lord, I so desperately desire Your mercy, may I never deny mercy to anyone.

sincerely, Grace Day

It seems I’ve been writing a lot about matters of the heart lately, but that’s understandable when you realize that it is February – the month of Valentine’s Day, the month dedicated to all things heart. So it is not surprising that I should be reflecting on these words from Ezekiel today, where God says to His people, the Israelites,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

This is supposed to be a good thing – a heart of flesh. We often use the expression “soft-hearted” in describing a person and it is meant as a compliment. Conversely, we say someone is “hard-hearted” when they seem uncaring or unsympathetic to the people around them or when they are actually hurtful to others.

This would explain why God wants us to have hearts of flesh – He wants us to have the capacity to care about others. A stony heart can’t do that. A stony heart doesn’t have feelings.

My Heavenly Father wants to give me the gift of a new heart, a new and improved softer heart of flesh. However, I have to confess to you now, dear readers, that I find myself hanging on to my all too often stony heart. Why am I so reluctant to accept this free gift of a new heart, a heart more pleasing to God? Could it be that I am more comfortable with my stony heart? It does afford me a certain measure of protection. Not too much gets through a hard, stony barrier.

Pain doesn’t pierce a stony heart like it does a heart of flesh. So, my stony heart protects me in a sense, from some of life’s heartache. Maybe I don’t want to leave my heart open and vulnerable? Who will defend my heart if it is no longer stone? Do I trust that the Giver of my new heart will also be its defender, protector, holder, healer and redeemer? Or would I rather rely on the accumulated stones in my heart for protection?

Heavenly Father, sometimes it’s too painful to care, too heavy of a burden to carry. Hearts of flesh are wounded so much easier and much more deeply than hearts of stone – I guess that’s why I hang onto my stony heart so hard. It is just too hard, too painful to have a heart like Yours and to care like You care – You must be sad all the time as You watch what we do to each other – and yet You love us still.

It is a courageous calling that comes with Your gift of a new heart – am I too much a coward to accept Your new heart gift and too much a doubter to trust that You will always be there to bind up the broken-hearted wounds inevitable for all hearts of flesh? – which You know all too well, Your own heart being broken for all mankind on Calvary and breaking still till each and every wayward child of Yours finds their way home to You.

Why would You offer me a heart of flesh, knowing how deep the wounds that come with caring will be? Is it because You know a secret both true and sure? – that there are spaces created in the breaking of a heart that Your Presence occupies, filling the heart with joy and gladness, hope and healing, peace and purpose, love that lasts.

A heart of stone, intact and impenetrable, has no wounds, no holes, no broken spaces. Therefore, it has no room for Your Presence, nor room for joy to enter in and settle down. Lord, You know the heart of flesh You want to give me will suffer many wounds and often be broken. But You know this is the only kind of heart that has room for You to come in and make Yourself at home. So yes, Lord, give me the heart of flesh You promised Your people in Ezekiel. Pain must come in order to make room for joy.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

sincerely, Grace Day

Well, it’s Valentine’s Day – a day to celebrate love in all its glorious forms. While romantic love gets top billing, phileo, or friendship love and agape, or self-sacrificing love, are also a part of this day dedicated to love and matters of the heart. Valentine’s Day is a day of cards, candy, flowers, flowery love poems and hearts – always hearts.

It is believed the first Valentine ever sent was from Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. He wrote to her, penning a romantic poem, while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415. It must have been well received, because we are still sending Valentines to this day. Valentine’s Day can be cause for celebration, or it can be cause for heartache for those whose special love is no longer here or for those whom love has hit and run, leaving wounds that have not healed. (some hurts even chocolate can’t heal)

For the broken hearted, Valentine’s Day may be the most dreaded day of all the days on the calendar. It is a day reminding those of us with hurting hearts of the love we lack, painfully pointing it out for all to see. And yet, there is hope for the hurting heart, not just on Valentine’s Day but on every day of the year. Psalm 34:18 reassures me,

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Then I am reminded what God says in Jeremiah 31:3,

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

That’s what we all search for, long for, wait for our entire lives isn’t it? – a love so strong as to be everlasting – a love that doesn’t wear out or get bored or give up on us. That’s how God loves you and me, dear readers. He loves us with an inexhaustible love, a love that says to us,

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

If you’ve been looking your whole life for that one great love, consider these words from John 15:13,

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” That’s exactly what Jesus did for you and for me. He laid down His life so that we might live.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Valentine’s Day is all about love and about the heart. God is the maker of our hearts and the author and initiator of true love in every life. God has revealed His love for us in His love letter to the world, the Bible. (maybe the Bible is actually the first Valentine – it certainly contains some love poetry) In the Bible, God proclaims His love for us and reveals His plan to redeem us, His intention to return for us and what it will be like when He takes us to be with Him forever.

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

We have a romantic, dramatic rescue in our future, which is described in Revelation 20:11-14 like this,

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.”

Loved with an everlasting love, rescued by Someone both Faithful and True riding in on a white horse to save me – the Bible really is the ultimate love letter for all time, and it was written to you and to me! This Valentine’s Day we might be in the midst of trials and troubles – but we can take heart – our Deliverer is coming and He will make good on every single promise. Jesus says to us,

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Jesus, the only One strong enough to protect my heart, strong enough to hold my heart securely – the only Person gentle enough not to completely crush my heart in the process. Jesus said,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

take heart! – the Rider of the white horse is returning for me and for you – He has overcome the world and He has not forgotten us – we have His love letter – I am His valentine, you are His valentine!

sincerely, Grace Day

very powerful stuff – TNT – isn’t it? A compound kind of like dynamite, used to blow stuff up, that’s TNT. Recently, I had an encounter of my own with TNT – a very powerful encounter as would be expected. But it’s not what you’re thinking, dear readers. Full disclosure – my TNT experience was “tea and talk” with good friends who invited me to TNT for my birthday. And let me just say, there’s nothing like hot tea and warm words on a cold day to revive the soul and warm the heart. (and really good cake helps, too – making life sweet) Our time of TNT did just that for me and so much more.

Now tea and talk doesn’t have to be just for special occasions, it can take place on the most ordinary of days turning them into memorable dates. I have found there is power in the tea and talk TNT, just as there is power in the chemical TNT to change things, to change the world. When women get together and talk over tea, things can happen. Ideas are exchanged, problems presented, solutions proposed, plans made, all over tea and talk. I have to wonder if perhaps women during the suffragette era, didn’t do their plotting and their planning over tea parties?

Tea parties would have been considered an acceptable pastime for women in those days. Men didn’t understand that the talk portion of the TNT could be explosive, as women discussed the important issues of the day. (today we call them “hot topics”) Then talk would naturally turn to possible actions needed to resolve problems or to change needed in current ways of doing things or to changing existing laws or to making new ones, if necessary. (which is what was needed to give women the right to vote – a constitutional amendment) Women have been changing the world one tea party at a time for centuries, if truth be told.

Of course, sometimes the issues talked about are more personal in nature, but still explosive and life changing, nevertheless. During tea and talk, women find the support of other women as they face life’s inevitable challenges. We find encouragement, wisdom, advice, comfort and courage in our time spent together over tea as we discuss our life’s struggles, our life goals and purposes. In this powerful time of TNT, we find renewed strength to go back out there and change the world for the better one day at a time. TNT can be explosive, but it is at the same time a safe space. I think these words from Proverbs describe tea and talk well,

“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his (her) earnest counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9) The NLT translation says it this way,

“The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.”

I couldn’t agree more! And that’s what happens during tea and talk – we each give and receive heartfelt counsel. And heartfelt, Godly, true counsel encourages women to become women who change the world one tea party at a time. Yes, there’s explosive power in TNT.

thank You, Lord, for all the wisdom and Godly counsel I receive from my sisters over tea and talk!

sincerely, Grace Day

Do you ever feel like your heart is Swiss cheese? – full of holes and empty spaces. What I desire is a holy heart but what I have instead is a holey heart, a heart full of holes acquired over time. How did this happen? It happens when people walk in and out of my life. I let them in, they take up space in my heart and I am the better for their company. The human heart has infinite capacity to expand, to grow, to allow more people into the place where one’s true self resides. But when death or circumstance or choice (the most painful of the possibilities) take these precious ones away, my heart is left with empty spaces – holes that no one can fill, save the one who first created the space and filled it as only they could do.

Each person’s departure leaves another unfillable hole – an emptiness that persists despite new spaces being created (if I dare let anymore in, lest they depart as well, adding yet more holes to a heart already full of empty spaces) Ironic, hearts can be so full of so many things – is being full of empty holes being full at all? Can one be full of emptiness?

I would rather my heart be full of love, joy, hope, peace, kindness, compassion – all things good and noble. Trouble is, I can’t fill my own heart. It was God who filled King David’s heart with good things. I read in Psalm 4:7 David’s words to God,

“You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”

Jesus can and will fill my heart if I let Him, empty holes and all. Ephesians 1:22-23 tells me this about Jesus,

“And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.”

Jesus fills everything in every way – that would include my heart. When I am feeling empty, feeling holey rather than holy, I remember these words from Colossians 2:9-10,

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you (I) have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”

This is good news to somebody like me with a Swiss cheese heart full of holes. And there’s more good news. Jesus told His disciples this,

“If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23)

Make their home with me? A home is permanence. Jesus isn’t going to go, leaving behind a vacant hole, an unfillable void, like others have done in the past. In fact, He promises –

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) And Jesus told His disciples this,

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16) forever! When Jesus enters into my life and my heart, He comes to stay. He will not add another hole to my heart. He will fill and heal all the holes I have been living with for so long. I do not have to be afraid to let Him in.

Jesus tears down the walls I have built up over time to keep others out, lest they in time depart, leaving yet another hole where once their presence dwelled. Jesus removes the stones that accumulate with each loss, hardening my heart against any would be hole-makers.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

A makeover, just what my holey heart needs! And a good cleaning, nothing good collects in those empty holes that so easily fill with hurt, sadness, longing, despair, or worse, envy, anger, bitterness, loneliness – when Christ comes to stay, He banishes all these even as He fills my every hole with His all-consuming Presence. He cleans out and He fills up my holey heart –

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

“You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11)

There is hope for my holey heart today. My Heavenly Father has offered to make His home there and promises never to leave, but to heal and to fill with His infinite Presence – and something more – to guard my heart.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

the answer to transforming my holey heart to a holy heart is in the song I sang so many years ago as a child –

“Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus; come in today, come in to stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.”

sincerely, Grace Day