{Grace}

So last month,
after seeing an ad pop up in sidebars all over this little Blogsphere, 

I joined in on She Reads Truth's Prayer Plan.

Technology has made it so that none of us have any excuses anymore.
There's no excuse to not devote a few moments to meditation, Scripture reading, fitness tracking,
heck, you can even control your thermostat and DVR from your phone.

 If you go to their site you can get the gist of what the plan is and how it works,
but basically, I couldn't tell you where my Bible is these days.

I can't even tell you what color the cover is anymore,
so having a daily devotional delivered to my phone,
and then, in the evening, a reminder sent to me,
well it's the iPhone spiritual version of my gym trainer.

It won't let me get away with not showing up.

{I set the reminder for every day at 8:15pm}

No excuses.  See that.  None of that.

Growing up, this was not the case.
 Sunday Church services were morning and evening, Sunday School was on the regular,
Youth Group was mid week, and I went to the Christian School at the Church 5.days.a.week.

You better believe I couldn't have lost my Bible if I tried.
I tried.
I know I did at least a couple of times.

As if my parents didn't just look at me and say,
 "Oh you lost your Bible again, huh?
Good thing we're going to church where they have them in bulk.
Get in the car."

Mom & Dad, despite the arguments that increased into my teenage years, did right by us kids.

Even forced to go to church some days, I was given a great foundation,
an understanding, a moral compass that has gone off-kilter now and then
but has never been broken.

{one of many of my tattoos, this one I got in Austin, TX at midnight,
 a compass rose,
for my love of travel and my own reminder that no matter where I am,
where I go, where I end up,
I always know which way is Up & that I can always find my way Home.}

I have a Faith that I am not ashamed to speak about, but in this politically correct charged world we live in,
and maybe by the demographic of the West Coast that I live on,
it's not always an easy or comfortable topic to breech.
Nonsense.
I know, I know.

{a sign I kept passing by this week outside one of our churches, I liked what it said - common sense, Bible sense, just good advice.  Don't waste the days looking forward or behind,
live in this day today and have some faith that it's all working out the way it's supposed to.
A message that's been on repeat for me in the last few months.}

In my adult life, I've chosen my own way, shape, and form of expression my religion, my spirituality, and my Faith.  I'm don't "attend" church every Sunday, but I do on occasion.

Lightening has yet to strike me, my tattoos, my piercings or my multi-colored hair.

Dogma.  Yeah, I went to some of those churches where they preached that the outward appearance was more important and judged more frequently than the inward workings of what was being delivered from the pulpit.  

Back to last month, it was just 21 days of reading a verse in the Bible about prayer.

Some days I journaled about it, some days I just read it.

Some days, I didn't understand anything about it.

Honest.

I just did not get it and there's nothing wrong with that either.

What I did do, and what I had been doing before I picked up on the Prayer Plan, was praying. Hard.
On my own, on my knees, in my car, at work, in the shower, driving, before I went to sleep at night, when I woke up.  A series of life's events, struggles, lessons, they all brought me back to that foundation that I was raised with when I was a kid.

It was not for anyone else to see or hear, and I don't mind sharing this with you now,
but it was simply my daily or nightly conversation with God.
 I just talked to Him, no pomp, no circumstance, I just talked.
As it should be and because I've decided that: 

Prayer is like true love.

You cannot give it expecting anything in return.

It cannot be selfish and it cannot be for show.

You have to believe in it, you have to know it deep down, you have to trust in it.

{a framing that I just hung up this weekend on newly painted walls,
perfect timing, great reminder, so glad that I finally got it hung!}

As for the Grace Plan:

I'm excited to see where this one goes.

It's a Chapter of Proverbs a day.

That's at least 10-30 minutes of reading a day, right? At least that's how I figure.

10-30 minutes of "devotional", quiet time, and calm...
'cause if I'm getting all riled up reading the Bible, well, Lord help me,
I might need some professional help after all!

Grace def: elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action

It's not a word that has been wasted on me.
I can't say that I'm particularly graceful in words or in actions.  

I curse, I yell at people who cut me off, I can't stand stupid people.

I'm not incredibly patient and I say things I'm probably shouldn't. 

Listen, I'm human, I'm fallible, I'm no one's to judge but God's and I'm working on it. 

Aren't we all?

I know there's some other ladies also following along on this plan, and they're probably linked up over at Melissa's GFC Blog Hop too, so I'm linking up this morning and sharing this post with y'all.

Gracefully yours,

~ Lauren