Sitting with the Lord and getting my praise on as Ben Tankard put it in one of his songs. “Git yo’ praise on, God’s been good to you!” Of course, that led me to thinking about all the ways God has blessed me. His grace and mercy brought me through. I remember singing the song, “Your grace and mercy brought me through. I’m living this moment because of you” in the choir one time in my hometown church. We were standing and singing it. I was in my early 30s and really struggling with serious self destructive issues. My mom had passed away and I felt lost without her. I was raised in the church and we grew up very involved in the church and community. It’s just what we did. Anyway as we were singing this song, I remember closing my eyes and singing from my heart. Didn’t realize at the moment how my spirit was being affected and how deeply God was impressing the words in my heart. “Your grace and mercy brought me through I’m living this moment because of you.” But when we sat down after singing, all I can say is the dam burst! I lost it and cried my heart out when the truth of those words hit me down to my soul. With all the ways I could’ve been gone from this world. With all the ways I should’ve been gone, God’s grace and mercy brought me through. I sat there in front of the whole church and cried and cried and cried! I looked up when I was finally getting it together and saw tears rolling down my Daddy’s face too. And then I cried some more. In fact tears are rolling as I write. Tears of complete gratefulness! My life hasn’t gone the route I hoped it would. I find myself many times wondering Lord what’s going on here? My brother came up for my book signing and we were talking over coffee the next morning. My brother like my Dad is a great storyteller and I’m always blessed by his recounts. We were reminiscing about times when God orchestrated events in our lives that seemed somewhat strange in the moment and also painful but then how those strange turns led to some of God’s greatest blessings in our lives. We both have amazing testimonies like that. So thinking about the twins, grace and mercy. I can just put an exclamation point right there when it comes to God. He’s been that and so much more that I don’t even have words to describe. My Bro and I talked about a lot of things, his visit such a blessing to me. One of them was the parameters we put around who God is as he recounted a theology class in college and how he made a statement counteracting what the professor said about who God is. He said his statement set a bomb off in the room and the professor who had asked him to take the class just looked at him & shook his head. Our conclusion is that even God Himself didn’t try to define all of who He is. When Moses asked Him about that, God just said, I AM… I see that as God saying, you fill in the blanks because whoever you need me to be in whatever situation you are in then that’s who I AM. He is my mother and my father. He is my leader and my keeper. He’s is my joy in sorrow. He is my peace in the storm. He is my way out of no way. He is the mender of my broken heart. He is the regulator of my wayward thoughts. He is the stabilizer in these chaotic times. He is… and He am… My praise is through the roof this morning. As my aunt says, ”Who wouldn’t serve a God like that?!”

Just sharing my morning musings in hopes that our spirits will be lifted as we meditate on God’s grace and mercy and everything else that He is to us. Git yo’ praise on…He Is and He Am…