The woman who laughs, with the laugh of God!

There's this woman I once met.

And there's not hundreds of people like this....but there are some people you meet and as they laugh...you hear the laugh of God.

And that is this woman.

Her laugh is like an echo of the laugh of God.

She weaves patterns of Beauty, and restoration, and hope in her wake.  She treads the Holy walk.

I'm beginning to make her sound like the picture of perfection... but she's the first to admit that that's not true. We all make mistakes.  But with her, it is so beautifully okay.

She always, always, always, has her arms wide open, ready to snuggle you up.  Which is a hard thing to do...from the other side of the world, but still, she seems to manage.

Would you be ready for anything? Where would you draw the line? When would you turn back and just say 'No'? Because I haven't seen her do that.  Not ever.  When the clock is ticking, when the buzzers buzzing, and it all boils down to it...she is ready to do it.  Whatever.  Injections.  Governments.  Speaking.  Look, it's hard to put into words everything she does.  Deadly centipedes {okay she had some help from a trainer and another guy...but I didn't hear her screaming}.  When life gets tough, and everything seems to be dumped in her lap, she never mopes for long! She picks herself right back up again, and keeps going with the immovable strength of the God who loves her right inside.

THIS is the person who told me to "Dare to live {safely}" and then led the way in doing so!

I have been quoted to say that "she is my hero" ...there's not many people I'd rather be than me, but if I could spend the day as anyone on this earth it would be her.

She doesn't just talk about God {but oh how she does!} she lives God, she breathes God.  She so clearly has the the Spirit on her... being with her has this whole infectious feeling.

Sometimes God gives us role models, and she is so very much one of mine!

I love her readiness to approach life.

I love her spontaneity.

I love her openness to welcome you in, like you've come home.

But most of all, I love how she spends every moment pointing up at God and saying "Just look...just LOOK at how great He is! Don't you just love Him too!"

And you can't help but want to join in her party, especially in the knowledge that when it is time to get serious, she won't hesitate to do so, but with a whole lot of laughs along the way!

"Soy una vaca!"

"If God has called you to it, He will equip you for it."

- that was Christine Caine, just now, on Facebook.

I am not having fun over here, when I try to strain to see the distance, when I put my all into understanding what is to come and where I am going to go to, it really isn't fun.

But when I look at Now, I have a right blast. No, it really isn't easy.  I struggle to live in the Now, but it is a ton of fun! Really, it is.

Especially when I focus on that which is so clearly from God.  I know...it's all from God.  But sometimes {I reckon} He sends gifts with an extra special ribbon wrapped around; He wants to bless us, He wants to pour out His love, and goodness, and grace.

And if this is Him equipping me {which He said it was} then boy! I should most definitely be a whole lot more excited about what is to come!

You know amongst all the fears, the worries {the wetting myself with wanting to run away...be swallowed by a big fish even} this is exciting.  I have amazing opportunities now, it is hard to even begin to dream of what may come.

But that is something I'm going to do.

I'm going to recognise the fact that I am in the palm of His hand, I am going to embrace that, let it breathe over me, and then step into dreaming bigger.  Dreaming wildly.

God is calling me in amazing ways.  And as I begin to write down His callings over me, I collapse under the sheer Beauty, wonder and {whole lot of} grace in it all.

The equipping is hard.  And it is taking a lot of focus.  And it is taking a lot of striving, and determination, and patience.

And I fail. I fall short. Every. Single. Day.

But He keeps picking me up and setting me right.

And as I open my mind to dreaming...as I let myself wander.  I want to be equipped(!) ...so that I can step out of this little-me into the me I am created to be.  Solo a Dios sea la gloria....Only to God be the glory.

Therefore let it be so, that as I learn to live Now by thanking, I also learn to live Now...by dreaming.  I am not going to live in the dreams, but I am going to differentiate between the equipping {Now} and what is to come...by dreaming.

By letting there be no limitations, because I have a great big God, whom no box can hold.  How can I begin to imagine what He has for me? I can't.  But dreaming is good, stretching myself, not stopping now.  Moving towards the NEW THING. That is very exciting!

Gracias...a life of thanks.

My name, 'Grace', in Spanish is 'Gracia'...

'Thank you' in Spanish is 'Gracias'...

There is more to this name of mine.  Living a life of thanks.  Because all that is added is an 's' and there is another meaning.

Eucharisteo.  That word that Ann has taught to so many.

Thankful for always.  In the good, and the hard too.  Hard Eucharisteo.  Sometimes we need to step out of moaning, and complaining. and ever-deepening: just-plain-hard. And step into the light.

And just thank, and thank, and thank.

Because when it comes down to it God is good.

God is good.

Not God was good.  Not God will be good.  But God is good.

And there is much to be thankful for in that.

There is an overflowing of blessing and gifts to be thankful for each day, if only I would open my eyes to them.

It says, right there on the wall by my bed, "This day, TODAY was made by God.  It is a gift from Him who is mighty.  Let us be always thankful and forever rejoicing in each and every moment. (Psalm 118:24)

And then I turn my head, and on that wall over there, is a tatoo plastered on "Believe"...through good and bad, through thick, thin and everything in between.  It is quite simple, just "Believe".

Believe that there is much to be thankful for, for it is so.

And slowly the light enters in, and I begin to dance in its speckles.  Because when it rains the light is refracted and reflected all the more, so...still we can dance.

A life of thanksgiving and gratitude...is right there in my name.