Hello Hello Hello!
Have you ever heard of the Nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”? Well, to sum up: he sat on a wall, had a big fall, and could not be put back together again. Pretty sad, right? I can’t help but imagine that this all could have been prevented if he wasn’t sitting on the wall. Why was he up there? Was he climbing to the other side? Why did he stop moving forward? These are the questions that come to mind. I don’t know about you, but when I was climbing a fence as a kid, it was pretty nerve-wrecking. Sure, getting up there isn’t the hard part. Climbing up isn’t too difficult because you can see everything you need to do to achieve it. “OK, I’ll put my foot here, use my left hand to grab that part.” But climbing down the other side? Not so easy. In Humpty’s case, he just decided it was too scary and was going to just stay up there where he felt safe & comfortable and just not climb back down. He was like:
See, climbing down a fence can be pretty scary. You can’t really see what is ahead because you’re going backwards. You’re unsure and it can make your stomach drop. You know what else is like that at times? Our Christian walk. Sometimes people will start their Christianity, get comfortable and just stay put rather than continuing their relationship with God. “Sure, I will go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays but if they ask me to serve in a ministry then I am going to tell them no because that is too much work.” ORRRR “I will gladly have this “Not of this World” bumper sticker on my car but the Holy Spirit better not ask me to pray for someone in line at Target today.” This comfort zone is called being lukewarm. You can’t be a little-bit Christian. You are either ALL IN or All Out.
A very well known verse is found in Revelation 3:15-16. It reads, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you [another translation says VOMIT] out of my mouth.” If you have seen the movie War Room, there is an amazing and powerful scene where an older woman is meeting for coffee in an attempt to give advice to a younger woman about her faith, prayer life, and walk with Christ. They are discussing how the younger woman occasionally attends church. The older woman asks, “If I asked what your prayer life was like, would you say that it was hot or cold?” The younger woman replied by saying, “I don’t know that I would say it’s hot… but I would consider myself a spiritual person. I’m not hot, but I’m not cold either. Just somewhere in the middle.” She takes a drink of the coffee from her mug, makes a face, and asks, “Miss Clara, you like your coffee room temperature?” The older woman says with a smile while sipping her coffee, “No, baby. Mine is HOT.” LOL
I absolutely adore this scene because it gave the younger woman a vivid example of why something lukewarm is not satisfying. As a Christian you are either hot or cold. For God or against him. The problem with being lukewarm is that you started your walk [or in this analogy climb] but then got scared of furthering yourself and stopped. You sat up at the top of the fence where you felt comfortable. But amazing things happen right outside your comfort zone. You need to be on fire for God. I seen some awesome quotes from the preacher Francis Chan. One said this:
It is sad to think about it, but isn’t it kind of true? He also can be quoted in a saying that goes, “Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they just want to be saved from the penalty of their sin.” So instead of living the Christian walk that we are supposed to, we don’t drink or do drugs and only cuss a little bit and think that we are fine and dandy. Without a second glance at the fact that we have an attitude problem and we like to gossip. Or dare I say that someone has a lust issue? This generation needs to rise up and be the people who decide that they are going to be on fire for Christ. To stand up for what is right. We need to say, “NOPE. Sorry not sorry but I am NOT going to be lukewarm. I am going to be fire burning hot, thank you very much.” Even if its scary, even if we don’t know quite what God has in store for us yet. We are going to trust in Him like never before. So instead of sitting on the top of the fence/wall like Humpty freakin’ Dumpty they are going to climb down without needing to see every little detail about their next step. They are going to hop off the fence and just trust in God that He will be there to support and provide for you.
What steps do you need to do to hop off the fence? Even if its scary, I encourage you to go for it! I love accountability so feel free to email me through my contact page or follow me on instagram @xoleahgrace to keep in touch! I am always accepting prayer requests.
Until next time, I am signing off with a Graceful Soul & Grateful Heart.
xo, Leah Grace
One of the reasons that I wanted to write about this topic is because we have a series that is being taught right now at my church about core values. These are topics that we really hope to instill into the youth at the group where I am a leader. We have various mantras that we teach. One of the more popular ones is: Just Kidding just hurts. Meaning that sometimes the “joke isn’t worth the laugh.” The bible talks about the power of words and how we are called to speak in various different places. Why? Because clearly it is important. Example one: Proverbs 16:24 states, “Kind words are like honey– sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” It is healthy for the body. It brings good to your soul & it is healthy. It makes you feel good. One of my favorites though is found in Ephesians Chapter 4, verse 29. It says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful to the hearer, building them up according to their needs that it may be beneficial to those who listen.” 
This verse is LITERALLY saying “Hey! Every word that comes out of your mouth should be edifying (aka helpful to the people listening.)” If it isn’t building them up, making them feel better, or is beneficial to them in some way, then just zip it, lock it, & put it in your pocket. Remember what thumper said in Bambi? That is an important message. Sometimes the joke isn’t worth the laugh, sometimes those words can hurt, sometimes it will stick with the person that you say it to for a long time. Why not just use your words to make people feel good. Why not have words that are sweet like honey? 
Whether they are being kind to you first or they’re being rude. You’re called to be kind, sweet, and uncorrupted. If you don’t have anything like that to say, then just don’t say anything. It’ll be waaaaay better to not talk as much than to say something that you may regret saying. If I have learned anything in my life, it is that you can’t take words back once they’re out of your mouth. So be slow to speak and when you do, make sure it’s sweet and graceful. Keep that in mind, even if you need to repeat the mantras to yourself!
Hello Graceful Friends!
time & finally just jumped in and did it! PS. SO GLAD THAT I DID. Secondly, because I love people and I love Jesus. So I am combining the two to meet people who are like me and love him or need him (or if you are like me, both lol).
So first things first, I caught a cold during one of the worst times to catch a cold. Who the heck gets a cold in summer? I prayed that I wouldn’t get sick and spoke over myself that I was not going to get sick. Who knows words have power? Death and Life are in the power of the tongue so I was trying to speak so much life, but it happened. That’s ok though, I’m over it. So anyway, I have the pleasure of working as a youth leader at my church, but I also am on a rotation schedule in the nursery and I get to work with some of the cutest babies ever. But how many people would agree that if you are sick, you probably shouldn’t be around babies? So no cute babies for me this week. *sad face.* but I didn’t let that damper my mood, I sat in service and heard an amazing message from our guest speak Dr. Nolte. It was amazing.
It was a standing-room/ general admission venue so the places that we got were so awesome. We were really close to the stage and he hopped on the ledge and walked by us and was grabbing our hands. He also gave my friend Shayla a flower. Well, he threw it into the crowd and it hit her in the face, but it was still REALLY COOL! Every person in the room was screaming out the words along with him and he was singing all of his classics. If you know who he is then here are a few so you can girlish squeal along with me: Trouble, Happy, Big City Dreams, Can’t Stand It, and Look on the Brightside. And that is just to name a few. He played sooo many. He even bid us farewell, walked off stage at the end, then came back for an encore. He was very chill, funny, and witty. They didn’t have a specific set list. He said, “We don’t have specific songs to play, we are VERY prepared *joyous sarcasm in his voice*. So what do YOU guys want to hear?” Luckily, I am really loud so he heard me and played my request (Coffee & Cigarettes). Ironically, I hate coffee and cigarettes, but boy that is a great tune. It was very crowd interactive and fun. I know most concerts won’t be like this, nor do I even think I am a “concert” type of girl, really. But I do know that I had fun, and that if I were to choose my first concert, then I am glad that this was mine. I did this for my 2007 self. I know if I could go back and tell her, she would be happy with my decision to go. So that was my day yesterday! Have you ever been to a concert? Who did you see? If you have an instagram post a throwback of concerts you have been to and tag me 
