{"id":684,"date":"2022-05-25T16:57:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T14:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/?p=684"},"modified":"2022-05-25T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T15:04:50","slug":"we-are-graced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/we-are-graced\/","title":{"rendered":"We are GRACED"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cGood communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.\u201d&nbsp; Nat Turner<\/em><\/p><p>I was just a few weeks past my intensive French class.&nbsp; I was overconfident in my language abilities, and I just knew what I was saying was correct.&nbsp; I told my house worker that day that I really wanted fish for dinner that evening, and he looked at me rather confused.&nbsp; I said it again, \u201cJe veux manger du poison ce soir.\u201d&nbsp; In my confidence, I just could not figure out why he couldn\u2019t understand me.&nbsp; And then it hit me, I realized my mistake.&nbsp; And embarrassingly I said, \u201cno no no, not <em>\u2018posion\u2019<\/em> (poison), <em>\u2018poisson\u2019<\/em> (fish).&nbsp; Together we laughed and laughed, and then he said he\u2019d be happy to help me find the fish and cook it for dinner.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Poison-3.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"145\" height=\"130\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Poison-3.png?resize=145%2C130\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-691\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg?resize=193%2C193\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-692\" width=\"193\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg?w=225 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg?resize=150%2C150 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg?resize=90%2C90 90w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fish-2.jpeg?resize=100%2C100 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><p>Years later, I still think about that moment.&nbsp; Too many times over the years my communication skills have been less than ideal in many situations.&nbsp; <em>James 1:19 says \u201cKnow this, my beloved brothers; let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em> Although I have always been a patient person, I do not always respond lovingly in situations that I should.&nbsp; Too often I find myself responding to the umpteenth request from the kids that day in a very careless way, realizing moments later that their demand was innocent and my reaction unfair.&nbsp; Yet, every time, no matter how many times I mess up, my kids love me just the same as they did moments before.<\/p><p>Isn\u2019t that our beautiful relationship with Christ?&nbsp; <strong>We are GRACED.&nbsp;<\/strong> I\u2019m currently in an online Bible study with a group of other missionary ladies in Rwanda and we are reading a book about grace.&nbsp; Every chapter gives us an example and a reason why we are graced.&nbsp; What is the definition of grace?&nbsp; Given favor which, we do not deserve.&nbsp; I do not deserve to be forgiven and yet repeatedly, just like my children, our loving Heavenly Father forgives.&nbsp; I am reminded that although my words may be hurtful, or my actions unfair, my God is bigger than my words and my actions.&nbsp; Sometimes, the same grace shown to me, is the same grace I need to show to others.&nbsp; <em>\u201cSometimes grace looks like a deep breath and the ability to hold our tongue.\u201d&nbsp; <\/em><strong>Thank you God, because we are GRACED.<\/strong><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=397%2C530\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-696\" width=\"397\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=768%2C1024 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=225%2C300 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=1152%2C1536 1152w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=370%2C493 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=760%2C1013 760w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?resize=600%2C800 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Maddy-and-Mommy.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 100vw, 397px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGood communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.\u201d&nbsp; Nat Turner I was just a few weeks past my intensive French class.&nbsp; I was overconfident in my language abilities, and I just knew what I was saying was correct.&nbsp; I told my house worker that day that I really wanted fish for dinner that evening, and he looked at me&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21,1,5,19,16,17,22],"tags":[24,32,25,23,52],"class_list":["post-684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giseyni","category-home-school-mom","category-uncategorized","category-missionary","category-missionary-kid","category-mom-life","category-rwanda","category-https-wwconnections-org-wp","tag-giseyni","tag-homeshool-mom","tag-missionary","tag-rwanda","tag-world-wide-connections"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}