Candidly Christian

Real Women. Real Life. Real Faith.

Grace and Truth Link Up

Grace and Truth For When God’s Goodness Fails to Amaze

· · 6 Comments

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature…” ~ 2 Peter 1:3-4

Carlie opened her post with those verses, and I had to go back and read them again after I got to the end. In God’s amazing goodness, He granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Because we know Him, we can trust His precious promises.

But how often do we lose sight of that?

[Read more…] about Grace and Truth For When God’s Goodness Fails to Amaze

Grace & Truth for Becoming Like Jesus

· · 4 Comments

This time of year is full of high hopes and good intentions. We all try our best to make our lives better. We declare the new year a fresh start and diligently plung ahead full steam.

We spend more time at the gym, and are more conciencious of our eating habits. We resolve to spend less money and eat at home more. To spend less time on Facebook and more time in God’s Book.

But in all our good intentions, did we miss the most important life goal of all?

[Read more…] about Grace & Truth for Becoming Like Jesus

Grace & Truth For Your Bible Study This Year

· · 2 Comments

Well… it’s January. Many of us started a new Bible reading plan or Bible study this year. We always start the year off with good intentions, don’t we?

I’ll be completely honest though, with my family home for the holidays, I didn’t even get started on my Bible reading plan for the new year. Which means I’m already behind.

Part of me wants to just give up and try again next year, but the more logical side knows that’s never the right answer. That’s what Satan wants. He wants us to give up. To put off digging in to God’s Word. To put off making a commitment to it.

[Read more…] about Grace & Truth For Your Bible Study This Year

Looking to the Future with Grace and Truth

· · 8 Comments

As the year draws to a close I look back on all the things left undone. Blog posts left unwritten. Cards left unsent. Good intentions abandoned as time ticked by.

To be honest, this is where I find myself every year at this time. Full of new good intentions, motivated to do better, yet still hindered by unfinished business.

Because sometimes before we can move forward, we have to finish.

Grace and Truth For The New Year

At the end of the year I always find myself evaluating the year gone by with both truth and grace.

Grace for the things left undone. But also truth for what still needs to be finished.

I don’t know where the end of this year finds you, but I hope you will give yourself both grace and truth as you look at the year gone by.

[Read more…] about Looking to the Future with Grace and Truth

Grace and Truth with Rebecca Hastings

· · 2 Comments

I’ve never been good at making decisions. I don’t know if it’s built into my DNA to be indecisive, or if I’m just insecure… either way, it leaves paralysed often.

When someone asks me where I want to go eat when we are out and about? I can’t decide.

When we get there and I open a menu? Yikes!

If I need to decide which gift my child would like better, this one or that? I seek a second opinion.

Do I want cherry pie or apple? I just don’t know!

[Read more…] about Grace and Truth with Rebecca Hastings

Grace and Truth and Christmas Cheer

· · 11 Comments

The Christmas season is coming up fast, yet I have seen several posts around Facebook where my friends have said it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Maybe you can relate?

December just seems to go by so quickly. And it’s always jam-packed with so many things to do.  Sometimes the Christmas feeling can be hard to capture. That’s where Lauren was when she boarded the North Pole Express at her local mall.

[Read more…] about Grace and Truth and Christmas Cheer

Grace and Truth and White-Knuckle Faith

· · 13 Comments

Years ago, I watched a video replay of a Christian conference where the speaker talked about white noise.

There are constantly noises all around us that we learn to tune out because they are white noise.

The buzz of the ceiling fan, the hum of the dishwasher… Even music on the radio or people talking in a crowded room can become white noise. White noise is defined as a constant noise or mixture of noises that are meaningless.

The speaker in the conference suggested that sometimes we let the Bible become white noise. We have heard it all before. It’s there. It’s normal. It’s background noise to what’s going on in our lives.

Sadly, she hit too close to home.

[Read more…] about Grace and Truth and White-Knuckle Faith

Some Candid Grace and Truth

· · 18 Comments

Can I tell you that I am closing the door on November with a heavy heart.

I would love to be able to tell you how grateful I am for how far I have come this year, and all God is doing in my life. But if I’m honest, life has been hard the last couple of years, and this month was especially rough.

As we move into the Christmas season, I have been reflecting a lot on Jesus. And I have spent a good deal of time in the book of John. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (NIV)

Grace and Truth Link Up: Why I'm Thankful for the Labels That Challenge My WorthGrace and Truth

Grace and truth are two of the things that I cling to when the going gets rough.

I lean into the truth I can count on, because God’s Word is unchanging, even when it feels like my world is falling apart.

And I cling to God’s grace, because no matter how badly I mess things up, I know I can never out sin the grace of God.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That’s a truth we can count on, and grace we can cling to as children of God.

Which brings me to an exciting announcement!

I am one of the two new hosts for the Grace and Truth Link-up, which you can learn more about below.

For my first featured post, I have chosen Carlie’s post about the labels that we allow to define us. Carlie wasn’t afraid to get candid and share her heart in her post, and I could totally relate.

Carlie shares her struggle with where life has brought her this year as well. As I read her post it was like reading my own thoughts on the page. But she didn’t leave it at the struggle, she circled back around to Jesus. Because in the end, no matter how much we struggle, we can be thankful for who we are in Him. I highly encourage you to take a moment to hop over and check it out here.

Carlie, feel free to grab the button below and add it to your post so your readers can celebrate with you.

Grace and Truth

Now for this week’s link up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord…

Grace and Truth Link Up

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to Embracing the Unexpected by clicking here.

Grace and Truth Link Up Hosts

Heather Hart

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Maree Dee

Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Aimee Imbeau

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Grace and Truth Link Up Rules

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent Christian Living posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button and/or link back to one of our hosts to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one blog to feature and promote via their social media channels next week.

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week.

Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post.

Grace & Truth Link Up

Link Up Closed

Simply Walking with Jesus Day In and Day Out

· · 12 Comments

I got this knot in the pit of my stomach.

I was overwhelmed by this feeling of failure. Like I could never do it on my own. Like I was going to fail.

Our book, Candid Conversations was launching in less than a week and I felt so unworthy.

I had been writing and publishing books for over a decade, but this one was different. This time I was alone… only I wasn’t.

I was working with an amazing group of women, but they saw me as their fearless leader.

But fearless I wasn’t.

[Read more…] about Simply Walking with Jesus Day In and Day Out