Welcome and Intro and Purpose, oh my!

I can hardly believe I’m here and we are doing this. Creating a space together is something I’ve dreamed of a long time. I am so glad you are here. Your voice matters in this space too. I believe we will learn and process and see beautiful things together. So let me introduce myself first.

Hi, I’m Renae Rickles Perry. I am a Christ follower and a deep thinker. I am an avid reader and lifelong learner. I am learning to trust and use my voice. I am a hardcore nerd and I love talking about geeky things! {Who is your favorite doctor in Doctor Who? What Hogwarts house are you in? Lynda Carter or Gal Gadot - or both?} I love to travel and create and have adventures. I am a widowed mom with 2 kids. My boys are 20 & 14 at this moment, and they are the most amazing, funny, quirky and brave humans I know. I love them so.

So, 3 and 1/2 years ago, our world was rocked when my husband died suddenly. A few days in, I remember feeling like my world had exploded and was scattered into tiny pieces all around me. I prayed in that moment “God, please make something beautiful out of the broken pieces. Redeem this devastating experience.” I very clearly felt the Holy Spirit giving me the image of a mosaic. It was a beautiful, hopeful image and I held on tight to it as a promise.

A lot has happened since that day, but I still hold on to that image. I believe God does beautiful things in painful hard situations.
I have seen God move and I have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have felt covered by grace through it all - through my whole life, really. I have learned, and I am still learning, to look for the grace every day.
Merriam Webster dictionary defines grace as “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification” and “a special favor: Privilege” and also a “disposition to or an act or instance of kindness.” And their kid’s definition is to HONOR and ADORN. Let’s unpack that definition a little. Grace is unmerited, which means it is undeserved. It is given for the purpose of our regeneration (rebirth) and sanctification (transformation.) It is a special favor or privilege.

Y’all, grace is a gift!

Grace is a disposition to or act of kindness. It is in God’s nature to gift us with kindness and compassion. It is who God is to Honor and Adorn us with goodness. So God, out of God’s own nature, gifts us with kindness and compassion, whether we feel we deserve it or not, in order to make us new and transform us. Wow. Take that in for a moment.

I want to notice the grace. I want to take special interest in naming the moments where I see God gifting me with compassion and kindness. These moments hold a purpose. They renew and transform us. They remind us to pay attention to who God is and the ways we are loved. And when we name and share them, we point other people to a God who deeply loves them and is already working in their lives whether they know it or not.

I see traces of God’s favor and honor throughout my life. I am following the path of God’s goodness and noticing the sparks of grace along the path. And I would love for you to join me.

My promise is that in this space, we will intentionally look for God. Let’s together see the traces of grace throughout our life. Let’s name them so we can be encouraged and so others can begin to see the grace on their journey too.

Let’s build a community of grace seekers here.
Introduce yourself in the comments. Share your first name and where you are from.
Where have you seen traces of grace in the last week?

“Grace.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grace. Accessed 2 Jul. 2020.