I went through our chart this morning trying to update Jeana’s new WordPress address, and I accidentally typed in “Daystocome.com” instead of “Daystocome.net.” Whoa. You DON’T want to do that. But I hope everyone can update her new address in your code — her new FABULOUS design is much easier on my aging eyes (those Blogger dots played hide and seek with her words for me).

Once again, I learned so much this week, and I’m kicking myself that I haven’t been doing these Beth Moore studies for the past several years. My faith is growing like a weed under her teaching … a good weed, I think. The kind of weed that blooms through the cement cracks, even in the hot sun. That’s me.

I’m going to a coffee shop in a couple of weeks with the preschool moms who I did the Beth Moore Believing God study with that ended right before this one started. We’re going to discuss what we’ll do this fall — right now, some people want to do Living Beyond Yourself — woohoo! Me and my big mouth. I’d love to do it again — although I did read that the ladies in Carol’s church are revving up to start Beth Moore’s new study of Daniel, and I’m sure that will be amazing too.

My title for this post is “It’s All Greek to Me” because I honestly could not get over what I learned on Day 1. The Greek words for GRACE and JOY.

Grace = Charis
Joy = Chara

Charis means “unmerited favor.” And Chara means “joy, rejoicing, gladness — enjoyment, bliss.”

I never knew that.

Beth Moore writes:

Do you see a very close relationship between charis and chara? That’s because joy is an absolute assumption in grace. Joy is literally written into grace! God is telling us, “If you only understood what grace means and what you have received by way of it, you would never cease to rejoice!”

She gives us the verse in Luke 10:20, where Christ told the disciples, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Yes! The joy of our salvation is all because of God’s grace in rescuing us from the pits of hell — not only in where we spend eternity, but also in this life. We don’t have to live in the pits of depression, despair, and bondage in THIS life — because God’s grace sets us free to REJOICE daily through Him.

I can’t get over this. I have so much to think about. We really miss so much of the Bible by not being able to read it in the original languages. Now Beth Moore has spoiled me rotten. I want to learn the Bible from someone who can teach it to me in the original languages — Hebrew in the Old Testament, Greek in the New Testament. And I guess there’s Aramaic somewhere in there as well.

In the Believing God study, Beth taught that FAITH leads to HOPE over and over again in scripture. Now she’s taught me that GRACE leads to JOY. These concepts are amazing to me. I may never truly understand what faith means or what grace means. But I can’t live a day without hope. And I want my life to be characterized by joy.

My kids are up! Early. On a Saturday. OK — I’ll have to finish this post mentally, while I make pancakes. I have lots I wanted to say about the video, about Beth’s statement “All we need to create an environment for rejection is relationship.” Because MAN! I’ve been rejected a lot lately, and it’s because I’ve crawled out of my shell, and I’m developing a relationship with thousands of people through writing.

And you are too, fellow bloggers. Guess what? Not everybody is going to like you or your blog topics or your ideas that show up in your posts!

Wouldn’t it be easier to log off and quit writing? Of course. Then no one could reject us. But Jesus developed relationships with people. He didn’t sit around the quiet mountaintops, meditating and praying all day. His sandals got dusty from walking the roads of humanity.

Sometimes, I get overwhelmed when I see how many people have stopped by my site — not a huge number compared to the top blogs, but still a lot for a little ol’ mom. When I write, I know some of the people who will read, and I can’t please them all. It makes me dizzy knowing how different all of you are — I can’t make you all agree with me. So some of you will reject me.

But that’s OK. The best thing I’ve learned from my long, rambling road to getting a few things published is that THICK SKIN is required to be a writer because you’re going to get rejected. I got rejected just yesterday. Thanks, but no thanks. When I send stuff off to editors and it comes back with drastic change requests, I feel like a horrible writer, a horrible person. Then I get over it, do my rewrites, and send it back off again.

It’s the same in life. We have to take a risk to develop relationships with people. They may ignore us or outright reject us. But then there are some who will respond — and we’ll be blessed with that deep CHARA, the joy that comes from the Almighty, All-merciful, Never-Failing God of the Universe.

Off to make pancakes now …

Addie	Heather*	Carol
M	Rach	Jeana
Jenn	Amanda	MamaB
GiBee	Boomama	Maria
Blair	Heather	Nancy
Janna	Flipflop	Robin
Sherry	Patricia	Tara
Lauren	HolyMama!	Faith
Christy	Eph2810	Karin
Leann	Rachel	Janice