Rejoice! Stand in THIS Grace.

 Today our passage is Romans 5:1-11.


  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

You know what that word therefore means right?   It means that remember what you have just learned.. keep that in mind..  cause now there will be a new thing to add in.

Remember that we have been justified because of our faith.  Got that right?
The result of that is this:  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And not only that. 
  •  access to the grace in which we stand 
  • we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God
  • we can rejoice in our sufferings BECAUSE suffering eventually leads to hope, a hope because of God's love. 
I have to admit that I don't get this all.  I don't.  How does one live in the God's grace?  How does one stand within that grace?  I looked it up in other translations and that was no help.
So I leaned on hubby who helped me understand that it's grace, a tangible thing that we see in our hope, and in how we deal with suffering and build character and overall live within that hope of God's glory.   It's is not just God's kindness, but it THE GRACE...the grace that is God and is a tangible thing that we can hold on to.  And I'm probably not explaining it well, but it's real and it's there and it's what helps us rejoice in our sufferings because we can see the end result of it  all.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

These verses point out to us that Christ died at just the right time.  God knew you know?  How all these cultures would merge in Rome. The Passover which brings people into Jerusalem so all these people would see the mighty work that God had done.  God's timing was perfect.

Our weakness was still there, a people so prone to turning away from God, a people so ungodly. A people full of sin. BUT read this: but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners.  Showing love to us.. sinners!  And we already know how God sees sin right?  God sent his son to DIE for us. 

 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Since we've been justified by his blood, we are also saved from the wrath of God. Think about what that means.  While we were in that horrible icky state, enemies of God, and he chose to reconcile us to him by the death of his Son.    So now we've been made right with God just think about how much more we will be saved by his life.  Just think about that!  We have that reconciliation.  We have the joy in God. What am I saying.. doesn't all this give you reason, give me reason to REJOICE in the Lord God.  That tremendous gift he gave us in reconciliation.   We were horrible in our sin and God knew that and yet, and yet he chose to bring us back to himself.   If that isn't a reason to rejoice what is?
 
 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

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Art Book: Miniscapes - Create Your Own Terrarium

I recently contacted my "person" at Raincoast and mentioned that my lad was into making terrariums lately so she very kindly sent me a book that she thought might be a boon to him... and it was!   Let me tell you about Miniscapes: Create your own Terrarium.  I know I know..not your typical art book, but making a terrarium is a form of art you know?   Can you put different mediums together in a way that will balance and create something beautiful?   Miniscapes helps you to gain the know-how to do this yourself.

 
 I love the logical step up in Miniscapes.  Walking the reader through what a terrarium was and how it worked.  Being walked through all the parts of a terrarium, learning why you need the different layers, the types of plants you can use and more.  The Close of Miniscapes leaves you with several projects you can complete to get your feet wet, or to at least give you ideas for creating your own.   It's a rather neat book.
The first half of Miniscapes is devoted to teaching the reader about the various plants, and parts of a terrarium.  The different styles of glass bowls, types of rocks, plants, substrate, tools, and accessories . 


I found the text easy to read and understand.  The author was very good at explaining how everything works, making this an ideal book for a novice to terrariums, while including lots of projects to intrigue the more seasoned.
 
The Projects, more than 15 projects, each with an ingredients list, with step by step instructions for completing them.


My Thoughts:
This is a helpful little book, full of ideas and images and creations.   It's great to look through to garner ideas for different types of terrariums, or to actually create one of them as written.  My son liked it and didn't want me to add it our "let's rehome it" pile so it will sticking around for a while.  :)  (not many books make it to that status which tells you something eh?)  :)

But it's a great book to teach you how to make your own garden art form. 

Oh!   And check it out!   My lad made his own terrariums!!!


Miniscapes - Create your own Terrarium
Clea Cregan
Hardie Grant Books
Pages: 160
Approximately 8 x 8 inch square 
Type: Hardcover

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books


Where to find it: 
Amazon.ca: Miniscapes: Create Your Own Terrarium

Amazon.com: Miniscapes: Create Your Own Terrarium

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This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites