Grace

The topic of God's grace has been hot in my heart these past couple of months (cue Matt Maher's chorus: Your grace is enough!). My understanding of the depth of God's grace is blossoming in my heart - slowly, surely, beautifully. It is something I always knew, but didn't understand like I do now.

I posted on Facebook this afternoon this status: I love how you can feel God's grace and you are SURE that's what it is...because it is clearly what you were missing before you knew you were missing it. Amen ♥. This is where I am in understanding His grace. I know I had it because I feel it when I cover it up with other feelings,thoughts and insecurities. I don't mean to shroud God's grace - why would ANYONE try to do that - but it is easy to do...kinda like it's easier to throw the clothes you tried on but didn't like on the chair instead of hanging them back up (I would NEVER!! Ya right!)

I recently read in I Corinthians 15 where Paul was preaching about the fact that Christ died for our sins, He was buried and on the third day He rose again. When He rose, He appeared to Peter and James and to the apostles ... and to Paul who was not an apostle. Paul felt humbled and not worthy of Jesus' visit because when he was Saul (not Paul) he persecuted the church. What comes next in verse 10 is my revelation: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect...No I worked harder than all of them [servants of Christ] - yet, not I but the grace of God that was with me"

Follow me...

Paul is talking about what I like to call "He grows, I glow" (thanks, Mike R for that analogy!). Every day, we should decrease and God should increase in our lives. We should become as much like Him as we can. We do this through prayer, submission, obedience; and we are allowed to do this by the grace that He bestows on us. Saul turned to Paul by the GRACE of God. When he received grace, he worked as hard as he could to be the hands, feet, eyes, & ears of God. He wanted, desired, and succeeded in being an extension of Him Himself. In this verse, Paul is recognizing that without the grace of God, he never would have been able to accomplish what he did. He didn't do anything - God did it all through Him with the power of the Holy Spirit and the anointed grace he was given. 

Fast forward to 2011. My life. My full, chaotic, crazy, intense life. A life where the gospel can be spread on Facebook and sermons can be streamed on phones. I recently struggled with something and wondered why it was bothering me so much...because at last I checked, things like that didn't really have time to take root in my heart. Well, this one did. After an entire night of praying, reading, journal, reflecting, and laying it all at the cross, God gave me my answer. I struggled because I let the issue cloak the grace He has awakened in my heart. I struggled because I decided to live in the struggle instead of bask in His grace. We all know that His grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in my weakness ... but by not allowing myself to admit I was weak, I couldn't receive His power. Without His power, I couldn't acknowledge His grace...

I wish you all could have seen the hope that exploded in my heart - and the freedom that followed - when this revalation hit. What a gift His grace is...I can't fathom my life without it.

Love & Light