Grace ~ What is so amazing about it?

Grace.

What is so amazing about that word?

The most popular way of hearing about it in our world today is the song "Amazing Grace" that is so overwhelmingly sung... but not always practiced.

Amazing Grace!
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see

'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Amazing grace, indeed.

We want grace.

We expect grace to be shown.

BUT.

Do we really understand and grasp "GRACE?"

The definitions of grace:

mercy; clemency; pardon:  

a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior:  

favor or goodwill.

In the last few months the Lord has been taking me on a journey of learning more about His grace, and the grace I must show others.

I have re-read Philip Yancey's book:

And then the Lord led me to read Max Lucado's book:

I know as a child I grew up singing the song "Grace that is greater than all my sin".... but I must admit that until recently did I fully grasp what that meant.  And I am not sure I will ever fully understand grace until I see my Savior face-to-face.

In many parts of our world today, if you mess up in life, you are not shown much grace.  We seem to expect it and even demand it at times, but grace is so much more.  Philip Yancey states it this way:

"Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God's unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people... We read, we hear, we believe a good theology of grace.  But that's not the way we live.  The good news of the Gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions." 

I have had to do some soul searching in recent months to fully comprehend what grace was shown upon me from my Savior and what grace I must show to others.

Our past likes to creep up on us.

We all have moments in our past that we wish we could "do over."

We all have times in our lives where we wish it could be blotted out for good.

And, for those who know Christ as Savior, it HAS.

It is because His grace covers it all.  

It covers the past like it covers our present and our future.

And because of God's grace, He reveals those sins in us and uses them to change us into His image.  HIS GRACE uses our mistakes for HIS GLORY.

God's Word is FULL of mentions of His grace and we can so easily take it for ourselves and be so glad our own sin is forgiven.

At the same time, we can be holding on to condemnation and not show any grace to others who may fall into:

Sexual impurity - with minors, impurity before marriage and adultery during marriage.  

Pornographic addictions.

Drug and alcohol addictions.

The lying tongue.

Gluttony.

Murder.

Thievery.

The list could go on....including our "every day" sins of pride, hardheartedness, greed, and anger.

 

In a world given much grace, we surely do not like to believe someone could be covered by it and change.  



I will be the first to say that I still battle often the urge to base what I think of someone solely on what I know he/she did in the past.

Thankfully, that is not what my Savior has done for me.

Psalm 103:8-14 is full of the showing of His grace:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness.

He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever. 

 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 

 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him. 

 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

How is it that we, who have been forgiven much and shown much grace, not show that grace to others?

If our Heavenly Father, Who created us, against Whom we sin, can forgive us and show us grace - and choose to remember it no more....

Max Lucado says it quite eloquently:

"God didn't overlook your sins, lest He endorse them.  He didn't punish you, lest He destroy you.  He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner.  Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you the credit for Jesus' perfection."

"As long as the cross is God's gift to the world, it will touch you but not change you.  Precious as it is to proclaim, 'Christ died for the world,' even sweeter it is to whisper, 'Christ died for me.'"

"Thank God for the day Jesus took your place, for the day grace happened to you."

I know I am still a work in progress in understanding how to show that grace that has been shown to me.

We are called to show grace - unmerited favor - to others. 

It is then that we may become yet another definition of grace:

elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action: 

a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment: 

I don't know about you, but I know my Lord desires for me to reflect Him more and more as I get closer to seeing Him face-to-face.  Those definitions above show a good picture of what that looks like and how we can, by God's grace, lead others to Him.

Ever Feel Like a Failure.... Anyone? Anyone?

Ever feel like a failure?

Ever look at your life and wonder how it has been useful?

Unfortunately for me, I have lived there most of my life.

I used to say my brother was the smart one and I just got the leftovers....

You see...

I have lived most of my life under the lie that I must have everything perfect in my life in order for things to be "right."

The Lord has brought me far in relinquishing this lie, but....


To this day I still struggle with:

My house and the fact that, especially during school, it looks like a tornado went through it then a bomb was set off.  Yes, I learned as a child that everything should have its place, but reality is that unless Kellie sees it she forgets about it so therefore everything is EVERYWHERE.  There are some weeks I don't know which end is up in my house and have found that I just survive from one day to the next.

My laundry is always piled high in the "Mount Everest" form on my dresser.  Nothing neat and "in place" like the picture below.  Steve and I began to joke about playing hide and go seek in the laundry for him to find a pair of socks.

I don't cook much at my house.  Steve does.  I feel as if that is a huge chunk of what a mother "should" do.  Steve graciously took that over a few years back when I was so overwhelmed with it all.  While I am SO grateful, there is not a day that goes by that I don't struggle and feel guilty.  I feel less than the mother and wife I should be.   When other mother's talk about what they are cooking I feel like I should be ashamed for not performing all of that for my family.

Then there is just the basics of my family - especially of the rearing of Wesley and Mikayla.  There are days I feel I have failed my children in some way of not being what I should be for them.  I feel the same as far as being a wife.  Let's just say that the Proverbs 31 woman is nigh near to impossible.  I don't know how that woman did it.  I surely can never measure up to her.

And let's not forget school.... the place God has called me to be, but yet I feel so inadequate to meet the needs of all that is before me each day.  Technology is changing and there is always a learning curve.  There is the part of me that is still "old school" and firmly believes in that, however, I accept and enjoy the challenges of learning something new.  This is all on top of figuring out 21 precious ones and being all I can be for them.  

On top of all of this, I am trying to learn to be who I am in Christ.  I am trying to draw closer to the One Who made me.  I am trying to find the time to be still before Him without feeling as though I am neglecting something else.


Let's also throw in how there is a comparison to others.  Others who have a greater talent.  Others who can keep their house "just so", others that seem to always have everything they want....  OR SO IT SEEMS.

It is a struggle.

It feels like I am failing most days.

And that is where Satan wants me.

As of late, I have felt like this battle scene from the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (don't feel you have to watch it all, but please watch some of it....)

 

Satan has been throwing "failure" darts at me every time I have turned around, just as we see the White Witch and her army battling Peter and Edmund in the movie.

He has wanted me to feel like a failure.

He has wanted me to feel as if I will never reach that Proverbs 31 woman.


Lately, the Lord has given me this verse to remind me that it isn't about ME at all.  I have known that all along - but as we all know, Satan likes to keep us in our chains of bondage.

I AM going to fail at ALL of what I mentioned above when I forget that I am from God. 

I have overcome it all because GREATER is HE that is in me than he that is in the world.

It's not "greater am I because of myself ", upon which we humans like to depend most of the time.

I can do ALL things because of Christ, Who lives in me, and gives me the strength I need to put one foot in front of the other.

He gives me the strength to quench those fiery darts of Satan.

He comes to me in the middle of my battles just as Aslan did in the above movie for Peter and Edmund.  

I have felt Him in such a great way in the past months.  He has shown me more and more of Himself and how much I desperately need Him. 

• It really doesn't matter if my house is not immaculate.  I don't live in a museum anyway!
• It really doesn't matter if I have "Mount Everest" of laundry on my dresser most of the time.
• It really doesn't matter that I don't cook much.
• It really doesn't matter that technology is changing each second.
• It really doesn't matter that I don't do everything I *think* I should be doing.

In thinking of eternity and the fact that this world will pass away - IT. REALLY. DOESN'T. MATTER.

What matters then?

My time with Christ.

My realization that only through Him can I accomplish what NEEDS to happen.

My understanding that this world will pass away - and all of the Mount Everest laundry mountains with it.

My desire to do all things to the best of my ability with Christ's strength.

The fact that my personal children tell me "Thank you for helping me in my Christian life and how to read God's Word."  

The other fact that my students tell me "Bible time is my favorite."

I AM doing what I was called to do.  

And while I am certainly not perfect, I am sharing the love of Christ with the next generation of my family as well as my students. 

I am FROM GOD.

Nothing matters but HIM because HE is greater and lives in ME.

I have clung to this song for the past 6 months in my battles of feeling like I have failed.  What a perfect reminder that The Lion of Judah is already there in the battle and I have won because of HIM. Enjoy: