My Grace Needs Help

I’ve heard and sung about God’s amazing grace all my life. Though we make mistakes and have not-nice attitudes and are weak in our grace to others, God loves us deeply anyway.

Grace – God’s unmerited favor — is always helping us in our weaknesses. “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast even more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

God’s grace describes how much He loves us. And, with the grace we’ve been given — it is grace that we get to pay it forward to others.

Lord, have mercy! What does God do with His grace to me? I was living in a “me-centered” world by myself, where my friends were hand-picked and of the same mindset as me. They were all nice and loving people. I wasn’t at all challenged by my own grace.

But then, God brings a talkative, sometimes a little loud, hilariously funny guy into my life! There were times in our dating that he ruffled my peaceful feathers. I understood God’s tactics. He was working on me more than my guy because I’ve found myself realizing my grace, at times, is polar opposite of God’s grace. And, as I type this, I think about my guy’s amazing grace to me.

Sometimes I must have “little talks with Jesus” throughout my day because I need His grace to show up in me for him and others who don’t think exactly like I think. This year we are working at two separate early elections voting locations. When we meet up at the end of our day, we compare notes about our day and our co-workers. Some who are loud — too talkative – depressed – hurting, and those who are perky — happy – kind – considerate – quiet. All those folks need the same grace that God has given us.

I’ve heard many grace messages. But what has taught me the most? My own story and the stories of others who have fully experienced grace. Grace – given to us when we deserved a failing grade; grace that opened career doors for us; the grace of our spouse and children. It was grace that we were spared from in that “almost” auto accident or horrific storm.

Think about God’s GRACE with some Bible heroes. Moses, whose hot temper led to murder and rebellion against God, and David, who committed adultery and murder. Then turn to the New Testament where a former traitor, SAINT Peter, leads the Church, and SAINT Paul, a former “human rights abuser”, became the author of most of the New Testament.

Indeed, God’s grace is amazing. We can never sink so far that God’s grace will not reach us. At the same time, GRACE does not leave us there. It raises us to new heights, causes us to demonstrate that grace to others in words and actions.

It is my prayer that we powerfully experience the grace effect in our lives so much so that no matter what has been done to us or who gets under our skin, we choose grace for them – and even for ourselves. May we always choose God’s grace to help us see, understand and be overwhelmed by HIS grace.