Grace, Who?

A2Z Meme and the Letter G…

… G is for Grace …

Sometimes I just don’t get it. I mean, I’ve heard it for so long, attribute it to my salvation experience, but actually GIVING it… well, sometimes I just don’t get it. Grace. In the past, grace, to me was always a “who” not a “what.” Grace, who? Where is she going? What is she going to do when she gets there? And just where is THERE? 

Then I met Jesus. Thing is, it took me the better part of 29 years to really figure out grace! For the longest time I thought “I’m saved. What more do I need?” I literally thought that’s all there was to it. However, there’s a whole other realm of not only grace, but forgiveness, learning, peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Oh boy…

For the last three or four weeks, grace has been popping up everywhere I go. It started off three months ago with forgiveness. But God fixed that when He healed me of the brokenness I carried for nearly my entire life. Got that under control (hence this website), and now we turn to GRACE. What in the world?

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.” ~Psalm 84:11

I get a few devotions in my email. For the last few weeks they have almost coincided with each other… Max Lucado, Proverbs 31 Ministries, Internet Cafe, just to name a few. Max even has a new book out. Wanna take a guess at the title? Grace. Topic of his devotions? Grace. Topic of many of the other devotions…grace. I see Facebook and Twitter posts from Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen. Many of them are about… grace. Okay, okay, I get it! Grace.

Dictionary.com defines Grace this way: favor or goodwill, manifestation of goodwill, kindness, mercy, clemency, pardon. 

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” ~James 4:6

In my “Journey to Forgiveness” I have learned how to forgive those who intimidated, oppressed and controlled me for many, many years. Now that I have figured that part out, the next step is to give them grace. To show them kindness. Show them love. Show them mercy, clemency, pardon. It does NOT mean that I allow them to treat me badly over and over. I have set boundaries so that doesn’t happen again.

But grace is so much more than that in my book. Grace is not only saying, “I forgive you,” but it’s also saying, “I love you.” You may be able to do this in person with some, maybe not with others. And there may be some who are not longer here, whom you’re just going to have to give grace to their memory. But… If Jesus loved us so much to give us his forgiveness, grace and mercy, shouldn’t we do the same for others?