What I do deserve....

is well, something much different than what my Heavenly Father has given me. What is it that He bestows on me? grace

My husband and I have been given the incredible privilege to be a part of a body of believers that is led by what we would call a "true shepherd." In the recent words of my husband he is a man who is "unwavering and unashamed of the Gospel. He sacrifices much to make God look good." A recent example of this is a sermon series he just finished on grace. Click here to listen on-line.

What was so wonderful about the entire series was that is was not about "saving grace," but something entirely different. It was about how we actually live out and grow in grace! Two weeks ago, Pastor Jim said, "God always gives us what we don't deserve and withholds what we do deserve. This also means that grace frees God to give us what love requires." I was literally silenced for the rest of the day! Just a side note: this is a rare thing! :)

You see, we were recently gifted with something far beyond what I would even call reasonable. Something that we knew we were most certainly undeserving of, yet in God's perfect ways He saw fit to "grace" us with. Why? I'm still not sure, except for the simple fact that God always gives us what we don't deserve. We are very aware that with this gracious gift comes great responsibility that we do not take lightly. A beautiful thing it has developed in me is this constant awareness of my thoughts concerning this gift.

I know this is also the beautiful hand of God at work getting me to return to a constant state of open communication with Him. He is so good to work that way. Kind of like letting us learn to be humble by giving us children to raise! If you have any, you know what I'm talking about, bless their sweet little hearts~

And speaking of children, through this series and the lavish gift of grace God bestowed upon us, He rendered my heart still at the thought that I had much room to grow in offering grace to my children. Honestly, this is sometimes hard for me because of the amount of training involved in raising two strong and charging young men! They sometimes seem so differently behaved than their peers and the things they come up with to do simple leave me speechless sometimes. I tend to lean on the side of firm, rather than grace.

But, you know what? I was chosen to be their mama! I was chosen to to do for them what no one else can do! I was asked by God to walk in the grace He has given me, in order to give that grace to these precious children entrusted to me for their time on earth. This does not always come easy, but then....am I not a child of God who is also sometimes acting in such a way that makes it difficult to be one who is shown grace? YES! I definitely am~

So, what I deserve is nothing even close to the idea of grace, but what I am given is grace in it's purest form. Love that springs from the heart of my Heavenly Father, because He desires for me to walk in grace, be strengthened in grace and live out grace to those around me.

Who around you needs to be shown the beautiful hand of grace? Are you aware of what you have been given, not just to be saved but to bestow upon others? Well, then to all of us I say, let's get to work "springing grace" on those around us! (You will understand this more after listening to the sermon series!)