Grace

Jeremy is out of town. The boys woke me up early Sunday morning because our church was having a carnival for its grand opening weekend. I bathed, dressed and loaded up everyone for church, always a "fun" task.

When we arrived, the church smelled of cotton candy and the boys were thrilled. I dropped them off at their room. I wheeled Brayden around to his three-year-old classroom. It was busy, too busy for me to put him in.

I decided to take him into the service. I wheeled him over the to handicap seating (in the back isles of the church). Someone moved the signs to reserve spaces for handicap seating and decided to sit there with their toddler and other friends. My attitude was not great. I parked Brayden the isle behind. Problem was his chair stuck out too much on that isle and everyone who walked by bumped the back of his wheelchair. This he did NOT like. I put him in my lap...almost asleep until the cute toddler in front of us made some noise and apparently that bothered Brayden. He cried and I scooped him up and headed out the door to the foyer.

Once out in the foyer, I was pretty determined to have a pity party. I just wanted to enjoy the service for once. I plopped down next to a family friend. At first I was not sure why she was in the foyer and not in the service. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out. She has MS and she was having a bad day.

She and I sat in the foyer and talked the entire service...all about God's grace. Despite her circumstances and when things were not going well, she felt covered in God's grace. She was blessed by God's grace.

So much for my pity party. I got a lesson in God's grace.

God's grace is there, always there. I needed that conversation. Many times I am just getting through another day, not really having a bad day but not really having a good day. Am I acknowledging God's presence, His grace for me?

Grace is stunning. It is breathtaking.

God's grace shows up in all our circumstances if we would be recognize it...He gives us more and more grace when the burdens are greater and greater.

Imagine that God is seeing me covered, smothered, and smoothed over with extravagant grace. All my rough edges are rounded in grace. All my imperfections are hidden by grace. All my frayed ends are tied up with grace. All that I'm lacking is filled up with grace. How can I allow myself to fret and to worry...when I realize that in God's eyes I find grace upon grace?

excerpts from Women of Faith, Extravagant Grace