Some thoughts on grace.

Isn't God's grace a wonderful gift to us! A long time ago, I learned to define grace as "God's riches at Christ's expense". Oh what a simplification that is. This year I have learned so much more about God's grace.

 

Why the deep thoughts? Well on Tuesday a very special friend of mine, who has 4 children, one of whom has considerable health problems, posted a link to this blog. She also posted the quote below which comes from the end of the video on the blog:

"God brings us to the end of ourselves, the end of our strength and wits. He destroys our pride and self-confidence in order to reveal to us His grace. Your circumstances don’t define God’s love for you. The cross defines His love for you. Your circumstances are merely used to point you towards that love. To bring you to a point of desperation where you kneel at the cross and surrender all of your strength for all of his grace."

 

God's grace is so much more than we can imagine. I'm still reading an awesome book that I got from Booksneeze.com, titled Captured by Grace, which has alternatively challenged and encouraged me. I'll write a review on it sometime soon, but one really important gem I discovered was how the brother of the prodigal son needed grace just as much as the prodigal son! Now in theory I knew that, but something about the way it was written in this book really hit me. God is so good.

 

The author of the quote was speaking from personal experiences, and I'm not proud to say that God did this to me too! It's not a good thing that sometimes He needs us to go through really tough experiences so that we can receive His love and grace in all it's fullness, but praise Him that He cares enough about us to take us where we need to go, all the while holding us safely in His hand.

 

This year, I have experienced God's grace in a way I hadn't before. He continues to work in me, and I know I'm still a work in progress, but I want to thank Him for all He has given me this year, and all He has brought me through. I pray that I will continue to serve Him while continuing to develop a deeper and fuller understanding of His grace.

 

What about you? Have you seen God's grace this year? Care to share?