Grace
/I’ve always loved the word Grace but struggled to see how it applied to my life specifically.
One day I was listening to an interview of an author who was talking about a book she wrote on the topic of Grace. She started by stating that it’s easy to misunderstand Grace. She then described Grace this way: “It's when you experience the Lord coming into your life, and you think to yourself, ‘Okay, this is strength beyond my own. This is increasing my capacity. This is taking what I knew previously of love, and magnifying it, or peace and magnifying it, or hope and magnifying it.’ That is what grace does. And as we learn to start watching for what that feels like in our lives, and we can put our finger on it, then we realize this is Jesus Christ …...making me more, making me enough. He's making me the best me in this situation, then that's grace.”
She went on to describe specific instances in her life when the Grace of our Savior Jesus Christ had enabled her. As she described her own Grace moments, my own personal experiences miraculously popped into my head - like learning a foreign language on my mission when I had suffered miserably through my foreign language classes in high school - or knowing quickly my spouse was whom I should marry.
I also recalled losing our first child and being told we may never bear our own children, yet then the miracle of making it to my third trimester of pregnancy with our second child despite having to spend the last several weeks on bed rest. I was endowed with grace when I was able to deliver a healthy baby girl at 39 weeks.
I also thought about my five-month-old son’s hospitalization and subsequent exploratory surgery. And when my husband shared with me his ongoing struggle with an addiction, that I thought he had overcome. In those moments I had been undeniably blessed with peace.
I recall the clarity of taking the next right steps that I know were enabled through the Grace of my Savior. As I listened to that interview I felt like I finally knew the word that so completely described what I had struggled to describe in the past. I had referred to it as “being carried” but in fact it was my Savior’s GRACE enabling me.
Psalms 18:36 reads “Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.”
By recognizing Grace as strength beyond my own and having my steps enlarged I now see that I have continually been blessed by Grace. Jesus has been nearby all along and I am beginning to see better the power of my Savior's Grace in my life everyday.
What next?
Perhaps you too can identify your own Grace moments by reflecting on the question, “When have I felt enabled beyond my own capacity?”
By Nicole, Writing Team