From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another. -John 1:16
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest of me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. -Ephesians 1:7
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:16
Warning: this post will be jumbled thoughts that may or may not make sense.
The past couple weeks God has continually been showing me just how great His blessings have been in my life even when they do not always seem like blessings. I am so thankful to be here in West Virginia, even though I am ready to go home, finish student teaching, and already be moved to the Twin Cities. I have no doubt that God led me to YouthWorks to learn so much more about who He is in a different light of ministry atmosphere and sometimes feeling like I am re-learning things about faith all over again. One of the biggest things that I feel like God has been re-teaching me is about His grace. I have always been a goody-two-shoes rule follower who was very oriented with respect and what was right and wrong. This definitely pours into my relationship with God as I seek out deep truth and then get caught up in forgetting about God's grace when I make mistakes, don't choose the path that brings Him glory, and put myself first.
Grace in all aspects is something that I need to continually learn about. I had a really great conversation with one of my best friends a couple weeks ago now and it fits so well with what I most need to learn. It is so easy for me to get frustrated and down about the sin in my life, even knowing that I am human, I fall short of following God's plan, I put myself first, and I sin everyday in various ways. I know in my head that sin is sin and it doesn't really matter what I am struggling with as far as degree in how bad it is compared to other sin because it is all the same in God's eyes. So often, I completely miss God's grace and fail to recognize how much grace God has poured into my life. I even need to learn how to shift my thinking when it comes to the times that I fail because they happen often just like anyone else. I need as much grace as anyone else. I need to give grace to others as much as I need grace myself. Sometimes I feel like we get so caught up in our flaws that God has known about for centuries that we forget to simply be still and thank Him for pouring so much grace in our lives that those failures and short-comings are completely covered and have been covered for thousands of years despite anything we do or do not do. I want to work on freely giving grace to others, not because they always deserve it, but because they are loved by the same God who pulled me out of complete darkness and who continues to bring me into His light each and everyday. I want to love selflessly and patiently because God knows how broken I am and how every person I meet is just as broken without God. I struggle with many sins each and every day but I want to recognize God's grace that has already covered that instead of staying in the mindset of how to fix my failures as if I have any part in bringing redemption to my life. Grace is so hard to comprehend but I am so incredibly blessed. I am blessed with friends who are just as broken as I am and just need love and care. I am blessed with a family who has not experienced the grace of God that I have and they need my patience to understand that they don't understand what God has done in my life. I am blessed by being surrounded by sinful people because I think we all can get so wrapped up in pointing out others flaws and our own that we completely miss how great God's grace and mercy on us really is. I know I do so much.
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