What is Grace?

What is GRACE really? You hear through God's word that you have been saved by grace, not of anything that you can do yourself. But what does this mean. Is it simply God's love? And how many forms of grace are there.



When I think of the word grace, the verse Ephesians 2:8 comes to mind. It was a very significant tatoo on someones arm and is a passage that has stuck with me over the last year. You can only come to the Father through his GRACE. But how many forms does that take? And how does God show His unwavering grace to us?



The definition that I have found of "GRACE" is 1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion. 2. A sense of fitness or 3. A temporary immunity or exemption.



So there are many ways that grace can be defined and seen in the world and in people. I feel like I am experiencing so much grace in my life right now through all of these way. There seems to be a beauty that cannot be explained in the people in my life and the shapes that situations are taking. Things are falling into place in a beautiful and effortless way. Thing are walking in, and out of my life and it is all happening as if I am in a dream. Sometimes I feel that I have no control over the way things are going, but then I look around and I don't really want to. I love that I feel that there is a higher power putting the puzzel of my life together just the way that he has it planned. I have learned from my mistakes and the times when I took the decision into my own hand, that it has turned out horribly and in no way that outcome that I had in my own mind. But when I know that the things at hand are out of my control and all I can do is sit back and watch my life unfold, there is an overwhelming sense of peace. This has been something extremly hard for me to learn, not only with life experiences but with guys, family, and probably every other aspect as well. But God has never ceased to show me the right way. And that his amazing grace is the only way that things will pull themselves together.



I also feel the grace through my friends and relationships that I have made. Being single is something that I have never really experienced until this last year. I was (yes that girl) that always had the boyfriend or the relationship and was always looking for the way to feel like I "belonged" and that usually had to mean to someone. God has shown me many things over this last year of being completely on my own though. 1. Friends are his gift to us. They show us and teach us things and give us advice that no other person in our life can do. You can have experiences with them that far outweigh anything that you could do with just one significant other. You can get a look into an intamate side of other peoples lives. 2. Everything (I mean ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING) happens for a reason. There is nothing in your life that doesn't teach you something, whether it be good or bad, you will learn from it. You learn who your friends are, you learn how to let go, you learn who will be there for you and how to be there for others, you learn how to be alone and be ok with who you are, and you learn how to move on. Sometimes you can feel like everything is going your way and nothing could be wrong with this...then the rug is pulled out from under you, maybe this is God saying you are ready for the hardwood floor :) You never know, things might come back around and be better then you could have ever dreamed about.



The last and most important from these definitions that I have found are the temporary immunity or exemption that God shows us. What in the world would we do if God judged us for every little thing that we did wrong. Our lives would be a constant termoil. He shows us this through our friends too, and our parents. There are times I know that I have hurt someones feelings or done something for myself not thinking of how it was going to make others feel. This are times when I have experiencd grace and forgivness. Just living life everyday for examply. The bible says that the penalty for our sins should be death. I would have been dead and age 1 when I told my mom that she couldn't tell me what to do..(not much has changed) But God took these penalties away from me and gave me life, to show his grace to me.



Through His GRACE, he gave us life, a life all our own. There is nothing the same about any of us and we are all here to learn from each other and help each other, to love to laugh, to teach, to preach, to open doors for ourselves and others and sometimes close them so that other ones can be opened for us. We should live each day thinking about the GRACE that we have been given and that we can give to others.



Forgive people. Love people. Change people



XO-C