My Grace Story!

Welcome Back Guys! I genuinely can't believe how fast this month has gone but I promised that in January I will be releasing a "Grace" series.. so here it is!

Before I proceed, just a warning that it's going to be very introductory, very personal and very individualistic to me but I believe by me explaining my revelation on a concept I knew for so long but I really didn't understand what it meant that by Gods grace, you'll find your own revelation of what it means to you and I pray that it'll help others to understand the wider concept of this notion of "Grace" and how it perpetrates every thought, every action and every word that we'll ever say. I guess all is left for me to say is remain blessed and enjoy!

I thought, what better way to start off speaking about Grace than to explain what exactly the word "grace" means to me. I think briefly in my previous posts I've explained why I think God was so very intentional in naming me Grace, but I've never fully explained the impact it has had on the smallest things in my life so I thought let me elaborate as it has played a pivotal part in my growth and development in this Christian walk.

If we're friends, then you'll most definitely know that I have a twin sister called Mercy. For a long, long time I didn't understand the unity and the importance of the relationship between "Grace" and "Mercy". I'm not going to lie throughout the years we would get comments like "Wow your parents were onto something" or “Oh my God grace and mercy isn’t that cute”. So I sort of understood that there was undoubtably this bond between them. For instance, even when we we were younger doing family devotion it became a competitive game where Merc and I would count how many times our names would come up in the same scripture and whoever got the most would win the game - looking back on it is so funny to think about because instead of us to be concentrating on the word we were playing games! But what am I trying to say?

I’m trying to reiterate that this concept of Gods Grace isn’t something that is new or foreign to me but the understanding of it is and as Pastor Myles Munroe loves to emphasise “when purpose is not known abuse is inevitable” and all I can say is that I 100% agree! Thinking back on my life before I truly got to know JC for myself I knew about Grace like obviously how could I not? HELLOOO my name is Grace but I was mistaken and I didn’t understand the practicality of it and how fundamental it is in laying the foundation of my relationship with JC but just like anything in this Christian walk it’s a journey of revelation and as the days go on I become more and more aware of how it is everywhere literally EVERYWHERE. So yeah my parents WERE really unto something with Grace and a Mercy, it's now even making sense because they're genuinely obsessed with the “bond” twins are meant to have and to me that’s a daily reminder of how united the Grace and the Mercy of God is and it’s genuinely beautiful because I have empirical evidence of how this works out in a practical sense because my twin and I are unique but we work best together - just like God's Grace and Mercy.

Equally so, just like Merc and I will always be twins no matter how much we argue, no matter how much we annoy each other or we try to deny it, this stands the same for the love that God has for us - this grace and mercy will always be there for us. It doesn't run out, it can’t leave, it won't leave. Why? It's not based on human temporal love, it’s not based on emotions, it’s not based on how we make God feel, it’s not based on our insecurities, neither what we can do for God - it’s about him and his love - this unconditional love that he continues to pour out, day by day. Still the question remains, what does it mean? Let me give you some definitions of what Grace and Mercy means in a Christian context and then we can delve deeper into what the Word has to say about it.

Evidently this further reinforces the importance the subjectivity of how Grace is defined, but within all of these definitions there is a common truth that resonates at the centre of them and that’s the need for something greater. It's the particular, intentional phrasing of words such as "reaching downwards" "stoops and rescues" "ill-deserving" that highlights our need for God. I love the last bit of the picture where it says its best understood in the midst of sin, suffering and brokenness.

Let me tell you something I recently realised about Grace, when life is okay and I'm not going through a major breakdown, trial or tribulation I tend to forget about it and even when I need it I am in denial that I need help or I need this "grace" - I didn't know how someone I couldn't see would be able to turn around my life and help me. I couldn't understand why someone so big would want to help me. I didn't feel worthy of any of this love and kindness. I genuinely couldn't fathom why he would choose me. So instead I resulted to my familiar ways, doing things the way I had done it before, relying on my flesh or the natural way to help me out- the comfortable way. Overfamiliarity became the norm, I was comfortable where I was - I knew I needed help, I knew there was a void that needed filling. I even knew there was something preventing me from fulling surrendering everything to God and I KNEW there was a gap in my relationship with JC and that was my pride. My pride got in the way - I thought I needed to do something to earn it, I thought because I'm not really reading my bible as much as I should be, I'm not praying nearly as much as I would like to be; God would be soo disappointed in me so he wouldn't extend this Grace to me. BUT Let me tell you something about our heavenly father, this doesn't matter to him -he sees us in a way in which is unconciveable, he ignores our defaults, he loves the parts of us in which we hate the most - he welcomes us in with this rich love. This is Grace. This is the Grace of God.

It is his grace that sets us free - "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36. At the centre of his grace is forgiveness - "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Matthew 6:14. It is his grace that continues to abound, it's his grace that means we are no longer bound to sin, the devil and to our natural human bodies.

I actually wholeheartedly believe for us to understand the dynamic of our relationship with God, it is for us to see ourselves as children, for us to remember the mannerisms children tend to have, how prone we are to act on our emotions and mostly importantly how stubborn we were. Even when we were wrong, we would deny it because of PRIDE that's how we should initially see ourselves before God- not to say I stay in this position, but day by day, as I feed more into the word as a baby matures to a child, a child to a teenager, a teenager to an adult. It's all about our perception and our mindset - we have to shift ourselves into this Grace mindset, putting away our weaknesses and saying do you know what God I recognise I can't do this without you. This whole mindset is derived from one of my FAVOURITE bible verses EVER. 2 Corinthians 12:9 which says "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 on me." I LOVEEEE IT! This verse is going to lay the WHOLE foundation of my next post and I just can’t wait!

On that note, I feel like this is the perfect way to end this post, I know I didn't get into Mercy much but I'll further elaborate in my next post entitled "The Grace Mindset". I hope this post encouraged you to find out about what Grace means for yourself.