It's All Grace

I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face after reading the most breathtaking post about grace I have ever had the privilege of reading. Maybe it's just where I'm at right now; maybe it's just a realisation that I want to be like that beautifully aged in grace mother sitting in the hospital ward; maybe it's the fact that I realised I haven't been living out enough of His grace in the reaching of my children's hearts in amongst arguments, the finger-pointing, the harsh words spewed out. Not living out enough of the gospel of grace in my marriage; in the recognising fully this incredible man that God hand-picked out for me from the beginning of time to spend the rest of my life with. Not making the most of the opportunities to be engrossed and focused on the life-giving moments each day ... moments that are soaked in His grace. Not letting the gospel of grace be the reassuring voice in my own ear about who I have been made to be.

She writes so pointedly, "My hope isn't built on my perfomance, but on Jesus' righteousness' ... how I just want to weep with thanksgiving at the truth and peace this gives to my heart. Our foundation is and always will be his righteousness. Pictures of my family are flooding my mind, snippets of the most beautiful times we've ever shared together, and this is what I crave the most, this is what I long for more of. And in those moments, it was there, underlying and girding the heart, grace was there. The stopping and the slowing and the reflecting; it was all grace. His grace to see what His grace has given.

"The true beauty of advancing in years is the truth of advancing in grace", writes Ann ... I can't even express in words satisfactory enough to explain how this speaks to me ... to the very core of who I am, who I want to be.

When all is said and done, my life counts for nothing without His grace, for by it I have received all things.

Father,

My heart is swelling with the grace you have given me. I long for more of it in the living out of my life. Please give me eyes to see what matters most; fill my mind, my heart, my soul with your grace ... take me on a journey to knowing your grace more, and help me pour out and extend that grace to others. Amen.

Please, pour yourself a cuppa, do your soul a favour, and click on the link below to read this blogpost, "What we all need to really breathe", over at one of my favourite blogs, "A Holy Experience".

http://www.aholyexperience.com/

And Ann, thank you.      

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