Grace, Personally

“You are not accepted because you are good.
You are free to be good because you are accepted.
You are not responsible to have it all together.
You are free to respond to the One who holds all things in His hands.
You do not have to live up to impossible expectations. 
You are free to wait expectantly on Jesus, the One who is both author and perfecter of your faith.”  (Freeman p. 137)

Grace, Personally 

      There are times when I just know God is trying to teach me something.  For about the past year or so, I have felt a desire to better understand Grace.  Conversations and songs and written text with the word Grace in it jumps out at me and says, “Pay attention!”  By God’s Grace, I am learning. 
      I am a Christian….a born-again believer who has been saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Grace is humongous and beautiful.  God is enormous and good.  This same big God that created the world created me.  This same overwhelming concept called Grace is also a very real personal gift that can bless my individual days.  In this blog I’d like to tell you a bit about my Grace journey.
      As a child growing up in the church, I heard many a time that I am saved not because of any work I have done, but because God adopted me into His family and saved me….. by Grace.  God desires to have a personal relationship with each one of us but sin separates us from God.  God sent Jesus to be the bridge that connects us to God.  Jesus had to die on the cross, bearing the weight of all the sins we have ever committed or ever will commit, and endure being separated from God for a short time so that we could live in freedom and know God on a personal level.  I’m so very glad that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive!  He is sitting in Heaven with God, as God, because they are one and the same.  Confusing, I know!  But, by God’s Grace, maybe someday I’ll fully understand!
     Grace became a little clearer one evening during the summer of 2002, when I was visiting the parents of my friend Jill in Ottawa, Canada. Her parents explained that they didn’t know why anyone bothered with God.  Their idea of God was that he was a taskmaster who was constantly requiring work to be done for Him.  They wondered how I could live day-to-day trying to please him, hoping I was being good enough.  All at once I was explaining Grace and what an amazing gift it is!  God spoke through me.  By His grace, I was able to make it clear to them, as it became clearer to me.
     I think I understand the big concept of Grace.  Basically, God chose to save us even though we don’t deserve it.  God pours out to us His mercy and kindness and compassion and love, even though we don’t deserve it.  I am saved because God extended Grace to me, even though I don’t deserve it.  He knew his children would need Grace.  He’s our creator.   
    But, I believe God also knew we would need His grace extended to us in a way that would be uniquely personal to each one of us.  I recently read the book, Grace For the Good Girl:  Letting Go Of The Try Hard Life by Emily Freeman.  Emily is speaking my language in this book. Lysa Terkerst calls Emily’s book, “the most beautiful picture of grace I’ve ever read.”  That sums it up for me as well.  Never have I quite understood the way that grace can be a gift in my every day life until reading this book. 
    Truthfully, I struggle with fear, anxiety, shame, and a desire to please EVERYONE on a daily basis.  That is NOT living under the umbrella of Grace.  It is not what God wants for my life.  He wants me to experience freedom, joy, peace, and strength.  Believing in Grace makes that possible.  About fear and anxiety, Emily wrote, 

“I set my mind on the truth of my salvation, as one who has been given a 

spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. 
The soul screams, but the Spirit whispers. 
Fear shouts for me to run. 
The Spirit beckons me, Come. 
Fear pushes me to hide, take cover, and protect myself. 
The Spirit whispers, I have already overcome. 
Fear hurls insults, chaos, and anxiety. 
The Spirit lavishes love, steadfastness, and peace.”  (Freeman, p. 165)

    About shame and trying to please everyone, I have learned that shame happens when I try to be perfect and can’t be.  I fail.  I mess up.  It’s impossible to please everyone!  Believe me, I’ve tried!  I am learning how to give myself Grace.  “Jennifer Sapp, you don’t have to be perfect.  It’s okay to mess up.  God can take that failure and turn it into something wonderful.  God’s Grace is new every morning.  It doesn’t matter what others think.  Live your life for an audience of One.  God is bigger than you realize!  Experience His Grace, today!”
      How do I see Grace in my life day by day?  I acknowledge that I don’t deserve Grace, but it is a gift of God to be enjoyed and appreciated.  Here are some examples:
      I teach second grade in a public school.  I greatly need God’s grace to help me through my days.  He can take my weaknesses and grow them into good.  Because of Grace, I have taught for 12 years! 
      I share music at church.  I desperately need God’s grace to turn my efforts into heart-connection beauty for the people listening.  By God’s grace, this occurs Sunday after Sunday.  I couldn’t do it on my own.
       I am a step-mom who doesn’t always know how to connect with the teenagers in her life.  God pours Grace on me as He takes my feeble attempts at conversation and helps these young people see my heart and motivation.
       I write blogs, converse with friends, give advice to people around me, and try my best to communicate with words.  God takes those words, infuses them with Grace and helps me express my heart to others.
       I try hard, but I can do nothing without God’s help, in the form of Grace.  Grace is beautiful.  Birds are graceful and beautiful as they fly and enjoy their freedom.  I want to be graceful.  I want to be gracious.  I want to be full of grace – accepting it in my own life and giving it out to those around me.  Why get upset with people?  Give them grace.  Why get frustrated with people?  Give them grace.  No one is perfect.  As my sweet two-year-old niece Anna told me after I commented that her sunglasses looked perfect on her, “God is perfect and Jesus is perfect.  They are the only ones who are perfect.”  The name Anna means “Grace.”  And, Anna’s middle name IS Grace.  I pray that she will learn to accept Grace in her life in a very personal way.                    
       As Andy Stanley wrote in his book, The Grace of God, “Grace is birthed from hopeless inequity.  Grace is the offer of exactly what we do not deserve.  Thus, it cannot be recognized until we are aware of precisely how undeserving we really are.  It is the knowledge of what we do not deserve that allows us to receive grace for what it is.  Unmerited.  Unearned.  Undeserved.  For that reason, grace can only be experienced by those who acknowledge they are undeserving.”  (Stanley, p. xiv)
       When I experience Grace to its fullest, I am free.  I would like to end with the same words by Emily Freeman that introduced this blog.

“You are not accepted because you are good.
You are free to be good because you are accepted.
You are not responsible to have it all together.
You are free to respond to the One who holds all things in His hands.
You do not have to live up to impossible expectations. 
You are free to wait expectantly on Jesus, the One who is both author and perfecter of your faith.”  (Freeman 137)