This grace thing is rocking my world. As I sit here typing words that are meant to encourage all I can synthesize is that what God has given us, right there in His Word, it is what He means and He’ll do it.
And if we believe… if we let faith, even the size of a mustard seed, take root, there is bound to be a harvest… if we wait… if we trust… if we hope… if we believe, then God.
Sometimes the if’s wrap themselves tight around the thoughts that bombard my shield of faith. Like a weapon I wield against the good He is doing, I barter and murmur and recklessly take apart those walls His love built me with.
But the sufficiency of grace is literally perfect for every moment that we need it and there is no need to barter if’s when our faith says to expect when.
Because there is no ‘if’ but ‘when’ where grace and God go hand-in-hand in our journeys. There is only always sufficiency and faithfulness and promise with yes and amen to tie it all in a nice bow.
There is only Truth that leads us on the Way in the Life. (John 14:6)
When we wait…when we trust…when we hope…when we believe… all of that time wielding the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit in boldness, El Shaddai is there with dynamic miracle mountain moving power. And always grace.
It is a powerful truth that can never be diminished. His sufficient grace… it will always be more than enough. More than the fear that holds us back, more than the pain that steals our breath, more than the loss that trips us up, more than the unbelief that steals our faith.
His grace is more than sufficient. It is absolute. It is uncommon. It is pefect.
What is holding you back from meeting the sufficient grace of God today?
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 weakness so that the power of Christ can work through me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9
I am offering a challenge to you warriors of grace… to take Him at His Word. To wait and to trust and to hope and to believe with me for a time in the power of His love. Because according to Matthew Henry, ‘there is abiding validity in the Divine Promise, He has said’.
And He has said that His Grace is the more than enough for whatever we need kind of grace.
This scripture from Paul’s pen has held me captive this week. I realized how much I am wrestling with them as I was hanging wet cotton over the wilting line in my yard to dry. There in the midst of the mundane of monotony the still small voice whispered like wind that blew ever so gently and hesitated for a brief lapsing. It was the kind of pause that you know deeply because your body reacts before your mind can comprehend.
I tend to count everything. I want to make everything count. So years ago, I forged a habit to pray through the tasks that filled my day…practicing His presence so that I would recognize His will in it all. Even the work that clocked time in my living was purposeful when I let my thoughts drift in wonder and reverence that pinning wood over wire allowed.
I found myself slipping off shoes for the holy ground those sacred journeys to this spot created.
Effortlessly, the green tendrils of new spring sod tickled my feet… thanksgiving for the little things came out on a whisper. The carelessly discarded walnut shells the squirrels left through the cold and the sleeping season reminded me to walk cautiously and to give thanks for the constancy of His provision He gives to all creatures. I noticed, with tender skin, the collected rocks pooled in the low spots and settled in the crevices that hold my drying poles tall, and I was prompted to praise audibly before the stones beat me to it.
There in this space… sacred and gentle in the waiting… when replaced if and I knew that those who wrestled with God were left altered in such a way that they were no longer fit for this world.
But faith says to press in and take the Kingdom by force, that grace is always waiting for us, and if we look for it…we’ll find it.
I was reminded in that nano-second of suspense, when the usurper wrestled boldly and refused to let go of God. Jacob saw His face, but left with a limp. (Genesis 32:22-32) And I wondered if I was brave enough to attempt such audacity. Left alone to ourselves, we wrestle against God. But left alone with Him our striving and our waiting and our hoping and our believing are not for naught. And soon, our if becomes when in light of the wonder we look to. We see beyond His hand, the provision to meet our material needs and see right into His heart for the sufficiency to meet our soul’s need.
Sufficient grace can never be common; it is a perfecting grace.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. – Hebrews 2:10
In our wrestling and in our striving we find ourselves wearied and weak from our efforts. But the grace that He sends in answer to our petitions, especially in the sacred mundane, is pitched like a tent over our weakened souls. It is a tabernacle of rest, a comfort in the waiting and the wrestling, and an altering force that strengthens our hope and increases our faith.
Where are you counting #gracemoments in the mundane? Because the uncommon more than sufficient grace of God perfects us each and every moment we choose to count it and its abundantly offered to us when and if we choose to seek it.
IT’S YOUR TURN TO BE A GRACE COUNTER! SHARE YOUR GRACE MOMENT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW AND THEN COUNT GRACE WITH A FRIEND WITH COMMENT ON A BLOG OR TWO.
If you are a blogger, link up here with a post about finding grace moments in your life or one of your favorite inspiring and encouraging posts from this week. Share your thoughts in the comment section telling me about the #Grace Moments you experienced this week. *(only 1 post per link please)*
Take time to visit your neighbor next to you, and if you want visit a few more friends on the journey. We all need a little encouragement and affirmation as we travel together.
If you don’t have a blog, you can connect with me via my Journeys in Grace FB page by sharing a photo or a comment. Or you can join the party by sharing your images on Instagram with #Gracemoments hashtag.
Each week I will try visit as many of your amazing posts as I can.This is a safe place to sit and dwell in grace together, friends. I can’t wait to pour a cup of friendship with you and take in the grace moments you have to share. Don’t forget to leave a comment below, I love to hear from you.
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Judging from your pictures, I think we’re gathering grace in the same places these days — on the business end of a garden hoe and stooping down to plant seeds with hope. Thanks for this meeting place and for your continual reminders to press into grace.
I’m so grateful for the sufficiency of grace. Not only in my past and present, but also in the grace that is yet to come. How blessed we are to be able to rely on God’s goodness! Thanks for sharing this space, Dawn.
Love all your wisdom and resources for grace! It’s always empowering and inspiring stopping here after a weary week. Thank you for showing me all of God’s grace in the moments of life.
Love learning about grace from your writing. I struggle with the meaning of the word. I have always looked at Grace as something we don’t deserve, yet it is so much more.
Thanks for hosting!
When, not if. When He answers our prayer, not if He answers our prayer. I’ve also noticed that Jesus used this terminology concerning fasting; when you fast, not if you fast; when you pray, not if you pray.
There are certain things we can always expect Him to do because He is faithful. Oh to be more like Him!
Oh Dawn,,, you’ve blessed me again.
I was desperately standing in the need of grace today, and here you are with this challenge to – you warriors of grace… to take Him at His Word. To wait and to trust and to hope and to believe with me for a time in the power of His love.
Thank you, and YES.
Coping and keeping to pray into until the message has saturated my grieving soul.
Love and prayers, Mary.