Joy For All SeasonsSample

Grace. I have been thinking a lot about grace lately. Trying to wrap my mind … my heart … and my spirit around grace. On one level it is such a religious word. On another level it is an embrace of the very best and warmest kind. I am intent on taking the religion out of “grace” and wrapping it around me like a quilt stitched with love. Grace. This is what I do know … God’s grace is the very best gift that I have ever received. I need grace. I am in desperate want of that which is offered to me so lavishly … so generously … so graciously. Whatever blessing is yours today … you have it because of grace. If you are reading this devotional today … you are reading it because of grace. If you sing on the worship team … you didn’t get there by yourself. Grace got you there. If you have ever been on a missions trip … you didn’t get there by yourself … grace got you there. If you read your Bible this morning … you didn’t do it or choose it by yourself. Grace did it for you. If you want to know what grace is … read John 15:16. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16) If you want to know what grace is … memorize John 15:16. Grace is what God gives to people … flawed, broken, and sinful people. Grace is God’s heart toward His dear children that results in the giving of all that He is and all that He has. “The surpassing riches of His grace.” “The riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” “To the praise of the glory of His grace.” Phrases so beautiful that my heart literally aches with joy. Grace is for me. I don’t deserve it. I did nothing to earn it. And yet He gives it. Imagine that! Joyful Thought to Ponder: What is your definition of the word “grace”?