Skip to main content

Glimpses of Grace

As I sat and watched Tyler play today, I began realizing what a great little man he is becoming. I have had so many struggles with discipline over the last 6 months, and for the moment, I believe that the consistency has paid off. He strives to be obedient and a good helper and 90% of the time he is one of the happiest kids you will ever meet. I have also noticed how far a little bit of grace goes with him. Now that he understands what obedience is, he gets really disappointed with himself when he knows he has crossed the line with me. When I see him trying his hardest to please me, grace with his little mistakes come so easy. He seems to grow even more in the times that I will show him grace rather than justice. I think it's because he understands what the consequences could have and should have been for his disobedience.

In realizing this, I began seeing glimpses of God's grace for me. I started to think about who I was and where I was in relation to Him about 10 years ago, and the thought made me shudder. I was off living life the way I wanted to live with little to no regard for God's plan for my life. But, thankfully, he disciplined me and began to break me in order to bring me back to Him. His grace for me is so humbling. And because of His grace, I strive to be all that He created me to be. My desire is to live for Him and stay smack dab in the middle of His will for my life! I still struggle with living this out, but that's why His grace is SO amazing.

I'll leave this post with a couple of verses that keep me depending on God's grace in my life.

Colossians 1:21-22
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation."
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
"grace" is one of those words that makes me sob and laugh all at the same time. i wonder if that's what i'll be doing for all eternity?
June 16, 2008 at 3:11 PM
Andi Hawkins said…
I hope there is no video review in heaven of our lives here on earth. I dont want to se some of that stuff again!! I love this message. It made me remember that God loves me no matter what. I could hear that everyday and it wouldnt be enough.

Tyler is such an awesome kid. I just love him sooo much.
June 18, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bitter vs. Better

One Harsh Word. One Argument. One Death. One Injustice. One Accusation. ONE HURT. Now the question is, will we become bitter or better? 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." Over the next couple of weeks, I want to catch you all up to speed on the wonderful whirlwind that my life has been for the last few months. I want to share how God is changing my story and our family, and I want to start with how it all began. About 3 months ago, Blake and I started attending Celebrate Recovery at our church to allow God to heal our hurts and hangups. Very ...
5 comments
Read more

Hello My Name is Jamie- Part 4

The day that I made the decision to sit down and begin my moral inventory, will forever be etched into my heart. It was a cold and dreary winter day, much like the state of my spirit. In all honesty, I was DREADING the task at hand. Who in their right mind would want to make an account of every painful memory from the past as well as every sin committed against others?!?! As I sat down at a Starbucks with my favorite flavored coffee beverage in hand, I began praying Psalm 129:23, “Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover…if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.” I knew that there was pain from my childhood buried so deep that only He would have the power to bring to the surfaces. For so long, I had masked and/or stuffed the wounds in my life, rather than allowing Him to heal them. Within minutes of my prayer, the memories came pouring down like the rain I could hear outside. Just a little side-note, if you ever decide to take a painful j...
9 comments
Read more

Girlfriends

Over the weekend I was talking with one of my new and dear friends, Chavon about friendships. Our conversation has had me really reflecting on how my view of friendship has changed since my teenage years(thanks Chevy for the insight!!). When I was younger, I felt this overwhelming desire to be the "popular" girl. I wanted to have as many friends as humanly possible. The problem with this drive towards an endless supply of friendships is that I was always left feeling lonely and not emotionally connected. As the years have passed, I know that the reason for that loneliness was that it is not possible to emotionally connect with an abundance of people. Trying to connect with too many people leaves a person with a million acquaintances and very few true friendships. I don't really recall a moment when that changed, but I do know that as each stage of life has come, I have become less and less worried with the amount of friends I can claim. I found that as I needed so...
6 comments
Read more