Thankful for Grace

By Dawn Smiling

Life is truly a journey.  Where you start out is often not where you end up.  As I write this, I must say that my life is not where I thought it would be.  I had such a different plan for myself.  Yet, without consultation, a whirlwind came and swept me into a different orbit.  At lightning speed, I was transferred and transformed simultaneously.  If I had time to think of things while it was happening, I may have lost my mind.  But there was no time to lose my mind.  I had to simply keep up with the pace of new beginnings.  There was no time for a headache or a toe ache.  There was no time to remake myself for the new roles.  I immediately went into survivor mode in order to make sense of life.  This is where Grace came in.

“When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.“ Acts 11:23

When you are going through a broken period of life, it can be difficult to see God’s purpose.  But it is also in God’s breaking that I came to understand that God knows more than I do.  Many times I was stuck in the moment of life, but God was pushing me towards my future.

God’s grace enables you to be strong enough to be broken.  By grace, God provided the flashlight I needed not to see everything, but just enough to keep trusting. The more I trusted God, the more He showed me.  God’s grace does not remove suffering, pain, disappointments, or setbacks.  God’s grace brings miracles where there would be none.  Miracles that are not based on who I am, but rather, who I am in Him.  It is grace that brought Jesus to us!  Although we did not deserve it, God loved us enough to provide grace through Jesus.

God’s grace is visible in our lives.  It does not mean that everything will be easy.  It means that everything will have meaning.  Everything will make you wiser and move loving.  Everything will draw you nearer to God.  This is where God becomes visible in your life.  Barnabas spoke in Acts 11:23 to the church in Antioch.  He encouraged them to remain faithful and trust God’s grace.

Trust in the grace of God.  Don’t put your trust in yourself.  Don’t put your trust in money.  Don’t put your trust in the government.  Don’t put your trust in your job.  Put your trust in the grace of God.  And no matter what whirlwind comes your way, hang in there.  Don’t let anybody trick you out of the greatest gift in the world – living in the joy and power of the grace of God.

Grace opens the right doors and closes the wrong doors.  Grace is the negotiator and the closer in every deal you make.  Grace came to Bethlehem, died on the cross and rose from the grave.  Grace is in our prayer and our praise.

Dawn Smiling enjoys volunteering at Grace Family Church as a prayer counselor, part of the soul care ministry, and on Beautiful Monday Nights.