Grace

My sister keeps her house so clean with multiple kids, What’s wrong with me? Most of my friends own their own businesses, work out every day, enjoy frequent date nights, and cook nightly for their families….I wonder if my Mama is disappointed by how messy my house is when she visits. I’m so snappy today–but I’m just SO exhausted. I’m a terrible Mama.

How many times have you heard similar lies run through your head and allowed yourself to believe them??

I’ll be honest and admit it’s typically a daily thing for me. But God doesn’t look at me and see all the failures and flaws. He looks at me with love and patience. I am His daughter.

It’s difficult for my mind to comprehend grace…Have you ever really studied it? By grace we receive every physical and spiritual benefit. It is inexhaustible and boundless. Grace upholds our salvation. It gives us victory in temptation. It allows us to endure suffering and pain. It enables us to understand the Word as we try our best to wisely apply it to our lives. Grace draws us into communion and prayer so we can serve the Lord effectively.

I don’t take God’s grace lightly. To be completely honest, I’m desperate for it. At times we are given grace privately, and because we don’t always share what God has done for us, we may allow the enemy to intimidate us with his strength to keep our testimonies of grace silent. We need to remember that as believers, we are put in a position to influence those around us through the ways God has worked in our lives.

His grace is much bigger than we realize. True biblical grace is an unmerited favor toward us as sinners. It is undeserving love and kindness. Through His grace, we are awakened from spiritual death and given life anew.

It’s God’s grace that saves us. We can’t save ourselves. That is HIS work. Eph 2: 8-9. There’s absolutely NOTHING we can do to earn God’s favor in that way (praise God our salvation isn’t dependent upon what we must do, other than simply believe).

Apart from His grace, we may scarcely desire to know Him. In our sin, we were lovers of darkness. But He awakened us from death and brought us into a marvelous light of grace. He then placed down inside of us the desire to walk in this light.

Even if we were fortunate enough as children to have constantly had Jesus poured into us at home…HE is the one that takes the initiative to restore our souls. He swoops in with grace to change our hearts causing us to fall in love with Him.

When we receive his perfect salvation, we are forgiven because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. But we aren’t left there to continue in sin. Sure we’ll sin again: Salvation isn’t equivalent to perfection. But our sins aren’t overlooked or okay with Him once we are His. He trains us by His grace to deny sin and put on obedience. I know I’ve said this before but as his children, it’s a truth we should constantly be reminding ourselves of: we can’t EVER tell ourselves we may as well go ahead and sin since God will forgive us. This cheapens grace. And grace that trivializes sin is NOT true grace.

Grace is vital to our faith. It is the ground on which we stand. Because His grace is so important to our faith, we need to know exactly what it means so that we’re not drawn away or misled by wrong teachings.

His end goal is for us to be like Christ. This means we let go of the lingering sin within us, and we seek to walk in the Spirit, and not the flesh.

Paul appealed to God three time to remove the thorn he suffered from–three times the Lord said no. Though Paul persistently and faithfully prayed, he learned that God’s purposes could be better accomplished by the word, NO. He was content in God’s decision because he knew that God would supply sufficient grace for his trial. After the third no, Paul dropped his request. This wasn’t a sign that Paul gave up on God, rather that he rested in God’s sufficient grace.

As a Wife and Mama, I’ve learned how continually I am in need of grace every day. I’m pretty tough on myself. I usually don’t need anyone to point out my flaws…I critique myself plenty enough on my own. I constantly impossibly aim for perfection and judge myself harshly every time I can’t get there….Grace is what saves me. I see who I want and need to be, but I fall short. Thankfully, I am living under a steady stream of grace.

Every. Single. Day. Jesus is pouring out His grace as He sees my every effort to be the best wife and Mama I can be. He knows when I am tired. He sees me rocking my babies in the night. He knows the sacrifices I have made to give my kids the very best. He knows every mistake I’ve made and am going to make as a wife and Mama, yet He loves me just the same.

Every day Mamas, we are living under grace. And we must visualize that grace pouring out on us as we ask Him how to take the next step and trust that it’s going to be alright. He loves my husband and my children even more than I do. And He loves yours just as much. He’s got us all in the palm of His almighty hand. And just like it was for Paul, His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor 12: 9).

Years from now, we will all look back on all the memories we have made as wives and mothers, and I believe we will see all the ways Jesus was repeatedly emerging us in His grace. It’s funny how much becoming a Mama makes us realize just how much God loves us. We know that God had a perfect son named Jesus, and that He loved us so much that He sent him to come and live and teach, and one day die for our sins on a cross. All this comes into even greater perspective when we have children of our own.

It makes us realize that whenever we can’t get our baby to stop crying that we too, are so needy without Jesus. That the imagination of our toddler is the same kind of wonder we should have when we view all His creation. That whenever our kids are whining because we won’t buy them candy in the target check out line, that we have probably sounded just like that to God in our own prayers before.

Most of all, it makes us see that all the sacrifices we are making as parents pales in comparison to what Jesus gave for us: His life.

Mamas, I urge you to allow these not so eloquently written words to uplift your weary heart. Each and every day you are doing what only YOU can do…being a Mama to your child(ren). And every day there’s one thing that will never change–our access to God’s grace. If you’re about to become a Mama, know that the love you’re going to feel for that tiny baby is so amazing. I hope and pray that it shows you just a little more about how our Father loves us.

God,

We can’t understand it, but You love us so well through your perfect grace. You will never leave us. Your grace is sufficient for our every need. Help us to deeply and fully trust you enough to draw us completely to you during times of difficulty. Enable us to feel content to endure distress, weakness, pain, and uncertainty as we rest in your all sufficient grace.