Various beautiful words of truth from The Brave Girls Club website.
As Ann Voskamp often says, these are like little "Sticky Notes for the Soul." :-)
As Ann Voskamp often says, these are like little "Sticky Notes for the Soul." :-)
Grace. Grace. God's grace.
How often have you been told to "give yourself some grace"?
If you're a self-proclaimed perfectionist and self-beater-upper like myself, you've probably been told this several times. When I hear the words roll off the tongue of a friend or colleague who cares, my ears hear the phrase as if it were in a foreign language.
This morning I visited with a nutritionist for the first time in...wow...I can't even recall how long it has been. I know that I was in junior high or high school, and that it was highly, highly frustrating. I think I blocked everything else out.
This morning's visit was a lot less frustrating, which was an encouragement to my discouraged soul. I have been hovering around my 97-pound weight loss for about a month and a half now, and it's been a challenge to my brain and to my motivation, to keep going. Now, before you hurl tomatoes at me, understand where I'm coming from. I've lost a large amount of weight in a short time, with great thanks to the support group I am a part of, and most importantly, to my Heavenly Father, who is walking me through this process. When the high-speed weight loss and progress slows down, it's a full-out, drag-down battle with your brain, to keep yourself from throwing in the towel.
The nutritionist was impressed with my food choices, my sense of self-awareness, my level of strictness with my food prep (I'm sure that it probably borderlines on OCD, but we'll talk about that another day!). Basically, I was not one of her typical clients. A lot of things, I had together, for the most part. What she was not-so-impressed with, really, was more concerned about, was my inability to cut myself some slack. The theme of my appointment tended to be, "You need to give yourself some grace!"
And so, being the overanalytical being that I am, I turned it over and over in my head, as I drove in my car. "Grace? Grace? I'm having a hard enough time wrapping my head around GOD's grace that He offers to me... How in the world do I master this fine art of offering grace to MYSELF?"
Let me tell you that I don't have it figured out, yet. I'm continuing to turn it over and over in my head. How do I get from the point of criticizing myself, beating myself up over minute mistakes, and wanting to throw in the towel when I have a slip in my eating lifestyle, to the place where I can FORGIVE myself when I go over my calorie goal, or I gain a pound, or I pass in a report late, or I forget an appointment?
Wow. I had to take a minute to shake my head. That just seems more than I can process.
But then I think back to yesterday. I had the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a room full of wiggling little kiddos. I got to tell them about the great love that God has for them, that He sent His Son to die on the cross, and then rise from the dead three days later...for the sins of the world, so that we could be in right relationship with God, Jesus died for us. And in a moment, when we recognize our sin, our wicked ways in which we betray our Heavenly Father, and we confess our sins, and then we TURN AWAY from them (repent), Scripture tells us that, because of the sacrifice Christ made for us, God forgives our sin. Again. And again. And again. Because of what Christ did for us.
So, when I can't even offer myself grace when I mess up, turn away from the wrong things I do and move on, what does that say about how I accept God's grace? Grace. Unmerited favor. Love and mercy that I have done nothing to deserve, nor can I do anything to change. Because of what Christ did for me, if I confess my sin, and turn away from that sin, God offers me forgiveness. Grace.
So today, I'm reading these words from Ephesians 2:1-10, and I'm going to soak them in:
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
I have a feeling that I will be returning to this Scripture several times over this leg of my journey.
I read in a book yesterday about the importance of not only admitting our fault when we make a mistake, but also the importance of making the change and moving forward. I am an expert at pointing out the times when I am at fault; but the art that I must learn is the art of making amends. I need to accept that the past is what it is, make the changes I can in the present, and move forward to the future.
As the well-known Serenity Prayer says:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.So I shall move forward, one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, from one self-grace-offering moment to the next.
Blessings.
