Grace Unfolded – Part 1

I’ve always heard of the word, grace.

Have grace.

Show grace.

Your grace is enough.

You are saved by grace.

God’s grace.

Grace. Grace. Grace.

It’s a pretty obvious and easy to understand grace as a noun. But I have never really dug deep and meditated and thought about it as a verb.

To give grace.

To show grace.

To extend grace.

To be someone’s grace.

Grace.

Dealing with your disobeying children…grace.

Loving your neighbor no matter how hard she has hurt you…grace.

Helping a neighbor when they rarely return the favor…grace.

When you call your grandma when you know she won’t even remember the conversation and will complain that you never call her…grace.

Submitting to your husbands decisions when you know they are going to blow up in his or your face…grace.

Respecting one another’s opinions and views when you think/know they are waaaaay out of place….grace.

Waiting on your family member to turn their life around when you see them making poor choice after poor choice….grace.

Encouraging your friends/sisters when you don’t feel encouraged by them or anyone…..grace.

Being still in the midst of God when you just want to run and be busy (we got things to do people!) …grace.

When your family member won’t stop buying your children annoying toys with the batteries still inside them….grace.

When the holiday dinner really isn’t all that good but you have to sit there and eat it with a smile….grace.

When a car cuts in front of you on the highway or is riding your tail end and you really want to laaaaaay on that horn or go a little bit slower and throw your hands up…grace.

When the car in front of you in the drive thru line at your favorite coffee shop or restaurant is ordering enough food to feed the 5,000…grace.

When another person’s child throws up at school today and you think to yourself, “Why would a parent send their child to school sick?!” When your 3 year old is having a meltdown in aisle 9 of Walmart because you wouldn’t buy him a squeaky toy….grace.

When your body is changing, for the good or for the bad, you can’t seem to find genuine and relevant motivation, inspiration or encouragement, and you feel like a worthless failure that can’t change or keep the course…grace.

And the list goes on and on.

We aren’t perfect. And if it’s not us at that time; it will be us another time. Instead of getting upset over every little thing that doesn’t go my way…how about I let some grace into the situation. A little grace can go a looong way.

We can show the love of Jesus through grace. We can show the sleep deprived mom that it will get better. We can show our children that we understand. We can show that neighbor that has continually caused us pain that you don’t have to keep projecting your hurt onto others by showing them the grace of Jesus.

Grandma may not remember your phone call a day from now or even an hour from now, but in those minutes you have for her to hear your voice, you made her day and you made her smile.

For those sweet, sweet hubbies of ours who are wonderful and amazing but maybe organizing, planning and thinking ahead aren’t their strong suits, we need to show them grace. Girls, our respect and grace shown to our men will help them to rise up and be the leaders that God has called them to be. Don’t burn out their flames.

That person who has total opposite views of you that makes you scratch your head? Showing them grace may just change their perception of you and your views, instantly or in the future.

To be Continued…..

Heather Corbin

Heather and her husband live in Smithsburg MD. They attend Lifehouse church and are active at the local YMCA. Heather is a photographer, coffee lover and fitness momma with 3 babies. She is thankful to be a stay at home Mom and is passionate about women’s ministry and the opportunities and gifts God has placed in her life and on her heart.