Grace

In our ladies Bible Study we are working thru Seeking Him. This book has been an enormous challenge and blessing to our group.

We meet every other Tuesday, so there really is ample time to finish the 6 days of assignment, but being the procrastinator I am, there is usually a small or more often than not, large chunk of the homework I find myself scrambling to do right up to the time I walk out the door on Tuesday evening.

With that said, I did have a most of my study done this past week, but I had left some to go thru Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday. My plans were derailed by the advent of an EF5 tornado in our area Sunday night, and the resulting clean up and helping out where ever needed. I found myself once again headed out the door Tuesday evening having not completed the study.

Our time was sweet that evening as we discussed grace, and my heart yearned to go back and finish this chapter before moving on to the next.

I've known all along you can't really get the full benefit of this study with out going thru ALL the information, but somehow skipping the tough stuff of Day 5 and the Making It Personal assignment is quite tempting!

Yesterday, I sat down and picked up where I had left off. As I worked thru the verses and answered the questions about grace, God poured out peace and comfort in abundance!

This tornado stuff has been quite draining, and our family didn't even lose anything! There is a large part of me that attempts to lessen the load others are carrying by taking it on myself. The very thought of all our friends and neighbors are dealing with is overwhelming both mentally and emotionally.

But that is where the grace comes in! Grace is God pouring into our lives resources we lack!

Following are various excerpts God used to bring comfort and encouragement to my heart yesterday and today:

God will provide all the grace we

need to face any demand.

..because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trasgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. In order that.. He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in His kindness to us.. (Eph 2:4-5 &7 TNIV)

Grace is: God's love flowing freely to the unlovely.

-J.I. Packer

Grace does more than affect our standing with God, Grace affects our experience as well...Grace is a way of life.

-Larry Richards

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.

- John Piper

We need His grace to do anything that is pleasing to Him. In fact, there is not one single aspect of the Christian life that we can handle apart from God's grace!

Grace gives us both the desire and power to obey God.

His grace is His supernatural supply for all that we lack.

God's grace is available and sufficient for your need- He will provide a way for you to endure.

And God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND to you, so that having ALL sufficiency in ALL things at ALL times, you may ABOUND in every good work.

(2 Corinthians 9:8 TNIV)

My grace is sufficient for you..

(2 Corinthians 12:9b TNIV)