Grace for the Day . . . Just As It Comes

"Grace is the power of God pulsating with this passionate love of God, this jolting, blazing, dangerous love that pierces all of humanity's pitch-black.  Grace always shocks.  Grace always stuns. Grace is always what we need."  Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional

I read this the other day during my devotional time and my heart responded with, "Yes, yes, yes!!"  I love when someone else gives words to what I feel in my heart but can't get out my mouth, don't you?




God acts out His love for us with grace - the grace He bestows upon us that pierces all of our darkness and encourages us towards good works that will in turn glorify Him.

His love speaks grace.

His grace speaks love.

This whole thing about grace just exploded in my spirit a couple of weeks ago and has held me in its grip ever since.  I've read and studied about the many facets of grace my whole entire Christian life (I've been saved for almost 40 yrs), but this, this is so different.  This has exploded in my heart, not my head.  The awareness of His grace being continually poured out and mine for the appropriating is something I'm experiencing in a whole new way.

It has infused my daily walk with the Lord and increased my awareness of Him in all things.

Ann also writes:

"...the dialect of God is the day just as it comes - and whenever I slow down and shift perspective, it's possible to read the impossible: the divine language of love written on all the walls.  This smiling, startling alphabet of grace."

"the day just as it comes" - this is God unfolding His grace as we walk out our day with Him.  This is His communication with us - the communication of His grace upon all aspects of our day.  Our eyes and ears have but to look and listen for it.  Whatever unfolds in our day is not unexpected to Him. We may think we encounter interruptions or distractions, things that certainly had not been planned. BUT they have been planned by God and He is in the midst of them.  As we see that, we acknowledge Him and reach for His grace to carry us through. 

I continue to keep my Grace-Needs Journal which has also become the point of prayer for me and my day.  As I've done this, walking through each need I've listed and prayed over previously, I'm met at each point with the awareness of this grace I've asked for.  This awareness has enabled me to reach out to the Lord in the moment and by faith, walk in that grace.  Boy, I hope that makes sense to you!!

The grace that He extends, the love He pours out does indeed "shock" and "stun."  The other day I was putting away the Christmas decorations and taking down the tree.  As I took ornaments off a miniature tree I have, I was marveling at the fact that after many, many years, I still had the complete set of these ornaments; none had broken!  As I was putting them back in the box, I noticed that one, indeed, had cracked.  But as I looked closer, this is what I saw -

Shocked!

Stunned!

Indeed!

His love is always reaching.  His grace is always pursuing.

God works His own kind of "shock & awe" in our lives.

Let His grace shock you!

Let His grace stun you!