grace
ɡrās/
noun
The free and unmerited favor of God; demonstrated when He sent His son as atonement for my sin
Psst! Scroll down to watch a short video from Heidi!
Grace. It was the last thing on my mind last night when I noticed it was 9:30 p.m. and the kids were still going full-tilt—after I put them in bed for the third time. I just wanted them to go.to.sleep. I’ll be brave and admit that occasionally, I have to muster grace simply to be kind to my husband after an exhausting week of stress and challenge. He wants to come close—but, caught up in my own thoughts and weariness, I see him as “one more thing” on a list that presses me at every side. I push him away. Yeah. I can be awesome like that.
The truth? I have to work to be gracious. My nature is not to extend grace at every opportunity. I wish it was. And yet, God has blessed me with an amazing man to love and honor—and wonder of wonders, He saw fit to entrust us, a couple of kids ourselves, with with seven kids of our own.
It’s daunting to realize that my kids are learning about grace … from me. To be honest, I sometimes wonder if God got the wrong girl. You see, I came to this motherhood thing broken in a thousand ways. I needed healing and grace. In short, I needed Jesus.
Over the past 24 years, God has shown me ten-thousand different kinds of grace. He’s good like that. God, through His son, Jesus, is grace personified. In fact, whenever you read the word grace in the Bible, you can substitute the name of Jesus. What does grace look like? It looks like Jesus. What does it sound like? It sounds like Jesus. Last week, as I sat alone on the floor of my bedroom, I had to ask myself: do I sound like Jesus? What are my children learning of God’s grace from me?
Sometimes, I admit, I don’t sound very much like Jesus to my kids. And honestly? If I can’t get that right, my witness isn’t worth very much. My kids know the “real” me. They will reflect to the world the kind of grace they learn at home. It matters now more than ever—because the world is asking important questions right now.
Christianity is on trial—and that means the very name of Jesus is on trial.
What do our lives say about our Savior’s love and grace?
Do you have a child in need of a special touch? Show her grace. {Jesus}
Have friends let you down? Give them grace. {Jesus}
Are there unwise “friends” on social media driving you crazy? Say grace-filled things, or say nothing. {be Jesus-filled}
You can tell the truth and still be gracious.
We’ve got to know how to give—and receive—grace.
Why? Because God wants us to teach it. To testify. To bear witness to the faithful goodness of God.
Paul understood this. He wrote:
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
He knew his ministry was to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. He knew that grace was the big deal.
The word grace is as over-used as “cool” these days, and I think we’ve forgotten how powerful grace is. Grace is love, personified. Grace is underserved favor poured out over a lost world in the name of Jesus.
If you are not talking about what grace is with your kids, now is the time. We need it big-time in this country right now.
Need some help communicating what grace looks like with your loves? Read stories of grace to them. Kids resonate with stories. Jesus knew this. He used stories to illustrate many things.
Need a place to start? Read with your kids. In Lee Strobel’s book, A Case for Grace for Kids, I found stories of God’s grace. Powerful stories. Ugly-cry stories, if you wanna know the truth. If you have kids ages 9-12, this is a good option for you—but I’ll admit: we read it with our little and not-so-little loves. It’s powerful to hear about the redeeming power of God’s grace.
Give—and receive grace, sweet moms.
You are loved,
PS: Here’s a little shot in the arm for you —a little more on Psalm 127. Don’t mind the noise in the background. It was laundry day and there was a woodpecker at war with my husband. It’s a little crazy, but it’s my life. 🙂
I love this! This is something that is a constant internal battle for me. I constantly find myself short on grace for my children or repeating inside my head to take a deep breath and show them grace. I wish it came as naturally to me as it does my Father. It is especially frustrating when I see my boys not extending grace to each other and I immediately realize that it all comes back to me and whether I walk the walk. Such a great reminder, thanks Heidi!