Tuesday, May 14, 2013

On Grace



CCC 1996: ...Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

There have been many times in my life where I will get anxious about something that might happen, and then try to calm myself down by saying that God doesn't give us anything we can not handle.  We've all heard that saying, right?  But what if my husband leaves or one of my children gets really sick?  I don't think I can handle that.  So does that mean that God wouldn't allow that to happen to me?  

Nope.  

What it means is that when we are called to suffer, we will receive the grace we need to get through it.  The saying should read "God will never give us anything we can't handle without His grace".

And the funny thing about grace is that we don't get the graces until we need them.  So we can look at a terrible situation like the kidnapped girls in Ohio, and wonder how those girls were able to make it through ten years of living like that.  We can think that we would never be able to survive it with any dignity or faith, but that's because we don't have the graces to have gone through that.  

When I was younger, I wanted to be a mother more than anything.  Then when I got to high school and college, I did a lot of babysitting and worked in a daycare.  I would sometimes come home after a long day and think, geesh, this motherhood thing looks really hard.  Maybe I'm not cut out for it after all.  Once I became a mother (as we all know) I realized it's completely different to raise your own children than to babysit someone else's.  It's much better!  And when I look at the supermoms who have 12 children and seem to do it all with ease, and think "I could never do that so well!" it's because I don't have the graces necessary for having 12 children yet.  I don't need those graces.  She does.  

This realization about getting God's help once we need it (and not before we need it) was so eye-opening to me.  I think I could have saved myself a lot of worry in my younger years.  Looking back, it is so simple to see how God has always provided for us, and looking ahead I can trust that He will always do the same.



15 comments:

  1. Yes. Yes! YES! At this moment in time, I don't have the graces to make this crazy move happen. But God will send them when I need them, right? RIGHT, GOD?! (just wanted to make sure He was listening,) ;) Thanks for your wisdom today.

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  2. A grace filled post! I agree, especially after making it through 4 surgeries for my baby!! (can't even believe that's me saying that) It's Grace. Can't imagine going through any more, but I know that Grace will be there for me when it happens. Thanks for the reminder.

    I also heard recently that the moment you ask for Grace, it's there. I think about that often!

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  3. What a great post Colleen! Thanks for a fresh perspective on grace.

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  4. This is a great post. I think I may breathe a little easier. My life has been so blessed that I live in fear for when the "ball will drop." Maybe now I'll live for the moment instead of wasting time with worry. Thanks, Colleen.

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  5. Awesome!!!!! Just profoundly right and so AWESOME!

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  6. Love this , Colleen...and Grace is my Flynn's middle name. : )

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  7. Perfect. I know that's absolutely the only way I'm getting through our crazy right now - it's all grace!

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  8. AnonymousMay 14, 2013

    I agree so much with this. Suffering through loss has shown me that I never needed the Grace God has provided until that moment in time and now I receive in abundance (how else could I still be standing?)

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  9. Wow...totally true. I totally need to read this. Maybe now I can stop worrying about crazy stuff. Maybe.

    This is so true though...I've gone through things that people were all 'I have no idea how you can go through that'...and it's true..God gives you the grace and strength when you need it.

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  10. Beautifully said, thanks!

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  11. Beautifully said.

    I have been thinking so much about the girls in Ohio and exactly what you wrote, "How in the world did they make it 10 years." His grace.

    I need to remember this every time I worry, because I know He takes care of all I need.

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