Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2
My hair is growing longer and it feels graceful. That may sound strange, but the last time my hair was long I was in high school. It was around the time I was raped. Although I have not intentionally kept my hair short, the hiding emotional layers underneath kept me from letting it grow. And so yes my hair is longer, and each and every strand I see as a manifestation of God’s ever growing grace.
Grace seems like it might not be enough. Especially when the worst has become reality for you. Unforgiveness, anger, hate, distress, and bitterness fill your heart and mind and you wonder how you will ever be able to move past. Grace seems as if a mild remedy for a tough situation.
If only grace were mild…
But grace is tough. It straps up our sin and sends it away. It tangles up our heart and wraps it like a fleshy wound binding band aide. The acceptance of grace is radical. It seeps into the broken places and pushes out the flesh. It challenges us to do the things we don’t want to do. To go places we don’t want to go. But only to the boundaries of what must be done so grace can manifest as peace and remedy.
Radical acceptance of His grace may seem strange or, well, a bit radical. Trusting His grace to cover all of our hurt changes the victim to survivor. It means deciding His wounds on the cross were payment enough for the hurts life has vaulted onto our path. A tough decision when your bank account was robbed by unfair, unthinkable circumstances. But His grace is enough…it has to be.
And so we have a choice to let grace grow and manifest in the place where bitterness and anger once thrived. We can choose to water either plant, but only one will sprout peace, strength, and dignity. Maybe the grace plant in you could use a little water. Will you think about letting it grow…
Ahh..the word grace! Do we even have the slightest idea of what this word means?? We hear it all the time but how often do we really stop to think about what it really means? I don’t understand grace, but I don’t need to! I am thankful for the grace of God in my life!
Amen girl!
Oh, my goodness, Steph, what a powerful definition of grace…
But grace is tough. It straps up our sin and sends it away. It tangles up our heart and wraps it like a fleshy wound binding band aide. The acceptance of grace is radical. It seeps into the broken places and pushes out the flesh.
I absolutely love this post because I have been where you were, and I know what you felt and all that bound you up for so many years. Living in the freedom of God’s grace, living in the cocoon of His love, and living in the power of His Word and Spirit is THE BEST PLACE TO BE.
Love you and thank you for blessing me today.
W
Love you too sweet Wendy. And thank you for the wisdom you shared in the call last night! I learned so much! So blessed to have you in my life!
Powerful! Thank you, Stephanie.
Thanks Cheryl!
I always read and don’t always comment. But this morning….I just needed to say that I agree that it is grace. Beautiful Grace, that takes you from the depths of your pain, to the miraculous path of healing. You have obviously made great progress, with God. And only God’s grace could have gotten you here. So Amazing. So precious how God works through the worst of times and the worst pain, to draw us closer, and make us beautiful.
Stephanie, you are beautiful. I appreciate the way that you share, real life, real hurts, and real healing. You are amazing at the honesty that you convey through your words. You don’t deny the pain, but you don’t dwell on it either. I tend to dwell a bit more than I should, but I am making “imperfect progress” in this area.
Deanna, thank you girl for the beautiful encouragement. And yes imperfect progress is my motto too! It’s the way to go!
What a blessing! I was raped three days before my senior year started. I have put on weight and use it as a shield. It has been 24 years. Reading your post has made me realize that I need to let grace into my life more. I have forgiven him years ago and used to let it define me. After I became a mother, I decided that is not who I am, just something that happened. Thank you for sharing!
I love how you said it’s not who I am, just something that happened. Amen girl…sometimes I worry I’m doing the same thing with my weight as sometimes I can tell i sabotage my weight loss…
I love me some grace, girl! Thanks so much for sharing your heart! I’m praying (as I type this) that you are blown away by a new revelation of just how much grace and victory Christ has extended to you. Your vulnerability is always so refreshing to me. Keep going!
Zeph. 3:17
Sometimes we don’t realize we are worthy of grace. Maybe it is because we think it is something we must earn, yet we feel broken and worthless, certainly not someone worthy of grace. However God is the one who calls us worthy and who has made us worthy. We can’t earn it. We could never earn it in a million years. God just gives us grace and we receive it. When we receive His grace that honors God.