Awakening to Grace

Awakening: An Open Book 

I have recently been reading in Genesis. Over the past couple of days I have read Jacob's story. In this I have realized that God's grace is shown even in the old testament. 

I am a new testament girl, Jesus says do this, don't do this, show love, serve others, etc. The old testament is hard for me because it's just stories. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's just more difficult for my comprehension. But God has used Jacob's story to show me a new realization of something I already knew.

Don't you just live when that happens?! It's like a bookshelf. The shelf is the foundation and what holds the things. Overtime if we don't take everything piled up on the shelf and wipe it off, dust can settle and we can forget what the shelf looks like, it's true color. God does this to me all the time. He takes off all of the other beliefs and ideas I've piled on top of my foundation and gets all the dust off so I'm reminded of the real color of the fundamental truth.

I was saved only by God's grace through his son Jesus Christ. So that fundamental truth of grace and it's awesomeness is inside of me. A part of my personality that has existed for as long as I have has been my very black & white, right & wrong understanding. Even though I received grace, I hadn't ever fully understood it. I still don't think anyone can fully understand grace. But one area that I have struggled in is viewing actions and wondering why God doesn't react in a certain way. Reading all of the mess-up's and mishaps of Jacob I began to question and ask God why he still blessed him and why Jacob was still prosperous. I just could not understand.

Through all of that and some situations and circumstances in my life God began to show me that his grace is bigger than any sin we can ever commit. That he will continue to pour out his grace on everyone so that those who don't know him will know him and those who do will be taken care of. We are all his children that he loves so dearly. Yes God does HATE sin and we get punished for our mistakes, but the punishment does not equal the end of our lives or the end of God's love for us. Grace, it's our second chance, our third chance, our ga-zillionth chance.

If you are struggling in accepting God's grace today, then please let this be a reminder of the true meaning of grace, LOVE. Let us all be awakened in our souls of how much we are loved and looked after. Let us accept this grace and go forward with our lives and our hearts seeking after God and all his desires!

Have a great day!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford