Grace

By: Stephanne Morris Marsh

Sometimes, even I, wonder if the grace of the gospel is sufficient for me. You see, sometimes, late at night, or even during an especially hard day; all of your would have, could have, should haves, have a tendency to come up and tiptoe or maybe even parade loudly through your mind. Sometimes, those thoughts make you think you aren’t worthy and that the gospel of grace has to be for everyone BUT you, because surely, you don’t count. But….you see, you do count. I count. You count. He counts. She counts. We all count.

God loved us at our darkest and our baddest. He held us with His biggest and greatest and grandest love. Jesus. He sent His son Jesus just for us. And He’d do it all over again. Even if it was just for you. Or just for me. He loves us that much.

The Bible is full of stories of terrible people who found love and grace and changed. Their hearts changed when they found God. Rahab is one of those people. She was a prostitute in Jericho. A prostitute! Yet, she saw something that made her heart want to change and follow the one true God. So she did. Because of that decision to change and follow God, not only was she spared, but her entire family was spared. And after that? God sent a Prince along to marry her. A real live Prince to marry a former prostitute. That’s redemption of the highest sort. But wait, it gets even better. Rahab became a Princess, who eventually became the great-great-grandmother of King David! The very greatest King of God’s people. The King who was always called, “the King after God’s own heart.” As if that isn’t good enough, it still gets just a tiny bit better. Rahab was not only King David’s great-great-grandmother, she was also the many times great-grandmother of the truly greatest King who ever lived – Jesus.

So, if God can take a prostitute and make her a princess? If God can take a prostitute and make her a princess and the grandmother of King David and then King Jesus? I’m pretty sure whatever you and I have done, is no big thing. And I’m pretty sure he’s got our story written, and that it is just as beautiful. And while we may not marry a prince, we are daughters of the one true King, and that makes our stories end happily ever after. Every, single time. #grace

And if you still aren’t convinced, that you are worthy or that His grace is sufficient for even you, then I encourage you to think about these Bible tidbits:

Noah got DRUNK

Jacob LIED

Moses was a MURDERER

King David was a MURDERER and an ADULTERER

Elijah was SUICIDAL

Jonah RAN AWAY

The disciples (those closest to Jesus) FELL ASLEEP WHILE THEY WERE PRAYING!!

Mary Magdalene was DEMON POSSESSED

The Samaritan Woman at the well had been DIVORCED multiple times and was SHACKING UP with someone else!

Paul was a MURDERER

The above people and stories are what many people take out of context to talk about how violent and evil the Bible is and that people who profess to follow Christ must be crazy. What they don’t realize is that God allowed their stories to be remembered and shared so that we would have hope that we, too, could change and live for Him. All of those terrible people have redemption stories. I have a redemption story. And so can you.

2 Corinthians 12:9 He (Jesus) said, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Romans 10:13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

True grace finds you where you are, but it never leaves you there. It propels you forward compelling you to change. You will change when you truly follow Jesus. You can’t stay the same. And that is what makes GRACE so very beautiful because you will never want to be the same again. I promise. I know, because it happened to me.

If you are interested in this topic of “grace” and want to know more, feel free to reach out to me. I will be glad to share my personal story. Or, if you would rather, there is a book that I read upon the recommendation of a good friend. It completely dumped me on my head! I can’t recommend it enough. The book is by Chris Durso and is titled “The Heist: How Grace Robbed Me of My Shame”.