“God’s love is not conditional. We cannot do anything to deserve God’s love—for which reason it is
called grace; and we need not do
anything to provoke it. It is already there. Any love that is going to save
must be of this type, absolutely unconditional and free.” –Beatrice Bruteau
I was told once that your name speaks a great deal over who
you are. Who you become. That names are prophetic. That they hold a great
amount of meaning.
I was told that your name is often your biggest strength
right along with your biggest weakness.
Grace.
A strong word. A powerful name. A name that means undeserved goodness; unmerited favor. A name that tells of God’s
heart for us when He sent His son to carry the cross for our shame. Full of grace.
Giving us the most extreme, the most extravagant, the most beautiful gift
that we could never come close to deserving on our own.
“Grace tells us
that we are accepted just as we are. We may not be the kind of people we want
to be, we may be a long way from our goals, we may have more failures than
achievements, we may not be wealthy or powerful or spiritual, we may not even
be happy, but we are nonetheless accepted by God, held in his hands. Such is
the promise to us in Jesus Christ, a promise we can trust.” –Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel
I look back over the last couple of years, and the
thumbprints of Him teaching me the true meaning of my name are undeniable.
It’s right there in my old journal entries. Blog posts. Letters
to and from friends. Notes scribbled furiously into my bible.
How could I have missed it?
But now, with this?
He has caught my attention. He has drawn me into His gracious and loving arms
with a fierce and unrelenting hold. I am
safe here. Though I may struggle against the grip of His grace, He is not letting go.
And finally, finally I
am beginning to understand what it means.
“Grace
substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our need, a joy in
total dependence. The good man is sorry for the sins that have increased his
need. But he is not entirely sorry for the fresh need they have produced.” –CS
Lewis, The Four Loves
[Stay
tuned for the rest of the series that I am doing on the concept of grace and what avenue He has been using
to teach me these lessons.]
