Grace, Grace...Amazing Grace 奇异恩典

Girls Growing In Grace

September 23, 2012

Dear Ones,

   Grace, Grace, God’s Grace…Amazing Grace how sweet the sound…MY Grace is Sufficient for you!  Can you see a theme here, a pattern, a line of thought, and an ever present gift that constantly comes to the forefront of my world?  I am daily, moment by moment caught in the grip of Grace.  Grace… an unmerited favor that I do not deserve, a gift, forgiveness, a showering of strength, a mercy I cannot fathom.  This is a concept that I am overwhelmed by, a provision I fall so short of and yet there it is, undeserved, unfathomable, and all available.  I consider the implication of it and I cannot find its beginning or end, it is ever present, washing over me like the waves of the ocean. 

   I had a little one whose has become for me the face of grace, maybe it is because his very favorite song, the one he soothed to, the one he was rocked to, the one that he smiled to was Amazing Grace.  Over and over the words of that song came from my lips and with each new chorus I was gripped more and more by the sheer gravity of the wonder in those words…

“Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see.  T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear and Grace my fears relieved, How precious did that Grace appear the hour I first believed.  Through many dangers toils and snares I have already come ‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.  The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures.  He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures.  Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within the veil, A life of joy and peace, When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s Grace than when we first begun.”

  Over the past several months “Amazing Grace” has been a precious conversation topic among my sweet companions here as we have walked a bitter sweet road together…we have shared Grace, broken bread, drank lots of coffee, asked for and given forgiveness, encouraged, cried, laughed, and worked hard together, this Grace has become a by law, a hard wired truth, Grace that will not let us go.  And now it is written even deeper on the walls of our hearts etched in by the hand of a precious child whose face holds the faces of every child we touch, see, feel, hold, and pull close to snuggle tight.  It is carved deep into my very soul by my loving Heavenly Father who moment by moment pours over me new Grace for the journey ahead.

By His Grace- Amazing Grace,

Mariah