{"id":239,"date":"2015-10-19T13:10:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T13:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/youcansitwithus\/?p=239"},"modified":"2015-10-19T13:10:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T13:10:52","slug":"grace-upon-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/youcansitwithus\/2015\/10\/grace-upon-grace.html","title":{"rendered":"Grace Upon Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Grace is defined as \u2026.<\/p>\n<p><em>simple elegance or\u00a0refinement of movement.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special \u00a0favor on me- and not without results. For I have worked harder than any \u00a0of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his Grace. NIV<\/p>\n<p>This scripture is such a great representation of who God is\u2026 It is about God&#8217;s kindness and love for his children. \u00a0The doctrine of Christ&#8217;s death and resurrection, is the foundation of Christianity. If this was removed, all of our hopes for eternity would diminish in an instant. So, let&#8217;s break this down more in context of what you may be experiencing so you may have a better understanding into our amazing father.<\/p>\n<p>When we are in the midst of trials that include suffering we easily forget who God is.. We just want out; the pain to go away and most of us don&#8217;t understand why we even have to go through hardships. But the reality is that by holding on to this basic truth of God&#8217;s grace, we are able to stand in the day of our trials knowing that God is always working on our behalf. He is molding us into the image of Jesus. Feeling pressed, squeezed, crushed often times is part of the process but his grace does not lift off of us and we surely would not want it to. \u00a0Think about how a diamond becomes an actual diamond. \u00a0When diamonds emerge from the earth, they are rough and unrefined. It takes hours of cutting and polishing to turn the rough diamond into the beautiful stone. The process involves cleaving or sawing, bruiting ( two diamonds grinding against each other to shape each diamond).<\/p>\n<p>We, humans have a tendency to focus in on what we see and experience instead of our faith in God&#8217;s grace. He is always working things for the greater good but since we can&#8217;t see into the future, we forget how truly wonderful he is and how much he blesses us even in the midst of trials. As we tune ourselves to him, we actually open our eyes and hearts and get a glimpse into his greatness. Whatever is it you need, he can supply. Allow him to work in you whether it is through a trial and\/or test. His goodness is sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>We are chosen, not by our works, not on account of faith, or even any holiness but by grace; being regenerated, called, sanctified, justified, pardoned, and my favorite, adopted by Him.<\/p>\n<p>Xo<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grace is defined as \u2026. simple elegance or\u00a0refinement of movement. the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special \u00a0favor on me- and not without results. For I have worked harder&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Grace Upon Grace - You Can Sit With Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grace Upon Grace - You Can Sit With Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Grace is defined as \u2026. simple elegance or\u00a0refinement of movement. the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special \u00a0favor on me- and not without results. For I have worked harder&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/youcansitwithus\/2015\/10\/grace-upon-grace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"You Can Sit With Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-19T13:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sstoddard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grace Upon Grace - You Can Sit With Us","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grace Upon Grace - You Can Sit With Us","og_description":"Grace is defined as \u2026. simple elegance or\u00a0refinement of movement. the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. 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