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Continue ShoppingWhat Does Grace Feel Like to You?
Written by Olivia Barney, author of Cheerful Christianity : A Child's Journey to Finding Jesus.
Grace feels different for each one of us. That makes sense when you consider that each of us feel and give love in different ways. It feels different for me depending on my circumstances and what type of help I need. When I’m in pain, grace feels like a warm embrace, and it gives me comfort that things will be all right. When I’m too exhausted to do the things I need to do, grace feels like a little extra strength, a little extra encouragement, and a little extra push in the right direction. I feel grace in little doses almost constantly, but maybe it doesn’t feel like that to you.
For my ancestors, grace was the hope and reassurance that their family would make it to Zion safely. It was recognized in the moments when they felt like someone was helping push their handcarts, though they couldn’t see anyone there.
Prior to writing Cheerful Christianity, I asked my friends, family, and neighbors in an anonymous survey what grace felt like to them. It was a difficult question to answer, and many people told me that they didn’t know. They weren’t sure they had ever felt it before. But many others testified that they did know what grace felt like to them. They were confident that they had felt it at work in their lives. With their permission, I’ll list some of their responses.
GRACE FEELS LIKE:
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“A weight being removed from my shoulders and receiving a peaceful reassurance of God’s love and plan for me.”
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“Grace feels like hope. Hope that I can do better and that who I am will be enough in the end.”
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“Grace is the feeling of God’s love, even when you know you’ve messed up. It’s like a parent saying, ‘It’s okay. You’ll get it right next time.’”
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“Peace seeped in strength. When grace fills me, I feel confident and strong.”
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“It feels like love.”
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“It’s an enabling power that allows me to do everything that I can do, but it’s also the power that covers everything I cannot or do not do. It is the power Christ used to save me.”
It’s worth it to get to know Him. In fact, I can’t think of anything else more important. Get to know Him. Study His character and figure out what kind of person He is. What is your relationship with Him? Personally, I feel like He’s my best friend. But it took years of getting to know Him, dedicating time to Him, and trying to trust Him before I could confidently say that He is my best friend.
Your relationship with Jesus Christ will take time. It will take work. It will take sacrifices and probably some heartache on your part. But it also took sacrifices and heartache on His part. He sacrificed everything to get to know you, to save you, and to bring you home. So, sacrifice a few minutes each day. Give up that show or that habit that doesn’t align with His teachings. Dedicate time to Him and His gospel. I promise that as you consistently work on developing a relationship with Him, your life will get better. You will be happier. You will become closer to who you want to be.
It’ll be hard. Your trials won’t immediately go away. You’ll probably feel a significant amount of pushback from the adversary. I’m feeling that pushback even as I’m writing this. But trust me when I tell you that it will be the best investment of your life.
The following was taken from the book Cheerful Christianity by Olivia Ruth Barney currently available at cedarfort.com.
