I'm Thankful for..............Grace

There's a place that I love to run and play
There's a place that I sing new songs of praise

Dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace

There's a place that I lose myself within
There's a place that I find myself again

Dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace

There's a place where religion finally dies
There's a place that I lose my selfish pride

Dancin’ with my Father God in fields of grace

I love my Father, my Father loves me
I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me

And nothing can take that away from me


These are the lyrics of one of my favorite christian songs. We sang it in church yesterday and I couldn't help but sing along with full voice (good thing nobody was sitting beside me!) and joy. Dancin’ with my father God in fields of grace. Grace what a beautiful word and full of so much meaning. I didn't plan on writing about grace; it wasn't even on my list of things I had been jotting down. But, the Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly in the middle of singing that song... I want you to write about grace, write about grace and how much it has changed your life and how much meaning it has brought to you.

Grace is something I struggled with when first accepting Jesus into my heart in 2004. I grew up in a very legalistic religion and I don't ever remember hearing any teaching on grace. We were only told what we must do and what we must not do to get to heaven. So many rules, so many restrictions that I constantly lived in a state of fear that I would screw-up and go straight to hell. I quit attending when I turned eighteen and moved out on my own and for the next twenty years I lived everyday in fear of dying and going to hell because I was breaking the rules by putting on a pair of jeans or going to a movie.

After accepting Christ, I talked many times with Tim my pastor on this phenomenon called grace. There was a time that he spent an hour on the phone with me crying and telling him I just didn't know if it was something I could grasp. Another time I remember some of us going to his house after our regular bible study, him pulling out a write on/wipe off board and teaching us on grace till 2am in the morning! But the one thing that started to solidify it in my heart was a statement he made: If we are saved by works, then Christ died needlessly. But don't take my word for it he told me, go read the book of Galatians and it will confirm everything I have been telling you. So I read Galatians over and over again till the spirit of grace became part of my heart.

Grace is not about works, you don't have to follow some strict set of rules or restrictions for it to be extended to you. It's a place where religion finally dies. It's about a having a relationship with our God not based on fear, but on love and joy. It's a place where when a simple heartfelt prayer is prayed, the fear of hell is gone and the promise of eternal life is given.

I am humbled by his grace everyday. If saving me from hell wasn't enough, he extends grace to me over and over again everyday of my life. I am so glad I listened to the Holy Spirit when it told me to write about grace. It has made me remember where I came from and through a whole lot of grace, to where I am today. And nothing can take that away from me.