Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Introduction to Grace

Who am I to write about Grace?  Honestly, I'm just a guy who was recently divorced who is looking for answers.  6 months ago I was coasting in life, not driven with a purpose, not looking to do anything much with my life.  I was just stagnant.

My life changed when my wife said she wanted to divorce me.  At first there was denial and disbelief on my part.  As much as I didn't want it to happen - it did.  It was finalized on March 20th, 2013 (Ironically, that was the first day of Spring).  I was divorced after 17 1/2 years of marriage.  We have 3 awesome kids who are still very much a part of my life - whom I am growing to love more and more each day.

I get to see them on weekends.  During the week I am alone in an apartment.  It's quiet, I don't have a TV or internet connection there - by choice.  I'm not very sociable so I spend many evenings alone there.  I go to bed early, I get up early.  So, I read a lot, I read God's word and study what it says and I am getting excited about what I am finding and learning.

About a month after my wife told me she wanted a divorce I figured out that my life was more than just stagnant.  It was wasting away.   I had come to know God and Jesus Christ when I was a teenager, throughout my life there were some fleeting times that I was purposed in seeking God - but far many more times it was all about me - just looking out for me.  In recent years I had become disinterested in God and His Word, not looking for or wanting anything more than a convenient relationship with Him.

But a funny thing happened when I lost what I knew was good (my family) and was now faced with a new life of loneliness and emptiness - I realized I was also lost from God.  It took a few weeks to see how crappy my life had become.  But I also realized God was right with me the whole time.  I was the one who was lost, or more like, not looking for Him.  He was waiting for me to come back to Him - and to experience His grace, like I never have before.

My life changed when I realized God's grace had never left me - I just wasn't wanting to experience it before.  Now, that is changing since realizing this awesome grace of God is alive and ongoing.  I have been overwhelmed by God's amazing grace at work in my life.

I am on a new, more purposed journey now.  I am studying God's word and learning a ton.  Some was familiar already, but mostly this is new.  And it is so good to learn.  To read.  To study.  To see at work.  I have so much further to go in my journey towards God's grace - but as I walk, I am finding things that are just too good to keep to myself.  I want to share them. 

I pray that this blog may be an encouragement to those who read it - to those who just want to know more about God's grace, to live in it and rejoice in it.  This blog is personal.  It's about what I have been studying and learning as I move towards God's grace.  It begins next post with my study of the usage of Grace in the Gospels of the New Testament.

No comments:

Post a Comment