{"id":2960,"date":"2024-03-04T00:36:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T06:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2024-03-04T00:36:50","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T06:36:50","slug":"my-epiphany-about-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/2024\/03\/my-epiphany-about-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"My Epiphany About Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Grace is a concept that I have recently been studying. To be honest I have always struggled with it. Grace is defined as <\/span>the spontaneous, unmerited gift of Divine favor in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in individuals for their sanctification. What?<\/span><\/p>\n

God\u2019s Grace lifts us<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I always thought you had to get God\u2019s attention to be blessed. Like with your parents, the good kids got extra rewards and affection. I saw grace as God\u2019s version of affection. <\/span><\/p>\n

But since becoming a mother, I realize how wrong I have been about love. I look at my son and can\u2019t imagine him ever having to earn my love. I love him because he exists. He doesn\u2019t have to do or be anything for me to love him.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m beginning to understand that our Heavenly Father loves us in the same way- as a father does. And even more perfectly than earthly parents love their children. We exist and thrive in the warmth of His love for us. That love is Grace. It picks us up when we can\u2019t go on. And when life or trials are too much, God\u2019s grace makes up the difference and allows us to endure great suffering or accomplish amazing things we could never do on our own.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was stuck<\/h2>\n This has been a major epiphany for me because growing up I always thought I had to earn God\u2019s grace. Because in the LDS church<\/a>, there is a major misunderstanding about Grace. It is tied to a scripture often quoted from 2 Nephi 25:23.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n " 23 <\/b>For we labor diligently to write, to <\/span>persuade<\/span><\/a> our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by <\/span>grace<\/span><\/a> that we are saved, after all we can <\/span>do<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That last part, \u201cAfter all we can do\u201d has many of us stuck. It had me stuck. I wondered how to earn the grace mentioned in the scriptures. But I have recently been reading a lot of Emily Belle Freeman\u2019s writings about Grace. And I am getting a clearer vision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Grace<\/h2>\n Sometimes you have to work to understand. I had to work to understand Grace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In her book Grace Where You Are<\/a>, she talks about how we should not take that one verse in 2 Nephi out of context with the rest of the chapter. And when you read the rest of 2 Nephi 25, Nephi says repeatedly to \u201cbelieve in Christ\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n I counted and he says to believe in Christ nine times in the chapter. Nine times is a lot! After learning this, I now understand the point Nephi was making. He is inviting us to believe in Christ, NOT telling us we have to earn Grace.<\/span><\/p>\n I felt like I needed more information, and Emily has written many books on Grace. So next I read her book Grace to Become.<\/a>\u00a0 In this beautiful book, Emily taught me that Jesus will meet you where you are, as you are, but he doesn\u2019t intend to leave you there. Instead, the Savior offers divine grace to heal wounds and elevate souls.<\/span><\/p>\n Next, I read From Grace to Charity<\/a> where she taught me that as God gives us grace, our souls grow. And since charity is the pure love of Christ, as our abilities expand we become more like Him. And God\u2019s ultimate goal is to help us grow to live with Him again one day. <\/span><\/p>\n She suggested that God\u2019s ultimate goal is that we all have charity and that He gives us Grace as a tool to reach that goal. It is incredibly insightful and rang so true to my soul that accepting God\u2019s grace has become easier.<\/span><\/p>\n Understanding Grace<\/h2>\n****** ** ** I feel new light and knowledge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ** Understanding this new side of God and His love for His children has changed my life. Knowing that God loves me and sees potential in me encourages me. If He believes in me, I need to believe in myself! And thinking that God\u2019s ultimate goal is to help us have Charity. makes me want to understand Charity better.<\/p>\n ** More than anything I feel a new sense of freedom. I have a place in my Heavenly Father\u2019s heart that I don\u2019t have to earn. I simply need to believe, and have faith that He loves me and that He will help me through all the trials and difficulties that life puts in my path.<\/p>\n ** I\u2019ve heard a saying that \u201cWhat God leads you to, He will lead you through.\u201d I like that. And I recently heard this deep thought: \u201cWe often say God won\u2019t give you more than you can handle. But what we should be saying is that God helps you handle what you are given.\u201d<\/p>\n ** Both quotes remind me that God is here for us and that He doesn\u2019t create the trials in our lives. He supports us and loves us through them. And through God\u2019s Grace, our souls grow closer to Him. I\u2019m so grateful for this new understanding of my Heavenly Father and His role in my life.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** ******Grace is a concept that I have recently been studying. To be honest I have always struggled with it. Grace is defined as the spontaneous, unmerited gift of Divine favor in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in individuals for their sanctification. What? I always thought you had to get God\u2019s attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3521,"featured_media":2972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[275,272,269],"class_list":["post-2960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jesus-christ","category-overcoming-trials","tag-charity","tag-gods-love","tag-grace"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Epiphany About Grace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grace is a concept that I have just recently understood. To be honest I have always struggled with it. 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So I want to be a support to those parents who are trying to figure out their child, and how best to support them. My wonderful son stretches me and helps me grow every day. I love being his mother and the things that make him unique. In 2020, every autism service stopped. So I got trained to be an RBT (Low-level autism therapist) with BehaviorUniversity.com. It has made homeschooling and doing at-home ABA easier as I understand my son better. They have some courses for parents to help them understand autism better, and I highly recommend them if you are searching. We have been home-schooling off and on for 6 years now. And it's wonderful to see my son thriving. Education and background Although my degree is not in education, I do have degrees from BYU Idaho and Southern Utah University in public relations, interpersonal communication, and marketing. I was lucky enough to get to teach a couple of freshman classes at SUU as part of my senior project. I have the best memories of those times. And it showed me how much I love to teach. While at SUU I was on the debate team. I wasn\u2019t great, but I loved the team and the feeling of unity we had. As a member of the Lambda Delta Signa sorority, I spent a year as VP of my chapter. I served on Institute Council and in leadership with my choir. And I was a member of the Lambda Pi Eta honor society. Funny enough, I was nominated as SUU\u2019s personality of the year in my senior year because I was so involved When my son was small I was part of the PTA at bus school \u00a0I even served on the PTA board and taught art classes to the kids. \u00a0I also volunteered to help out in the cafeteria. And I was a \u2018recess duty\u2019 meaning I got to be outside as a responsible adult during recess I love to write and wrote for LDSblogs.com as Abby Christianson and as Patty Sampson for many years. I took over editing LDS Blogs when our beloved editor Terri Bittner passed away suddenly from brain cancer in 2017. Then in 2020, LDSblogs.com stopped publishing after the pandemic affected their funding. But they are still online and some great stories are there if you are interested. I'm a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've been married for 23 years, and a mother for 15 years. I love people and creating in any capacity I can. 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