Drenched in grace

I sat in my room, looking out the window, enjoying the beauty of a rainy day. An overwhelming feeling of a reminder of God’s grace over my life filled my thoughts. I remembered the presence of God’s grace in my every situation even when I have not really thought about or appreciated it. God is not ignorant of all the ways I have sinned against Him. He knows everything I have ever done and is still able to call me His beloved. His heart delights in me and He sings over me! - Zephaniah 3:17. While my mind wandered in these thoughts, God reminded me about the woman with the issue of blood - who experienced grace.

This woman was afraid to be in the presence of the Rabbi, much less be present in a crowd. But her resilience and desperation brought her to the point of going against the society’s norms and she desired to touch the edge of the Rabbis’ garment. She wasn’t ready to give up hope. It was her last attempt to receive a miracle; she had tried everything over 12 years. Then, she felt it in her body. In that moment she knew the change that happened. She was about to leave the scene quietly, but the master asked, “Who touched me?”. It was as if he knew exactly what had happened. She decided to fess up and say it was me. To her surprise, the master says, ‘Go in peace’. He spoke peace over her when her heart was terrified!! The woman was healed from the issue of blood before Jesus spoke these words, but there was another healing that her soul needed that she did not even know. She was deemed ‘unclean’ by the society. Living in this reality for many years, caused her to lose her peace. This woman’s encounter with Jesus, healed her issue. But when Jesus spoke those words, her peace returned to her and she received healing in her soul. After an encounter with Jesus, she was not only healed, but he covered her with grace to find hope again. SJR says - “Sometimes the only way to survive after we’ve had an identity shifting experience is to change the way we show up in the world”

I find myself standing in the wonder of His grace and surrendering to His goodness – grace that I have never experienced anywhere else. Grace doesn’t kick in until we stop struggling and trying to do it on our own strength. James 4:6 – ‘God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble’. The humble are those who admit their total inability to succeed without God’s help. Peter writes – “Grow in grace’ (2 Peter 3:18) We grow in grace by taking God at His word, leaning on to His provision for each day and trusting that God can and will intervene in and through our seemingly impossible situations. There is never a day that I don’t need the grace of God over my life. When I am willing to acknowledge this desperate need of grace, I will receive it by faith and there will be no shortage of it. ‘For out of His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace’ - John 1:16 (AMP). In that moment, in front of my window, watching the rain, I was drenched in His grace…! 

Written by: Anu Varghese