Grace. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Grace this way: “Unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification; a privilege, a reprieve.”
Grace is also synonymous with Mercy.

When I first came to Christ, in all honesty, I was probably more confused by grace than I was floored by it. Knowing who I was, it was simply too hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that someone cared and loved me enough to give up His only son through death, so that I might be able to partake in a personal relationship with Him of my own. After all, at that time in my life nobody seemed to want me, let alone want me enough they would die for me. His son was blameless, I am not. Everything Jesus Christ went through on the cross at Calvary He just did not deserve. Knowing that, the concept of God’s extravagant grace for me was simply too deep and profound for me to understand, but I accepted it with open arms knowing full well I needed Him more than I have ever needed anyone in my whole life. Developing a relationship with God has forever changed my existence.

I have known God as my personal savior for nearly fifteen years. During that time, I have grown to discover that we all need saving. You simply can't tell me that we don't need saving. When I look at people and how they hurt each other as well as themselves, we need saved. When I see minds being destroyed by anger, bitterness, and dark depression we need saved. When I see people lost, hopeless and simply defeated, I see faces in need of saving. In all of those fifteen years, this past weekend was the first weekend that I felt floored by grace. Floored by the immensity of all God pulled me out of and all that I couldn't escape from without His divine intervention. Floored that I even have things together enough to stand on my own two feet. Floored that I have a heart tender enough to love and to forgive. Floored that I even know how to love. Floored that my mind is full of hope and reprieved from the darkness and depression that I was born into and lifted out of. I am absolutely aghast, bewildered even, awed. I am free! In the keen awareness of who I am and who I am not, came an even greater sense of purpose and responsibility.

You see, God is a magnificent creator and an artist in the extreme. Each one of us was purposely knit together before we even knew what it was like to breathe, to walk, and to dream. God dreamed for us. Taking our whole lives into account before they even started, God planned, purposed and called us forward into unique positions of influence. Through grace I am saved and called. He loved me; He reprieved me from so much and has called me forward to comfort those, as I have been comforted. God has comforted me so much and healed so much as well. Yes, I really have been reprieved. I have been stunned into humility by the propensity of all He has pulled me out from and done for me. My heart has been more than saved - it has been captured. Not just for a lifetime, but for an eternity. God doesn't just work in moments, but He works those moments into a beautiful web of purpose and design we were made to dance in. Personally, I think God must smile so wide when we dance, especially when it seems circumstancially and humanly impossibe to do so. Why? Because He's the one leading the dance.