Abounding Grace

At the close of one year and the dawning of another...there is much reflection and musing open all that has transpired and all that will come to pass. It is a bittersweet time of remembering joys and sorrows as well as hoping and looking forward to the future.

Most of us look back and are overwhelmed with the surprises, joys, excitements, hurts, losses, and challenges that surrounded our lives in 2010. Had we known what had lied ahead our courage would have probably faltered severely. But looking back changes how we look toward what is ahead. Our experience has colored our perception on life and all that it has for us.

As I reflect upon this past year...I see a recurring theme weaving its way through the year. An unavoidable melody - played around every single circumstance and event.

Abounding Grace.

Grace...the word that should thrill each believer's heart. In one word, encapsulates the entire motivation for life here on earth. Grace that has been evident since the inception of time. Grace that has remained consistent and plentiful as the day it was first offered.

Time and time again, I watched friends and loved ones reach the end of their endurance. The depths of their brokenness and the realization of their helplessness. I saw pain and loss such that causes deep stirrings in the heart...not to be cast off as idle hurt. There were others that recognized their immense hunger and thirst for newness of life...after rejecting their Creator for far too long. Still others, reveling in the joy of undeserved favor and blessings.

For all of this...there was abounding grace.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed..."

II Corinthians 9:8

Looking ahead to what the Lord has for us in 2011, rest assured, there is sufficient grace for every need. No matter the situation, the hurt, the loss, the joy, the surprises...there is grace.

Grace that will allow us to do what we cannot do on our own. Enabling us to not just cope or make it through...but to live in abundance in every good deed.

Praying we will all be watching and rejoicing over this abundant grace in this next year!!!