Grace that is Greater than all Our Sin

I really have felt like writing lately but absolutely had no idea what to write about.  I was thinking/praying it over today and the question occurred to me, "What is on your mind?"  Two words came to mind.  Grace and Gratitude.  I have been sitting in on at least one of the classes at LifeSource a week and last week Robin, the owner, said this as everyone was introducing themselves, "This is Haley and her drug of choice is us.  She is a groupie here who just comes to hang out with us."  God has told me that my job there is to build relationships with people that I might not otherwise have gotten the chance.  Later my time came to chime in on a subject and I said, "I just want to expand on what Robin said about you being my drug of choice.  Every time I come here God shows me something and uses you all to teach me a little more about showing others grace and compassion."   I meant every word of it.  The beauty of the job I do is that when you are doing something completely ordained by God, He teaches you more about himself and who He is and how to be more like Him than you would have ever gotten outside of it.  If you had told me 5 years ago that one of the biggest highlights of my week would be going and sitting in a room full of felons, parolees, meth addicts, alcoholics, etc, I would have probably laughed at you.  Now I look back and see so clearly how He was laying it all out.  I have a fascination with why people do the things they do and the mental and physical situations that lead people to make the choices that they make.  Now I have such a desire to add grace and love and compassion in with the fascination.  I love sitting down one on one or in a small group of them and hearing their stories.  They will be brutally honest.  They don't hide much.  Their stories are ugly and broken and sad.  But in the midst of brokeness many of them have begun to find healing.  That is such a beautiful thing.  Many of them are lost and wandering and will be back in those ugly places soon.  It's the evilness of addiction.  But some of them are getting just the dose of whatever it was their heart needed to begin to heal.  Some of them are celebrating milestones that they never thought they would see, at least not through sober eyes.  Right in the middle of it I sit, just soaking it all in.  I am grateful that their path has not been my path.  I am grateful that Jesus sought me hard as a small child and that I surrendered my will to Him.  I am so very grateful for grace.  Grace that I see more in full every day.  Grace that when I choose to let wash over me, I can't help but want to pour over others.  I am not typing any of this to say "Look at me."  Heck no.  I am saying this to say:  There is no way on earth this is me.  This is Jesus.  All Jesus.  I am saying this to say please, next time you see arrests on tv, or someone in the store you know just might be struggling with addiction, or maybe that mom that everyone is whispering about but nobody is loving enough, I am asking you to see yourself.  See that that could have been you.  Heck, if you think you are past the point of Satan pursuing you right now with addiction, you better check yourself very quickly.  Pride comes before a fall.  Business people, teachers, lawyers, doctors, soccer moms, and preachers can fall to addiction.  They can fall to bad choices.  And then, after thanking God that it isn't you, maybe you strike up a conversation with them.  Maybe you leave them some groceries.  Maybe you find some special way to show them some grace.  And then maybe you will go home and fall on your knees before the throne for God to heal them.  For God to give them strength to make it one day at a time.  For God to use you to be the extra hand or encouraging word they need.  We all need an extra hand and words of encouragement.  Be that to someone who is deep in the depths of sorrow and hurt.  This is a challenge to myself as well.  Somedays it is so easy to hurry on past, to throw some money at a problem, or to roll my eyes when I see someone in jail again.  Then I have to catch myself and realize I am one bad choice away from that same mugshot.  Oh that we allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts and not let them be hardened like the Pharisees.  

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?