For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
Grace: The unearned and undeserved favour of God. His divine power working in and through our lives…The perfect gift. Releasing, empowering and so light-weight to carry around; it’s a bit like a fuel-supply that endlessly replenishes.
Once you accept this amazing gift, how do you unpack God’s grace in your everyday life?…
Even if, personally, you’re not quite sure about Grace, you’ve got to admit, it’s a concept that could. potentially, change things in your own world… Consider!
I, for one, want to find out how to fully embrace and unpack Grace in my life. I need Grace like I need water!
If you’d also like to receive and unpack more Grace in your everyday life, I’d love it if you’d join me in this exploration! Seeking priceless streams of the Grace of our Extraordinary God flowing in our ordinary lives…
Have a nosey around this website: The links to my latest blog posts are on the right side column OR you can check out the “Explore” page.
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(I hope you do enter your email address, because if I know you’re reading, you’ll motivate me to produce more content worthy of your kind attention… My goal is to communicate Grace powerfully and motivate you to receive and share the gold of divine Grace!)
What I hope to discover…
I love God. I follow Jesus. Many years ago, I was “saved by grace, through faith”…
And yet here I still am, on earth. Through ups and downs, growing in character in my own estimation. And definitely living a blessed life… But still – (what am I like!?) – sometimes struggling: sometimes with God, sometimes with myself, sometimes having issues with others.
And I occasionally I will wonder: Is this what my “abundantly enjoyable” life should be made up of? I still think I’ve got to sort this out. Because I want make sure I’m resting in (or maybe running after) what God has for me:
For what purpose did I receive this gift of grace?
Why and what was I “saved by grace” for here on earth?
I’ve considered different possibilities:
- Saved by Grace For myself?… Maybe as a route to true life? Perhaps I’m here to discover the abundant life he has for me and the me He’s made me to be?
- Saved by Grace From myself? Unfortunately there’s a lot in that idea for sure. I’ve discovered I rather need to be saved from going down my own selfish and destructive paths.
- Saved by Grace For God? His delight to have me as a friend? His fun from living my life with me? That’s a bold idea I guess, but He is an omnipotent and present God in the form of the Holy Spirit and I know He loves me and I think He likes me.
- Saved by Grace For Others? Hmmm. At a distance, I can certainly cope with that idea. But at the core of it, in relationship with others, it can get trickier. Especially when people don’t meet my expectations. Yet Ephesians 2 starts with the gift of grace – which is not by works – but continues the thought that I am created to do good works! Huh? …So I guess that means, it can’t be all about just me and God. It’s about other people too…
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2: 10)
Getting Personal
Concerning “for others”, let me introduce myself to you… I struggle with myself to do this. I’m a private type of extrovert. But in order to share with you the core of this issue of Grace which is the heart of what I’m passionate about sharing, I figure it’s best to do it on a personal level. So here goes:
Hello!
I’m Jane Ralston… And I confess, I need GRACE AND MORE GRACE!
I identify myself with the following : follower of Jesus, wife, mother of 3 daughters. I busy myself with the following: volunteering in our church community, business, property endeavours. I love to write and make films. I’m passionate about my family, my church, reading books that are good for me, fitness and super-healthy eating. I’m a New Zealander and I’m now also a British citizen, as we’ve made our family home in London, England.
I’m enthusiastic, mostly fun and committed. I dream big. Mostly I’m happy – but occasionally I’m irritable or frustrated. I think I get frustrated because I have a tendency to want control of myself, my environment and others and that doesn’t usually come too easily… When I come to think of it, that sounds rather ungracious. Oops.
Perhaps the best and most gracious part of me is this: it can also come quite easily to me to think the best of myself, others and the situations I find myself in…
…”Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” (Borrowed from Walt Whitman, but I’m sure it’s appropriate to describe each of us complex beings!)
This all, myself and my life, has been continuously transformed by the security and adventure of this gift of grace – an ongoing journey of stretching and strengthening.
But I feel in some ways, I’ve previously kept this treasure packed up inside of myself, like a secret. As if I’m tentative to let others see what I have! What? Why on earth? What am I afraid of?… (I did discover recently a fear of swimming in deep dark open water… but then I braved it and sort of learned to enjoy it).
Grace to Live and Love
I know I have been given the grace by Jesus to live abundantly out of love. The grace to explore what it means to love and live like the first 2 commandments and like Jesus told all of us:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22: 37-39)
Yet it’s only really in recent years that I feel I’ve begun to understand and work through for myself more of what living out of grace and love really means in practice. I’m still learning how and making mistakes on the way…
- Learning how to use the lavish grace Jesus has given me to love God, love myself and love others
- Learning how to live with grace like a suitcase unpacked, in the open light, in use – even I’m using it imperfectly and if it becomes a bit messy in the process.
- Learning how to Shine God’s light and love.
Shine A Light
I want to do what Jesus told me to do in Matthew 5 (Message version)
“…You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.
God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill…
…Shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
I’ve decided it’s time to share what I’ve been given and work out the “how to” of “love God, love myself, love others” even more in the process.
Content with Grace and Hope
My dream is that grace and hope would shine through in my life and in my written and filmed work. I intend to live fully, create and explore and always stay true to my convictions. To begin, I aim to blog here regularly and also to add in to this website parts of projects in development. (For example: a fiction I’m working on which currently goes by the name of Deedwell).
To Explore and Share and Trust that God can use me even imperfect as I am…
To find articles I’ve written about unpacking grace in different aspects of our lives:
Click through the links on the Explore Here! page OR near the Top of this page on the right side column.
There are 4 categories, Love God, Love Ourselves, Love Others and Work in Progress : If you click through any of those 4 categories you’ll find a page of more links to content. And there’s also a Recent Posts list of my very latest blogposts/musings…
I hope to encourage you, I pray to enlighten you, and I trust that together we may discover Jesus to follow.
Welcome to Grace Unpacked.